No. 21
K 6
10 8 6 5 2
K 10
Q J 10 8
Q J 10 8 7 4 5
3
A K 9
7 5 2
Q 6 3 9
7 5 2
6 3 A
5 2
A 9 2
Q J
A J 8 4
K 9 7 4
S
W N
E
1NT
2S 3H
P
3NT
All Pass
Opening Lead QS
How do you play?
Count
your tricks. You have 2 spades, 2 diamonds and can develop 3 clubs. You must loose the lead twice so you don't have the time to set up hearts. That leaves diamonds for the two extra tricks. Win the first
or second spade in the dummy, knock out the ace of clubs. Win
the return and finesse the diamond ten, cash the King and enter your
hand with a club, cash the ace of diamonds – hoping the queen falls.
Success!
No. 20
S AQ
H KQJ
D 3
C J976432
South
S K
H A
D AKQ109864
C AKQ
This hand
was devised for the Intercollegiate Bridge Championship many years ago. Par for
North-South was to bid and make seven no-trump. The opening lead is the 7S. Your
up!
The only thing that could defeat you is a 4-0 diamond
spit. The hand can still be made if the 10 of clubs is stiff. Therefore play the ace of spades smothering the king. Then
the queen of spades pitching the ace of hearts. Then three rounds of hearts
pitching the AKQ of clubs. Now lead the J clubs. If the 10 of clubs falls run
the rest of the clubs, pitching your low diamonds. If it doesn’t fall play
a diamond and hope for no worse than a 3-1 break.
No. 19
S KQ8
H K108
D K1086
C KJ10
S A
H AQJ93
D A975
C A54
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
1 NT
Pass 3 H*
Pass
4 H Pass 4 NT
Pass
5 C Pass 5 NT
Pass
6 C Pass 7 H
All pass
*Natural game force
Opening Lead J of Spades. How do you play to give yourself the best chance of making your contract?
Win the AS, pull trumps in 3 rounds. Take the KQ of spades dumping diamonds. Take the AK of diamonds,
trump a diamond. If diamonds break 3–2 throw a club on the last diamond,
if they don’t break then you still have the club finesse to fall back on.
No. 18
North
A1087
765
8753
107
West East
3
J2
AJ3 Q642
AKQ104 J96
J863 Q952
South
KQ9654
K105
2
AK4
W N
E S
1S
2D 2S
P 4S
All Pass
West leads the AK of Diamonds. How do you play?
After trumping the 2nd Diamond. Play the KA of trumps, ruff
another diamond. Play the AK of Clubs and ruff a club and lead the 4th
diamond, do not ruff but throw a loser on a loser by discarding the 4 of hearts. West
on lead must give you a ruff sluff or lead up to your King of hearts.
No. 17
North
S 9863
H Q83
D QJ9
C AQ3
West East
S J7
S KQ1054
H 10762 H 9
D A5 D K874
C KJ1095 C 872
South
S A2
H AKJ54
D 10632
C 64
West North East South
1H
P 1S P
2D
P 3H P 4H
The
opening lead is the jack of clubs, queen wins. Declarer plays the Queen
of hearts and discards the 4 of hearts, west plays the 2 and East the 9. Trick
3 is 8 of hearts to the jack, east discards the 5 of spades. Declarer pulls trumps
with the ace & king, east discards the 7 and then the 8 of clubs. How
do you continue?
South
obviously needs 2 diamond tricks with his QJ109, but the defenders will
knock out the ace of spades and the last trump when they win the ace
& king of diamonds and lead the spades leaving south with no entry
to the last diamond unless diamonds break 3 - 3. The hardest thing to recognize sometimes is that you have a squeeze position, and
if the squeeze does not materialize, you can fall back on the 3 – 3 diamond split.
We need one defender to hold both long spades and long diamonds.
Let’s follow
the play.
Trick # S W
N E
5 KH 10H 3C* 8C
*This is a key discard as we need to keep spades
6 2D AD JD** 4D
** Starting to unblock the 2 high diamonds
7 AS JS 3S 4S
8 3D 5D QD KD
9 2S 7S 6S KS
10 5H 5C 8S QS
Leaving the following
position.
North
S 9
H
D 9
C A
West East
S S 10
H H
D D 87
C K109 C
South
S
H
D 106
C 6
Now on the lead of
the club East is squeezed he must discard the 10 of spades or un-guard the diamonds.
Note, the Squeeze would be just as devastating if the east & west hands were reversed.
If the hands at the
end had been like this:
North
S 9
H
D 9
C A
West East
S S 10
H H
D 7 D 8
C K10 C 9
South
S
H
D 106
C 6
Then
the diamonds would have split 3 – 3 and now your unblocking the
diamonds would have made it possible to overtake the 9 with the 10 and
cash the 6 for your game going trick.
No. 16
North
S A83
H
K42
D
43
C
A9654
West East
S 976 S 54
H 10976 H AQJ853
D K1085 D Q62
C KJ C 108
South
S KQJ102
H ---
D AJ97
C Q732
S W N E
1S P 1NT* 2H *Forcing
3C 3H 4S
5H
5S P P P
Opening Lead 10 of
hearts. Clubs are 2-2 and spades 3-2, now what?
You have to give
to receive and you must keep control of the hand. Even with the great splits
you will need to trump the opening lead and play low clubs from both hands. They
will force you again in hearts. You then play low diamonds from both hands. They will force you again in hearts (best).
Take the K & Q of spades, play a club to dummy and pull the last trump, dumping a diamond. On the 5th club you can discard your other losing diamond.
If
they don’t force you again in hearts, you can ruff a diamond in dummy,
pull trump and run the clubs to make your contract.
No.
15
K94
AK6
983
AK74
832 75
J1092 Q8743
J1052 4
32
QJ1065
AQJ106
5
AKQ76
98
N E S W
1NT P
3S P
4S P 4NT P
5H P 5NT P
6H P 7S All
Pass
Opening Lead J of hearts
What is your best play for 13 tricks?
The grand slam is cold when diamonds are 3-2.
Are they?
Draw 2 rounds of trumps, take the AK of diamonds.
If diamonds break, pull the last trump and claim. If
diamonds break 4-1 and your second diamond is not trumped it means that
the defender with 4 diamonds also has the case trump, so it is safe to
play the Q of diamonds, trump a diamond and return to hand by trumping
a spade to pull the last trump and claim your contract.
No. 14
S
765
H
Q76
D
KQ42
C
A32
S QJ84 S ---
H 942 H J1085
D J103 D 987
C KQ5 C J98764
S AK10932
H AK3
D A65
C 10
West North
East South
-- -- -- 1S
Pass 2D
Pass 3S
Pass 4S
Pass 4NT
Pass 5D
Pass 5NT
Pass 6D
Pass 6S
All Pass
West leads the king of clubs, east follows with the 9 and Declarer wins the ace and plays
the ace of spades, east discarding the 4 of clubs.
How do you continue?
The
slam can be made even with the 4-0 trump split if West has 4333 shape.
Accordingly, after the trump play at trick two, declarer cashes the AKQ
of diamonds, ruffs a club, plays the AKQ of hearts and ruffs the last
club.
West
has the QJ7 of spades and South the K109. Declarer throws west in with
the 9 of spades and West's must give the declarer the last two tricks
by leading up to the K10.
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No. 1
North
S 10 4
H
Q J 5
D A 8 6 3
C K 6 42
West
East
S A J 9 S
K Q 8 5 3
H 9 6
H 8 4
D J 9 5 2 D Q 10
C Q J 10 7 C 9 5 3
South
S 7 6 2
H
A K 10 7 2
D K 7 4
C A 8
West North East South
1 H
Pass 2 C Pass 2 NT
Pass 3 H Pass 4 H
Pass Pass Pass
Contract 4H
- Opening Lead 6H - Plan the play?
A Dummy Reversal
With the trump lead
you will not be able to ruff the
3rd Spade,
so try a Dummy Reversal, i.e., trump
losers in
the long trump hand and pull trumps with
the short trump
hand.
Win the trump lead
with Souths 10. The club ace,
low club to
the King. Ruff a club with the 7.
Diamond king,
a low diamond to the ace. Ruff
another club
high. Give up the third diamond and
whatever the defense
does they can't
prevent the
ruffing of dummys fourth diamond.
Declarer wins
3 trump tricks 2 club ruffs, a diamond
ruff, AK of
clubs and AK of diamonds.
No. 2
NORTH
S A864
H 6
D AK754
C 754
WEST EAST
SKQ109 S J732
H 2 H J854
D Q983 D J10
C 8632 C QJ1
SOUTH
S 6
H AKQ10973
D 62
C AK9
SOUTH NORTH
1H
2D
3H
3S
4NT 5H
5NT 6D
6H
Opening Lead
KS - Plan the play?
A Trump Coup
When things look
rosy its time to check to see what
can go wrong
as twelve tricks look cold, if 5 trumps
are in one
hand, there is nothing you can do. If 4
trumps to
the J are in one hand you can do something
if they are
in the East. There is nothing you can do if
they are in
the West.
Win the Ace of Spades,
trump a spade. Play the A &
K of trump,
bad news 4 to the Jack in the East. But
because you
took precautions on trick two, you can
prevail. Play the A & K of Clubs, a Diamond to the K,
trump another
Spade, a diamond to the Ace trump
the last Spade. Now all hands are reduced to 3 cards
& you
have the Q 10 of trumps and a Club, so you
play the Club
and you have a finesse position against
East as you
play after he must play from his J 8 no
matter which defender
wins the Club.
No. 3
North
S Q 9 2
H 10 8 5 4
D A K Q J 6
C A
West
East
S 8 3
S A K J 10 7
H J 7 2
H 9
D 10 7 2 D
8 5 3
C 10 9 6 4 3 C
Q J 8 2
S 6 5 4
H A K Q 6 3
D 9 4
C K 7 5
West North East South
1D 1S
2H
PASS 4H PASS PASS
PASS
You are East. The opening lead is the 8 Spades, you cover
the 9 with your 10. You take the A & K of Spades declarer
follows with the 4, 5 & 6. West plays the 3 of Spades on trick
two and discards the 3 of Clubs on trick 3. What do you lead
to trick 4?
If your partner West has as little as Qx or K Singleton or Jxx
another Spade lead will promote her honor to the setting
trick. Any other lead
allows Declarer to pull trump and
discard her Club loser on the good Diamonds.
No. 4
North
S K82
H 5
D K1098642
C 96
S 753
S ---
H ---
H QJ1087632
D AQ75
D J3
C Q86543
C J102
South
S AQJ10964
H AK94
D ---
C AK
South West North East
2C Pass 2D 4H
4S Pass 5S Pass
6S Pass Pass Pass
Opening lead: 3S East discards the 8 of Hearts on the opening lead Plan the play:
Win the Ace of Spades. It should be obvious
that East has all the Hearts for
her 4 Heart bid and if you try to take the A of Hearts; West will ruff and
lead another trump; leaving you with a 2nd Heart loser. Trick two you lead a
small Heart, West trumps and leads his 3rd trump. Win in hand and ruff your
small heart; return to hand by ruffing a diamond and claim.
John Tyner was the first to send in the correct
answer to No. 4 and
wins free plays at the LaFetra Bridge Club
No. 5
S AJ10
H J54
D AKJ8
C AJ7
S 62 S 43
H AKT986 H Q
D 54
D Q9632
C 984
C K10652
S KQ9875
H 762
D 107
C Q3
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTHH
2S
Pass 4S
ALL PASS
On the
lead of the ace of hearts, east discards
the Q,
with the J in view it shows either a
singleton
or a doubleton. West continues with
the K,
east discarding the 2 of diamonds and on
the lead
of the 10, east trumps with the 3 of
spades.
East leads back the 4 of spades, west follows
with the
2. You pull the last trump east
discards
the 2 of clubs.
How do
you continue?
East has shown up with
10 cards in the
minors and west with
5. It doesnt look like
either finesse will work.
Cash dummy's ace of clubs.
Lead the last heart to
your hand and run off all your trumps. Leaving three
cards in each hand.
The AKJ of diamonds in
the dummy and the club queen
and 2 Diamonds with declarer.
If East has the minor
suit honors (10 minor suit
cards to 5) he can see
if he discards a Diamond,
you know he still has
the King of Clubs so you will
take the A and K of diamonds
and his Queen will
fall making your jack
the 10th trick. He will
probably discard the
King of Clubs, hoping his
partner has the Queen.
You have it and the last
three tricks are the club
queen and the ace and
king of diamonds.
No. 6
North
S Q7
H
KQ4
D
QJ54
C
A1096
S AK65
S J10432
H 32 H J75
D K73 D 10982
C 7543 C K
SOUTH
S
98
H
A10986
D
A6
C
QJ82
SOUTH
WEST NORTH EAST
Pass Pass 1D
Pass
1H Pass 2H Pass
4H
All Pass
West cashes the A and
K of Spades then shifts to a trump.
You draw trumps
in 3 rounds ending in dummy so that you can
take the diamond
finesse, West wins and exits with the 7 of diamonds. How do you continue?
As West has shown up
with the AK of spades and the K of diamonds she
can not hold the K of clubs, with that card she would have 13 HCP’s
& 3 Quick tricks and would have certainly opened the bidding; so
you must bang down the A of Clubs and you are rewarded when East drops
his singleton King.
NO. 7
North
S A76
H J106
D AQJ10
C J42
West East
S J1093 S Q2
H 98 H 75
D K98642 D 753
C 10 C AKQ853
South
S K854
H AKQ432
D ---
C 976
North East South West
1D 2C 2H Pass
3H Pass 4H All Pass
Opening
Lead 10C
East wins with the Queen and leads the Ace and King of clubs, west pitches the 2 and 4 of diamonds, east then leads a small trump. Trumps are
2 - 2.
How
do you continue? And Why?
East
has 5 cards in diamonds and spades and west has 10; there
is a lot more room in the west hand for the King of diamonds,
so it doesn’t look like cashing the Ace of
diamonds
and trying a ruffing finesse of the King will work.
Win
the first trump lead in hand, then low to the Jack of trumps,
cash the Ace of Diamonds, dumping a spade, trump a diamond
and lead all your trumps; keeping two spades and a diamond
in dummy and 3 spades in your hand. West can’t keep both 3 spades and the King of diamonds, so if the
King
of diamonds in not discarded take the Ace of Spades and
a spade to the King and your other spade is a winner.
No. 7A – Double Dummy Problem
The contract is 7 hearts. West leads the 9 of spades. How do you play? You may look at all four hands. Assume logical play by the defense.
S A532
H
A76
D A2
C AKQ5
S 987 S
KQJ106
H 432 H
8
D 6543 D
KQJ98
C J87
C 103
S
4
H
KQJ1095
D 107
C 9542
Win
the Ace of spades, ruff a spade, draw four rounds of trumps, discarding
a diamond. Cash the A-K-Q of clubs, making sure you keep your 2 or 4
of clubs. Position after AKQ of clubs.
S 53
H
D A
C 5
S 7
S QJ
H H
D 654 D
KQ
C
C
S
H
10
D 107
C 2
Lead
your low club. East has no safe discard. If he discards a spade, you
ruff a spade, making dummy’s low spade a winner, with the Ace of
diamonds as an entry. If he discards a diamond, you cash the ace of
diamonds before ruffing a spade and score the last trick with the
diamond ten.
No.
8
North
S 532
H
KJ3
D
A2
C
97543
West
East
S Q1074 S KJ9
H 982
H 4
D K976
D J10543
C K8
C J1062
South
S
A86
H AQT765
D Q8
C AQ
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
1H
All Pass
Opening Lead 4 of Spades
How do you play?
Which would you rather
have a 50% or an 84% shot? Taking the club finesse is a 50% chance, setting up
the 5th club for a diamond discard which requires a 4-2 or 3-3 division of the defenders clubs, is a little less
then 84%. Win the ace of spades, ace of clubs, queen of clubs. You now have 3
entries to the dummy; KJ of hearts and the A of diamonds. The defense after winning
the K of clubs can take 2 spade tricks, you will win the return in dummy, trump a club high.
Take high trump in hand, enter dummy with a trump, trump a club high enter dummy with either the last trump or the
ace of diamonds, whichever is left and pitch your diamond loser on the fifth
club.
CONGRATULATIONS TO HERB STAMPFL FOR BEING THE FIRST TO SUBMIT
THE CORRECT ANSWER TO NO. 8.
CONGRATULATIONS
TO JOHN TYNER FOR BEING THE FIRST TO SUBMIT THE CORRECT ANSWER TO
NO. 9.
No. 9
North
S KJ8
H J75
D KJ9
C A865
West
East
S 762
S A5
H 4
H AK9632
D 108654
D A3
C QJ72 C 943
South
S Q10943
H Q108
D Q72
C K10
West
North East South
Pass
1C 1H
1S
Pass
2S All Pass
You are east. West leads
the 4 of hearts, you take the king & ace of hearts, west discarding the 4 of diamonds.
How do you continue?
East returns the ace and
then the 3 of diamonds. East
wins the first trump trick and gives his partner a heart ruff by
leading his 9 of spades, west ruffs and noting the suit preference
signal from his partner leads back a diamond for partner to ruff.
CONGRATULATIONS TO HERB STAMPFIL FOR BEING THE FIRST TO SUBMIT THE CORRECT ANSWER TO NO. 10.
No.
10
You are in 7 hearts,
with the opening Lead of the QD.
How do you play?
S AKT96
H
Q4
D
A876
C
A3
S Q74 S J53
H 1073 H K6
D QJ93 D K542
C 542 C 10987
S
82
H
AJ9852
D 10
C
KQJ6
Win the opening lead
with the ace and trump a diamond.
Small spade to the
K and trump another diamond.
Lead your last spade
to the ace and trump your last diamond.
Lead the small club
to the ace and trump a spade.
Leaving the following
position:
North
S T9
H
Q4
C
3
West East
H 1073 H K6
C 54 C 1098
South
S
H
AJ
D
C
KQJ
Lead your 3 clubs,
west must trump the 3rd club,
you overtrump and
take the heart finesse for your
13th trick.
CONGRATULATIONS TO HERB STAMPFIL FOR BEING
THE FIRST TO SUBMIT THE CORRECT ANSWER TO NO. 11.
No.
11
North
S A75
H 542
D Q965
C K76
West East
S J986 S Q1043
H KJ7 H Q983
D AK1072 D J
C 3 C Q542
South
S K2
H A106
D
843
C AJ1098
West North East South
1D Pass 1H 2C
2H 3C All Pass
West
leads the ace of diamonds and continues with the K and a low diamond,
east follows with the jack and discards the 3 of spades and trumps the
3rd diamond with the 2 of clubs and returns the 3 of hearts.
What
is east’s and west’s distribution and how does south continue?
Declarer knows that
west started with 5 diamonds. West raised east’s 1 heart bid so he must
have 3. Neither east or west bid spades so you can infer that neither has 5 or
more so east and west each have 4.
Giving west 4 spades,
3 hearts, 5 diamonds and 1 club; and east 4 spades, 4 hearts, 1 diamond and 4 clubs.
Declarer
wins the ace of hearts, leads to the king of clubs and takes the club
finesses. He then draws trumps and uses the ace of spades as the entry
to the good Queen of diamonds. Winning 5 clubs, 1 diamond 1 heart
and 2 spades for his nine tricks.
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