Play it again puzzle #1

Good news - your website has a new software programme enabling you to play hands again.  We will regularly post hands here - so if you have a hand you want analysed by computer, perhaps one found during the lockdown, send it to southambridgeweb@gmail.com.

To get started, here's a challenging puzzle, in which South has to make 6♥ after West unsurprisingly leads 10♣ . Ignore the bidding - it's all about the play.

The contract is makeable, but how?  See if you can work it out - it's a tough one.  For the solution on 'Play it again'.

Here's what to do after that: Click on 5♥  by South in the bottom right box (not 6♥ because the computer shows the maximum contract against any defence, and West is certain to make two tricks if leading a trump at trick 1).

Click on 10♣ in West.  Each card is then colour-coded showing the number of tricks that partnership can make if that card is played.

Good luck - and please send me hands of interest.

The same Play-it-Again facility has also been added to every one of the hands listed under Hands of the Week in the left-hand menu.  I aim to add a new hand - either sent in by you or a new puzzle - every week, and one from every meeting when eventually normal play resumes - Colin

Which slam?  Hand 27, January 29

What do you know? On a night of flat hands, this writer missed the one fizz-bang deal, number 27, where most people harvested a bagfull.  But which slam to bid, spades or no trumps?

After South opens 2NT, North surely anticipates laurels with at least 33 HCP.  With so many, NT must appeal although spades might be safer.

A 4NT response might miss the spade slam.  What abut 4C Gerber asking for Aces? There are after all only a maximum of 7 pts outstanding, and there's the big advantage that the  lead will come from West.

Brian & Peter make club's 1st grand slam for at least two years

Chairman Tony's plea that members shuffle cards thoroughly has paid dividends with a succession of great hands recently. Thanks - keep it up.

This was the deal on 19 Feb that produced the first grand slam of 2020 - after not one was bid and made throughout 2019.

Many tables passed the bidding around for South to open with 2♣, indicating 23+ HCP or ten tricks.  What North bids next depends on your system, but unless the partnership can find the spade fit or play in NT, only 12 tricks are possible.

In fact, Peter made it easier for partner with a weak 2♠ opening - despite adverse vulnerability.

Immediately Brian sensed opportunity.  It looks like his partner must have some points in the minors, so he bids 4NT, for a response of 4♦ (one key card), then goes straight to 7♠ , which makes.

A reminder - the more you shuffle, the more likely we are to get great hands like these.  Riffle shuffle seven times or more if you can.

Rob's tip: After shuffling, deal in piles of five and redistribute the fifth pile among the others.  That is as good as three riffle shuffles.

No Trump contract - but by whom?

20 points apiece, nothing special there you might think, but hand 3 on 21 September was one of the most surprising, as computer analysis shows.  A 3NT contract is assured, but where?

At five of the seven tables, North-South played in No Trumps.  But in fact, with the right lead and perfect defence, NS can make only four tricks.  A fluke, of course, as with careful defence South should be prevented from getting into partner's hand for those lovely clubs.  It's actually East-West that can make 3NT, in either hand, and against any lead. 

See for yourself, by trying the Play-it-again facility.

To replay the hand*, click on the results section top right (or go via results on the left for older sessions), go to 'Travellers' then 'Play' in the right-hand column of a hand, choose a contract from the makeable options, and play.  The number displayed with each card gives the maximum tricks for that partnership if that card is played.

Or: To play exactly as on the night, click the yellow square in the makeable contracts box (for NS on this hand click on -NT, for EW on 3NT.  Each card actually played has a tiny asterisk.  If you divert and play the hand differently, the asterisks disappear.

*If doing so for the first time, click on 'BS Online' to select Bridge Solver Online. This site will remember that in future, unless you clear Cookies.

Hand 7 from 25 September

A hand that shows the benefits of a good shuffle!

If N/S play weak 2 openers, it's likely that this was an interesting auction. If not, what will West open - 1♦ or 3♦ ? Most E/W pairs ended up playing in 5♣, with one trying for the slam. In fact against best defence E should only make 3♣ (A♥ from South followed by a small ♥  ruffed by North, A ♦ cashed then a spade continuation. East will lose a further ♥ ).

One pair played in 3NT which on an unlikely ♦ lead from South will make 9 tricks against best defence, otherwise 10 tricks (they actually made 11). Hence the par score in technical terms is actually N/S playing in 4♠  doubled going 2 off for -500.

Hand 4 on July 10: Worth the risk

A bit of a curiosity here.  It's usual to open the top of two 5-card suits, although some Norths, holding 16pts may think it better to bid 1♥ , and jump to 2♠  in the second round.  As it happens, it should be easier to find the slam if North opens the standard 1♠.

With EW silent, the bidding may go 1♠  - 2♥  - 4♥ .  As declarer, South would have four to six losers, so investigating the slam is worthwhile via 4NT.

This gets a response showing two Aces, or two plus Q♥  depending on the system you are playing.  North has a maximum of four cards in the minors, and with south holding Kx♦  and AQxx♣  as declarer, the probable minor lead looks less risky.  So a bid of 6♥  looks fairly safe.

But what if, as seems to have happened in most cases, North opens 1♥, intending with 16pts to rebid 2♠  ?  Partner can go straight to 4NT, or make a 4♣  cue bid showing the ace, and hoping to hear 4♦ .

A better alternative might be for partner to bid Jacoby 2NT, confirming game in hearts and giving more space to explore the slam.  North then bids 3♠  to show the ace.

South then has a dilemma.  He/she knows partner has A♠  and probably A♥ , but not A♦ .  So it's 50-50 whether it's held by East (safe), or West, which could mean losing the first two tricks.

However, the danger is reduced to less than 50-50 if North holds only one diamond, or Qx♦ , so worth the risk.

Whatever method they used, congratulations to Anna and David, Meryl and Neville for bidding and making it.

Hand 11, June 26: NT, clubs or slam?

Some tricky bidding decisions for East here, after partner opens 1♦ , top of two 5-card suits.

Although holding five clubs, a response of 1♠ seems likely, otherwise missing the chance to show the major.  Back comes opener's 2♣  and things get interesting.  What now?

With those controls in the majors, 3NT seems a good bet despite that singleton in opener's suit, and in fact is sure to make 10 tricks.  So well done to Peter Marriott for spotting this.

Jim and Neville went one better, finding and making the slam in 6♣ .  Either inspiration or simply advanced skills unknown to this writer.

Hand of the week - Hand 12 from January 15th

There were a number of interesting hands on 15th January with Hand 12 amongst the best. With 14 HCP and a 5 loser hand South may well start thinking about a slam once North has opened. Finding the best contract may depend on what level of interference comes from E/W in spades. In fact there is a small slam available in both diamonds and hearts and a grand slam in clubs and in no trumps!   

Hand 27, March 4 by request

Every EW made 12 tricks here, but Wests asked whether the slam could be found.

After a 2NT opening, East may transfer to spades then bid 3NT, and that's probably it, with that contract beating the alternative 4♠ .

Without the unsuspected long clubs, and K♠  onside, it wouldn't make anyway.

Hand 10 from 5th June

North / South can make 3NT, 4H or 5D on this board so the optimum contract is 4H. However 4 pairs managed to gather only 9 tricks in hearts so at the table in real time it was clearly a little tricky. There are a number of ways to make the contract. With good communication between the hands you could ruff the second and third rounds of Spades. You have 2 Clubs and 2 Diamonds plus 2 definite trump tricks. The 10th trick can either be a long diamond or another trump depending on how you play it.

Play it again puzzle #2

You can find lots of double dummy puzzles online, so this is posted just to get members' accustomed to the Play it again facility which will be used for future Hands of the Week, when the club resumes.

This one comes from the Eddie Kantar site and is a classic of its kind.  You are South in 6♠ and West leads 2♦ .  The problem seems to be that you have insufficient entries into dummy to establish those hearts on which to discard your losing diamonds.  See if you can solve it, then click on 'Play it again'.

Puzzle #1 is in Past hands of the week in the left-hand menu.

Hand of the Week - Dea l6, April 24

I think this was the most interesting hand from April 24. Should South double the opening bid of 1♦? It shouldn't make any difference to West, who with 10 points and a 7 1/2 loser hand is on the look out for a possible game. What is West's second bid? 2♥ might be natural or 4th suit forcing but either way East will probably bid 2NT. Decision time for West - Pass or raise to 3NT? South's double has revealed that the majority of the missing points are in the South hand and that probably South has at least 3 cards in ♣ ♥ and ♠. West's ♠ and ♥ holding are encouraging and with 10 x x in ♦s the writer decided to bid on to 3NT.

Somewhat unexpectedly as the cards lie East / West can make 4NT or 5♠ or 5♦. In 3NT, if East assumes the Q♠ and A♦ are in the South and that spades divide evenly there are 9 tricks off the top once East gets in. If declarer ducked ♣s twice at the start before winning with the A♣ then that will be it. However if declarer won the second round of ♣ s before taking 2 ♥ tricks and 4♠ tricks he ends up in dummy with ♠ 2 ♥ Q 8 and ♦ 10 4. Now South is squeezed when delarer plays ♠ 2 and if declarer pays attention he can make an extra trick.            

Hand of the week: Hand 16, April 10

Good bidding is about giving partner as much information as possible with each bid.  Bidding no trumps as opener early in the auction gives partner a lot of information – at least two cards in each suit and a fairly precise point range.

So if you are playing a 12-14 no trump and have a flat hand in that range, always open one no trump, and if you have a stronger flat hand, you should always rebid in no trumps, unless you have 4-card support for partner.  Now take a look at hand 16 from last night.

Some pairs played in the dreadful two heart contract.  What went wrong? West opens one heart, North will reluctantly pass, East bids one spade and South passes with no reluctance at all.

Now West has to decide on a rebid.  If you rebid two hearts to tell partner that you have five of them, you are giving her very little new information. She already knows you have four, and will suspect you might well have five, after all most hands have a 5-card suit or longer (about 65%). So you are telling her about one card in your hand, that partner already suspected you had.

On the other hand if you rebid two diamonds you are telling her about four cards she never knew you had, but importantly you are also telling her that you have five hearts.  How is that? Well you didn’t open one no trump or rebid no trumps, so you don’t have a flat hand.

Therefore you have at 5-cards suit or longer, which must be hearts. Actually I have to admit that’s not a watertight argument.  About 3% of the time partner will have been dealt a 4-4-4-1 hand, but that is so rare it’s best to ignore the possibility, and always assume that partner has five cards in her first suit if she rebids a second suit.

And because partner is always going to make that assumption you should always bid a second suit rather that rebidding your 5-card suit if you can do so without showing more strength than you have. Congratulations to Fliss and Rob who got to the best contract of 5 diamonds. Unfortunately the 4-1 trump split meant they couldn’t make it, although they still did better than the people playing in two hearts!

Hand of the week: Deal 19, April 3

Congratulations to Penny and Marjorie, Jim and Jo for finding the slam here.

There's a school of thought that might advocate a 3♣  opening by South, using the pre-empt for the 6-card pre-empt, 2♣ being unavailable.

South wants to disrupt 4♠  in EW, but on the other hand is rather strong with 10 HCP.  Which goes to show teacher wasn't always wise after all.

In response, North may well simply bid 3NT, making a certin 12 tricks.  Let's rewind.

Instead of the pre-empt, South now passes, leaving North to open 1♥ and hears 2♣  in response.

Knowing game is on, North jumps to 3♦.  For all South knows, a bid of 4♥ might close the auction, but also knowing game is on, could bid 3♥  without fear of missing it.

Whatever South's response, North can now ponder her 21 HCP, 4-loser hand, matched with at least 9 HCP in partner's, and bids 4NT, revealing one key card in what will be dummy.

There's a good chance of either partner or West holding the important Kings, so North can bid 6♥.

6 March 2019, hand 20: a lesson in keycards

West has 20 high card points, worth slightly less with a singleton Q♣, so dare not open 2NT.  Most will therefore open 1♠  hoping for a response.

Partner has 12 gameworthy points, but as 2♥ would show a 5-card suit, bids 2♣.

Wow, thinks West, with only four losers, and could jump to a game-forcing 3♦.  But Rob, not messing about, seems slam prospects and bids instead a Blackwood 4NT.

Now here's the interesting bit - new to this compiler at least.

That bid asks for key cards.  Easy enough when the suit is established, with the K of the agreed trump suit as the fifth key card.  So - according to the system you play - 5♣  can show 0 or 4, 5♦  shows 1 or 5, 5♥ = 2, and 5♠  = 3.

But here there is no agreed suit - it could be ♠  or  ♣  or neither, ie No Trumps.  In those circumstances, the suit previously bid by responder can be assumed to be the trump suit (even if it isn't), therefore including K♣  as a fifth key card.

So under this system, partner could then bid 5♥, showing two key cards.  In fact, like me - and possibly you - responder simply bid 5♦, ignoring the above, and showing just one Ace.

What now?  Declarer guesses rightly that his singleton Q♣  is covered and the best contract will be in 5NT, but if he bids that, partner will take it as a continuation of Blackwood and bid on.

So - another new rule - in a fix at this level, opener bids the unbid suit, which cannot be genuine, ie 5♥.  Partner corrected to 5♠ and declarer can now bid 5NT for a clear top.

In fact both 6♠  and 6NT can be made, and could have been bid under this system.

Phew!  Quite an ascent, and that idea of including the K of the last suit bid by responder when there's no agreed suit seems a great idea to bear in mind.

See also Previous Hands of the Week in the left-hand menu.

Hand of the week: Deal 9, February 20

It's always more difficult in a new partnership, so full marks to Anna and Anne, playing together for the first time at Southam in 2019, for being the only NS to find the game contract here.  The key may be knowledge of the negative double - ironically by not using it.

After two passes, South opens 1♣ , overcalled by 1♦  on the left.  North's bid is then crucial.  With just four hearts, she would use the negative double, so a bid of 1♥  here shows five, without saying anything about spades.

East might, despite the vulnerability, raise partner's bid to the level of trumps held by bidding 3♦.  No matter, as South is now reasonably excited, with only six losers - or arguably only five if one discounts a heart loser because of partner's holding in the trump suit.

The vulnerability helps here, and even if South bids only 3♥ , Anna in North holding 7 losers raises to game.  Three other pairs also made 10 tricks, but Anna and Anne were the only ones to bid the contract.

February 13: Hand 26

Here - for the benefit of the opposition - is a celebration of what not to do, as achieved by the foolhardiness of the writer of these notes.  In fact every contract went down, but none as disastrously as his  4♦  doubled minus two.

After East opens 1♥, some Souths will settle for a simple overcall of 1S, but what if South makes a Michael's cue bid of 2♥ , showing spades and a minor.  What happens next?  Expect the unexpected.  Click on Show Answer.

Hand of the week: Deal 17, February 6

Holding a giant hand, East is surprised to hear North open 1♥.  That means only 4 or 5 points in the other two hands.  What now?

Hand of the week: 23 January, deal 24

Three passes come around to South, holding a huge hand.  It's not quite a maximum opening, but after a quiet 1♣ , lo and behold partner bids 1♠ .  What now?

In fact 6♣ , 6♠  and 6NT are all cold, but this writer at least could not see how to find it.  Is it probably safe to look for the slam, and if so how?

See what you think, then click Show Answer.

Hand of the week: the trump coup

A memorably difficult challenge, this one, as set by Bernard Magee at the Mr Bridge break attended by several members (who are banned from giving the answer - if they can remember it!)

Partner is feeling perky and has put you into a Grand Slam.  North leads K♥  losing to A♥, but it will soon become clear that J♠ is a problem.  Yet a rarely-used technique - the trump coup - can make all 13 tricks.  It's the only way to do it.  Award yourself a genius badge if you can find it.  Click on Show Answer if you can't.

Hand of the week: Board 1 from Jan 9

It's possible for E/W to make 4♠ , 5♥ , 5♣ , 7♦ or 7NT on this hand! With 18 HCP in the West hand if East opens a strong NT then E/W should routinely reach 6NT (no-one did). When East opens 1♦ it's up to West to keep the slam possibilities alive, which an immediate bid of 3NT probably will not do. The Club suit is critical to both slams but when J♣ is led from West and covered by K♣ then subsequently playing North for 10♣ yields all 13 tricks. Well done to Stewart and Richard and to Gwynne and Mary Ann for making 6♦ plus 1.

Hand of the week: NT or diamonds?

Hand 19 on 2 January, chosen by Fliss, presents a dilemma.  Game is on in NT, diamonds or spades, but where does the best contract lie, and how to get there?  Cautious Souths may pass, North opens 1♣ , and rebids 1♠  after South's 1♥.  What now for South?  Don't you wish sometimes you could double partner?  A more aggressive South opening of 1♥  would seem to pay off, with the 2 ♦  rebid pointing the way to a possible slam, ruffing the hearts good.  In any situation, West leading either Ace looks fatal for the defence.  Probably you can find your own best outcome.

Caps off to the Christmas elf

Fliss and Rob (pictured left) were not the only ones to bid 6NT on hand 16 at the Christmas party, handsomely arranged by Gwynne and Mary Ann.  Brian and Peter did too, but Rob, festively dressed for the occasion, made it with bells on so to speak, winning all 13 tricks.

Many others finished in 4♥, also making 12 or 13, but if declarer West reverses, partner can see at least 32 points and think of a slam, possibly NT.  And with only K♠  outstanding, all 13 are on without the need for the finesse.  Fliss (East) remembers the bidding (NS passing throughout) as 1♠ - 2♥  / 3NT (16+) - 4NT / 5C (0 or 3 key cards).  Then with all Aces and strong hearts, East bids 6NT.

Hand of the century: Deal 007

His mother should have warned him about playing cards for money.  This was the rigged deal on which George III's son Prince Ernest Augustus, the Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, reportedly lost £20,000.

True or not, it was known to another keen bridge player, Ian Fleming.  Which hand would you choose?  And what might the contract be?

Click on Show Answer for a surprise.

And you can play this one again

A small slam was possible here on board 23 of the SimPairs competition for Children in Need on 14 November, in clubs, spades or no trumps. No-one bid it, but three pairs made 12 tricks.

See if you can bid it, or make 12 tricks even if you cannot, with the great new Play it Again feature.

Go to Results/14 November/Scorecards then click on the Play it Again button on the bottom right.  Good luck.