Showing posts with label Play of hand - problems. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Play of hand - problems. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Oren's Handplay Problems - 4

This is the 4th hand in a handplay problem series from Oren Lidor. This is a defensive play problem. The solution will be published the following week, along with a new problem. Have fun!

Defensive Play Problem 4


West lead the ♦2 to your ♦J and South's ♦K. At trick 2 South played a spade to the ♠9 (West played the ♠8).

How do you defend (playing standard carding, 4th best leads)?

Oren's Handplay Problems - 3

>This is the 3rd hand in a handplay problem series from Oren Lidor. This is a declarer play problem. The solution will be published the following week, along with a new problem. Have fun!

Declarer Play Problem 3


West lead the ♠4 . You tried the ♠Q, but East covered with the ♠K.














Solution:




West lead the ♠4. You tried the ♠Q but East covered with the ♠K. Make your contract.

The lead should tell it all!

Why didn't West lead a club?
Why did he lead spade from a weak suit to the ♠J?
With ♣AK or ♣KQ he would surely prefer a club lead. So he must have ♣AQ if he avoided leading away from it. That places the ♣K with East and all the other high cards with West, else he would not have enough values to open.

So, play accordingly: Win the ♠A, play a diamond to the ♦10, cash ♦A, come back to hand on the ♥A and throw a spade from dummy on the good ♦K.

You are safe now, you will lose only two clubs and the ♥K.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Perfect Misunderstanding

Most experts are heavily discussing their system with their partner in order to avoid any sort of misunderstandings.

On this important session in the league, a player was ill, and a sub was called to fill in. They had a long talk agreeing the conventions, carding and whatever else they could, including puppet, Bergen , DONT, 0314 and more. When they reached the issue of 2♣ openings they agreed that it should be game forcing in general except for the 2♣ - 2♦ - 2NT sequence where:
"2NT is 23-24, and you may pass with 0-1 points," said one.
"So, with balanced 25-27 we need to jump to 3NT," said the other.

Thinking they covered all their options here, they moved on to discuss other issues.

During the play, this hand appeared, on which they were the only ones to bid and make the following slam:

Dealer South, all vulnerable.


Dear readers, do you understand the bidding above? No? Don't feel too bad about it as it seems that the players themselves didn't get it either... Actually they both got it so wrong that they found the perfect way to a perfect contract, due to a perfect misunderstanding. Playing with screens, they were asked to explain their own bids and their partner's bids, and here is what they came up with:

Opener:
2♣ - Strong, artificial.
2♦ - 0-7 points, artificial.
4NT - 28-30 points ("Yes, we just agreed that 2NT is 23-24 and 3NT is 25-27, so 4NT is definitely 28-30.")
5♣ - Puppet, stayman.
5NT - No 5 or 4 cards major.
6♣ - Partner prefers slam in clubs.
Pass - OK by me

Responder:
2♣ - Strong, artificial.
2♦ - 0-7 points, artificial.
4NT - asking Aces, 0314.
5♣ - 0
5NT - asking Kings.
6 ♣ - 0
Pass? - "I wonder ... He cannot pass here."

As you can see, 6♣ is unbeatable: Having 11 top tricks, declarer just needs 1 diamond ruff in dummy. On a spade lead, he played ♦AK, ruffed a diamond with the ♣2, cashed ♣QJ, entered hand to cash the ♣AK and claimed 12 tricks, giving up 1 diamond in the end. All other pairs were in 6NT, going 1 down.

So... how do you think the bidding would have gone with his regular partner? ...

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Oren's Handplay Problems - 2

This is the second hand in Oren Lidor's handplay series. This time, a defensive problem. Solution will be published the following week, along with a new problem. Have fun!

Defensive Problem


Your partner lead the ♦T. How do you defend to set 4♥?













Solution:




You are playing 4♥. Your Partner lead the ♦10.

Win ♦K and play the ♥4. Whenever you get the hand again with ♦ or ♥, play ♥A, ♦A and give your partner a ♦ ruff.
If You play ♦AK and a 3rd ♦, Partner will ruff with the ♥6 but declarer will overruff , play 3 rounds of clubs and throw his 4th ♦.
Also not good to play ♥A and another ♥. Declarer wins, draw 3rd trick. He is able now to throw 1 ♦ on the 3rd cl and to establish a ♦ trick, losing 2 ♦ and 1 ♥ only.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Declarer Play Problem - 1

This is the first hand in a declarer play problem series from Oren Lidor. Each hand will be labeled with a difficulty level. Solutions will be published the following week, along with a new problem. Have fun!

Declarer Play Problem - 1

Difficulty level: Hard


You are playing 6♥. North lead the ♠T.

How do you play the hand?













Solution:




You are playing 6♥. North lead the ♠T.

Win in hand and finesse clubs.

If it fails, play heart to the J to capture the ♥Q in North: this works whenever North has ♥Qxx, ♥Qx or...if the ♥Q is singleton (in that case win with the ♥K, play the ♥J and finesse to ♥9). ♥A and low to the ♥J will not help against ♥Q singleton with South as you lose to T8xx with North.

If the club finesse works, play ♥K, return to hand, and continue with a heart to the ♥J. That will ensure 4 heart tricks against any 4-1 split.

Stay tuned for more such problems in the following days.