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charliepatrick
charliepatrick
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Joined: Jun 17, 2011
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Paigowdanbeachbumbabs
February 7th, 2017 at 7:41:38 AM permalink
I don't know how many people here play bridge and/or like puzzles. Anyway I spotted this interesting bridge problem in The [London] Times today. It can be posed as a defence problem or a declarer problem so I'll put them in spoilers to give you the choice.

The bidding was 1NT (12-14pts) pass 3NT end and West (defender) leads Qh.

Dummy has

s : A Q J
h : 9 5 4
d : J 9 7 4 2
c : A J


East has
s : 8 7 4 3 2
h : K 6
d : K 8
c : Q 10 9 2
What is your play to trick 1?



East has
s : 8 7 4 3 2
h : [K] [6]
d : K 8
c : Q 10 9 2

You should unblock your King and lead back a Heart.
What is your play to trick 3 as your partner follows wit Jh then 10h?




South has
s : K 9 6
h : A 8 2
d : A 10 5 3
c : K 7 3
How long do you hold up your Ace Hearts, and how do you play diamonds?



DUMMY
s : A Q J
h : 9 5 4
d : J 9 7 4 2
c : A J

DEFENDERS
West
s : 10 5
h : Q J 10 7 3
d : Q 6
c: 9 8 6 4

East
s : 8 7 4 3 2
h : K 6
d : K 8
c : Q 10 9 2

DECLARER
s : K 9 6
h : A 8 2
d : A 10 5 3
c : K 7 3

The correct play for defender is to Unblock the Kh and continue to play Hearts.
The correct play for declarer is to take the second Heart...
if the declarer holds up until the third round, East should throw away the Kd (as if declarer has AQ his King is doomed.
Declared should then cross to dummy and lead a Diamond, putting up the Ace unless East plays the King. This works for a variety of layouts including Qx/Kx, K/Qxx, Q/Kxx, KQx - the latter loses two diamonds but no more hearts. Layouts such as Qxx,K are going to lose whatever you do.
gordonm888
Administrator
gordonm888
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Joined: Feb 18, 2015
February 7th, 2017 at 11:29:00 AM permalink
I guess the key to East's defense is to realize that West has long high hearts without the A and that you want to unblock your suits to see if you can create an entry into his hand so that he can lead hearts after the Declarer wins his Ace.. As East, I would like to think that I would have unblocked the heart suit on Round 1, but I doubt I would have discarded my K-diamonds on round 3. Nice puzzle..
So many better men, a few of them friends, are dead. And a thousand thousand slimy things live on, and so do I.
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