Chew the Fat! > IAC & Master Solvers Club
Master Solvers Club, posts up to June 2019
Masse24:
I recently (two years ago) started subscribing to The Bridge World, the world's leading bridge magazine.
One of the more enjoyable aspects of my subscription is the monthly MASTER SOLVERS CLUB. The Bridge World's MASTER SOLVERS CLUB is the world's longest-running and most popular bridge feature. New problems in bidding and sometimes play are presented each month. The great thing about the MASTER SOLVERS CLUB is that it does not require a subscription to enter. The contest is free and is open to all.
Each month there are eight new problems that require careful consideration. Usually they are extremely difficult bidding problems and you, the bidder, are asked to find the best, most descriptive bid. The highest scoring bid is very often doubling, cue-bidding, or bidding a three card suit.
Recently, I started a back-and-forth e-mail exchange of MSC ideas with two other IAC members. While I have done well on my own, twice making the "Honor Roll," I find the "discussion" stimulating. By starting this thread, I thought we might expand the "discussion" to others who might also enjoy the difficulty of the problems, but especially the discussion!
The link to the MSC problems is here: https://www.bridgeworld.com/indexphp.php?page=/pages/msc/mastersolversmainpage.html
The deadline for replies is the 10th of each month at 9:00 a.m. EST.
Unfortunately, that is in just a few hours, so we will not see much participation due to time constraints. But maybe going forward we could generate a monthly discussion?
P.S. The reason I put this post in the 2/1 folder is that the MSC uses Bridge World Standard, a basic 2/1 system often used as a beginning template of agreements by experts. On most problems, the system used does not necessarily come into play. The problems are generally bidding judgement problems with more than one (sometimes several) viable answer.
P.P.S. I have not yet submitted my July answers, but I intend to do so later tonight. I'll post my thoughts on this month's problems soon.
Masse24:
My initial thoughts:
A: 3 !D. That !D King should fill out the six-card suit in partner’s hand nicely. If this were IMPs, 3NT would be automatic. But playing MPs, I’ll settle for the invite. I also want to right side NT (should partner continue) for the presumed heart lead. Second choice, 3NT.
B: X. Get the !S in. Possibly important in the part-score battle that may ensue ( !S is the boss suit!). I can support clubs later.
C: 2 !D or X (I haven't decided yet). This is a coin flip in my mind.
D: 2 !C. Another tough one. 2 !H or 2 !S are also appealing.
E: 3NT. This one seemed clear to me, which concerns me. They always throw a wrench in the works with some bizarre preferred bid. 3 !H (shaping out) is a possibility, introducing the idea of playing in a Moysian? What am I missing?
F: 3NT. Not clear on this at all. 4 !S also comes to mind. And Pass was my initial first thought, so that too must be given consideration. Partner is huge with spades and has refused our Leb 2NT. Bidding game here is a strong contender. We’re playing IMPs, and we’re vulnerable. I think I’m going to pick a game bid. But which one?
G: 3 !C. Shows my values, and because I did not double to show four !H, and did not bid 2NT to show a flat 11 with !S stopped, 3 !C should show !D tolerance, yes? 2NT is a bid I strongly considered, but ultimately rejected. Though I have the !S Ace (yes, it’s a stopper), I want more to be in No trump. Importantly, if partner has a !S honor (Q-third?) then I want the lead coming to him, not thru him. If he has the values, possibly long diamonds, and a !S stopper, I’m hoping he will bid 3-no-trump.
H: !S J. Also tempting is the !H T.
Not yet submitted. A couple of choices are still marinating. ;)
kenberg:
A: 2NT Maybe pessimistic but that's my call.
B. X I have four spades, X says I have four spades.
C. X I think. I want to get my spades in and I do not want to ignore my diamonds, so it seems right.These snap dragons are often shown as 1 !C - 1 !D - 1 !S - X as a way of showing five hearts and diamond tolerance, when the hand lacks the strength for a 2 !H call. But it seems reasonable to take the same approach here. If they go on to 2 !H (or 1NT) then we might belong in !S and we might belong in !D.
D. 2 !S seems clear to me. Partner doubled, I have spades, playing in spades seems likely. Not certain, but surely I should show my spades.
E. 3 !S. I don't have three spades or I would have bid 2 !S over 2 !D. Maybe partner would like to hear about my good two card holding.
F. 4 !S I suppose.
I agree that pass is tempting. And 3NT is also. Perhaps they can take the first six tricks in NT, perhaps they can't. All possible. But I have just a bit, and I think 4 !S is the best shot.
G. 2NT. Second choice is 3NT but that's a bit optimistic.
H. I changed my mind several times on this. I'm leading the !S J. Crazy maybe, but that's my lead.
My thinking, fwiw. Declare is probably planning on running diamonds and has hopes of scoring other tricks. So: He might bid 3NT with only Kx in hearts. If he has only 8 tricks then I don't want to give him the 9th. Of course he also might have KJX in hearts and partner perhaps has two and perhaps if I start with a heart declarer still doesn't have 9. It's a bet either way.
I await the wisdom of the Masters.
Masse24:
Finally pulled the trigger. My choices:
Your Solutions for the July 2018 Contest
-------------------
PROBLEM A: 3 !D
PROBLEM B: Double
PROBLEM C: 2 !D
PROBLEM D: 2 !C
PROBLEM E: 3 !S
PROBLEM F: 3 Notrump
PROBLEM G: 3 !C
PROBLEM H: !S Jack
Answers are posted promptly--same day--within a few hours of the deadline.
kenberg:
I await their thoughts, particularly about the opening lead. A few more thoughts on the lead.
Anytime dummy shows up with 2+hearts I am unlikely to regret not leading a heart. Say dummy has 2, leaving partner and declarer with a total of 4. If partner has 1 then he will never be able to lead a heart later, while if partner has 2 hearts then declarer has 2, either Kx or KJ so as soon as partner gets in we run the suit.
But of course maybe dummy does have only 1 heart, leaving 5 more with declarer and partner. If so, and ifpartner has 3 then again it was best not to lead the heart. If partner has only 2 then I have to hope that they are Jx.
There is an interesting case when declarer has three hearts to the K. Dummy might have the stiff J. In fact, if we place the heart K with declarer and then stipulate that dummy is to have exactly one of the remaining five hearts then, if we select it randomly, there is a 1 in 5 chance that dummy's stiff is the J.
My first thought was to lead the !H Q. That would take care of the singleton J in dummy, or, for that matter, of Jx in dummy. What harm could it do? But it could do harm. If declarer holds KJx and I lead the Q, he simply ducks. Even if pard has two hearts he will no longer be able to get back to me if I continue hearts. If I had an outside entry, I think the !H Q would be right. But with my actual holding it is unlikely that declarer will ever have to let me in, so there is a real danger to leading the Q.
The two hands where I think I have a strong chance of being wrong are H, the lead problem, and F, the one with the choice of Pass/3NT/4 !S . It seems any of those choices could be right.
That is not to say that I am confident of my other choices, but I am reasonably confident that they are the choices I would make at the table. With H and F, I can imagine doing different things on different days, varying with my mood. A practical consideration with H is that even if they can run the first six tricks they might not do so. Recently, playing with the bots, my robotic partner, idiot or genius depending on the result, bid 3NT holding Qx as a stopper in a suit bid on his left. The bot on lead, holding AKJxxx decided to wait for his bot partner to lead through declarer and so led a side suit. 9 tricks, could have been 10, to declarer. That could very well happen here, at least at the table. Kho might hold AQTxxx, his partner Kx. Will Lho lead a small heart? Anyway, there are many ways for 3NT to come in.
I await the judgment of experts. I don't always agree with the judgment of experts but I like to think that I always listen and appreciate it.
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