Bridge PuzzlesFree Bridge Puzzles! Once a month I post a new puzzle to get you thinking about how you would play in a particular situation. There are no prizes, unfortunately, just the satisfaction of knowing whether or not you were right! Don't forget to check out the previous puzzles below! June 2010 North is dealer today and both sides are vulnerable. North opens the bidding and passes. East then bids 3 Clubs. You will recognise this as a pre-emptive bid, guaranteeing at least seven Clubs, and showing between six and ten points. South subsequently passes, You are sitting West holding: Spades A Q 10 Hearts A Q 10 4 Diamonds A 10 8 6 Clubs Q 6 This is a good-looking hand with eighteen points which is above the sixteen points needed to respond to a pre-emptive opener from partner. It does not require too much thought, You know you have a minimum of twenty-four points, and at least nine clubs between you. Yes it is possible that the Clubs may not split favourably for you, but there is no better alternative, and it looks as though you do not have enough points to think of bidding a slam. As a matter of interest I played with a retired doctor many years ago who always bid 3 No Trumps if he had a handful of Clubs, and he was usually high up in the league tables. To the play - North leads the three of Diamonds, which looks like the fourth of their longest suit. It looks quite a good lead for you, and rather better again when you see Dummy which is: Spades 9 5 Hearts J 8 Diamonds J 4 Clubs A K 9 7 5 4 2 You play the 4 of Diamonds, because it would be very helpful, though unlikely, if the Jack of Diamonds could be turned into an entry in Diamonds. With one trick in hand, you can see three certain tricks in your hand with the three Aces, leaving five more to guarantee 3 No Trumps. It is possible in this situation that either North or South may have all four missing Clubs in which case you will have to re-group and re-think, but with the attraction of possibly seven tricks in Clubs there is nothing for it but to go ahead and play them. Make sure you play the Queen of Clubs first. If you don't you may block yourself in your own hand or even worse, only come out with two Club tricks. So you play the Queen of Clubs, and relax when both North and South follow suit. You now know you will get at least eleven tricks - seven Clubs, two Diamonds, and one each in Spades and Hearts. The game ends and you say to partner 'I could make a slam there', or might it be 'phew! what would I have done if one of our opponents had had all four Clubs', or even ' thank goodness South didn't put up the King of Diamonds on the first trick'. The North and South hands were: North Spades J 7 Hearts K 7 3 2 Diamonds Q 7 5 3 2 Clubs 10 3 South Spades K 8 6 4 3 2 Hearts 9 6 5 Diamonds K 9 Clubs J 8 See if you could have made a Slam, or not made the contract if one opponent had had the four Clubs, and/or South put up the King of Diamonds on the first trick. It's amazing the difference playing just one card instead of another can make! May 2010 In this month's puzzle, South is the dealer, and North/South are vulnerable. You are South, holding: Spades A 8 5 Hearts Q 6 3 Diamonds 6 5 4 Clubs Q 10 9 7 You only have eight points, and Pass. West opens with 1 Spade, and after thinking for a little while, North says Double. You will recall that this means that your partner has at least opening points. East then says Pass. Note that this does not necessarily mean that East is unable to bid, because as you are obliged to respond to North's Double then East will have another chance to bid if they wish to do so. OK? As you do not have a good suit, then you reply 1 No Trump to North's double, denying a five card major, and indicating that you have a maximum of ten points - maybe less. You would be unwise to bid 1 No Trump if you did not have a top spade, but with the Ace, that's fine. West follows with 2 Hearts showing they have a holding in both major suits. North then follows with 2 No Trumps which is an encouraging bid, saying that they have a cover in Hearts to supplement your cover in Spades. East passes. Your choice is now very clear - either you pass or you bid 3 No Trumps. Mulling over your options, it rather looks as though North does not have a five card suit - if they did they would very probably have bid it rather than double. You also note that they have not themselves gone to 3 No Trumps so they do not have a really strong point count. In the circumstances I suggest that you pass 2 No Trumps which you now have to play. To help you with the play, here are the four hands: North Spades J 4 Hearts A 9 8 4 Diamonds A Q 10 9 Clubs A J 2 East Spades 10 9 7 Hearts 5 Diamonds 8 7 3 2 Clubs K 8 5 4 3 South Spades A 8 5 Hearts Q 6 3 Diamonds 6 5 4 Clubs Q 10 9 7 West Spades K Q 6 3 2 Hearts K J 10 7 2 Diamonds K J Clubs 6 We will come back to the lead in a moment, but when you see North's hand, you count sixteen points which added to your eight makes twenty four, one less than the twenty five normally needed to make 3 No Trumps. You can occasionally make 3 No Trumps with less than 25 points, but not very often. Next, as you and partner have twenty four points, your opponents have sixteen. As West opened and has bid both major suits, it is highly probable that almost all the missing high cards are with West. This will help you to play the hand. If, for a moment, you pretend to be West, what would you lead against a no trump contract? It is debatable whether Spades or Hearts is the stronger suit. Probably Hearts because you have the K J 10 as opposed to the K Q of Spades. Normally as you know you lead the fourth highest of the suit - in this case the seven of Hearts. Now come back to being South, and you see West lead the seven of Hearts. You certainly don't want to play the Ace straightaway, so you play the eight, and hey presto, you suddenly have at least two tricks in the heart suit, and you are well on your way to making the contract, maybe more. It is interesting to note that if West decides to lead the fourth highest spade, the three, the same thing happens. You play the Jack from Dummy, and you make two spade tricks. The moral of this is clear. Think very hard about your lead card when you are defending a no trump contract. In this particular contract perhaps West should have led the Jack of Hearts or the King of Spades? Think about it. I will leave you now to play out the hand. This happens to be a case where you can make 3 No Trumps or more with fewer than twenty-five points, but remember it is an exception. Also be careful about when you play the Ace of Spades and the Ace of Hearts - there are traps there for the unwary. Good Bridging An Easter Bunny special for you See what you think about this hand while you are relaxing on Easter Monday. North is dealer and nobody is vulnerable. The deal is: North Spades 10 9 Hearts Q 10 3 2 Diamonds K 3 Clubs J 10 8 7 2 East Spades K 2 Hearts K 9 6 Diamonds A 7 5 4 2 Clubs 9 6 5 South Spades 8 6 4 Hearts J 8 7 4 Diamonds J 10 8 Clubs Q 4 3 West Spades A Q J 7 5 3 Hearts A 5 Diamonds Q 9 6 Clubs A K I think you will agree that North and South will stay silent during the auction, so we will look at what East and West have to say. East has ten points, and while it is sometimes ok to open with ten points this is not one of those occasions, as East only has one certain trick in hand. Turning to West - here's a lovely hand with twenty points, but there are only five or six certain tricks so the hand does not qualify for a 2 Spades opener. That's not a problem for they can open 2 No Trumps showing 20 - 22 points, but not guaranteeing a balanced hand. Don't forget that if you are opening 2 No Trumps on a hand with twenty to twenty-two points you must agree this with partner before you start playing, or else you may land in difficulties. Also remember that when West bids 2 No Trumps, East must alert the opponents, indicating that the hand is twenty to twenty-two points, but it is not necessarily balanced. It is now East's turn to bid. With ten points they can respond positively, and with a five card diamond suit, 3 Diamonds is fine. West now sniffs a slam, and asks for Aces, bidding 4 Clubs. East replies 4 Hearts, showing one Ace. West then bids 5 Clubs asking for Kings. East replies 5 5 Spades showing two Kings. West now knows partner has one Ace and two Kings, and bids 6 No Trumps with just one King missing, and feels fairly comfortable about it. West is playing the hand (having opened 2 No Trumps) and North leads the J of Clubs as it is the top of a run and clubs have not been bid as a suit. When West sees Dummy, he counts eleven tricks - almost certainly six spades, two Clubs, two Hearts and one Diamond. So one extra trick must be found, but the King of Diamonds, the Queen of Hearts and the Queen of Clubs are all missing. It looks as though West should make the contract perhaps, but if North/South discard carefully, they should end up taking two tricks and defeat the contract. The same applies if West decides to bid 6 Spades rather than 6 No Trumps. In a 6 Spades contract the hand is a very good example of the maxim that wherever possible in a suit contract you should try and trump in the hand with the shorter trump holding. In this case it is not possible to do this. Let me know if you think 6 No Trumps can be made!
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