March Results

Masse24 and BluBayou led the IAC solvers with 710, a tie!  Wackojack was third with 670. The Bridge World honor roll this month required a minimum of 720. Close but no cigar.

NAME	BW-SCORE	RANK	MPs
BluBayou	710	1	100
Masse24	710	1	90
Wackojack	690	3	80

Also participating this month were:  JCreech, BabsG, Yleexotee, Hoki, CCR3, VeeRee, VeredK.

Congratulations to all!

MARCH GUESSES:


PROBLEM A: Pass
Partner is likely 34 or 43 in the majors. In which major does he have four? I choose to sidestep the problem and pass.

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PROBLEM B: Pass
Stronger than 2 , but not quite as pushy as 3 (which may be best as it is very informative). Tough problem.

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PROBLEM C: 3 Hearts
Support with support. Making the best use of space, if I could rebid 2 and promise six I would. But that is not BWS. If I did rebid 2 then support hearts later, it might be construed as Hx.

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PROBLEM D: 1 Notrump
WTP? Unanimous by the panel?

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PROBLEM E: 6 Clubs
I would like to get fancy with a bold 5 , but I'm worried it could be misunderstood. I believe Kantar wrote about an exclusion bid in his partner's first suit but had never had the guts to try it. Me too.

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PROBLEM F: 4 Spades
Worth a slam move.

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PROBLEM G: 3 Spades
I never, ever splinter with a stiff ace. But I will here. I would like to bid a forcing 3 . And it should be forcing. But in a search through BWS I did not find that it was so this is my next best "slam move" option.

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PROBLEM H: Spade 2
Should be the most popular choice by both the panel and solvers. Am I missing something?

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On problem "B" I was curious as to why 3 was better than 3 . I remain in the dark.

Though Blu perhaps summed it up best with, "I will bid my one card." Still, at Matchpoints I thought the suit quality close enough to prefer the major over the minor. I still do.

MARCH 2023 MSC
Deadline: JANUARY 31 at 11:59 p.m. (ET)

Submit your MARCH MSC responses here: The Bridge World - MASTER SOLVERS CLUB

BWS 2017 System: BWS 2017
BWS 2017 POLLS, CHANGES AND ADDITIONS: BWS 2017 - Polls, Changes, and Additions

• Bridge World Standard 2017 (BWS or BWS2017) is effective beginning with the January 2017 Master Solvers' Club problems. This page shows (1) the results of the panelist polls that were used to adjust the system; and (2) the changes in and the additions to Bridge World Standard 2001 (BWS2001) that were made.
  In the listings of the questions and answers, an asterisk indicates the BWS2001 agreement; the proportion of the expert votes for each item, rounded to the nearest percent, is shown in brackets.

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IAC Forum MSC Scores

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On "A," I am a little surprised that no one went with 5 to show a massive red two-suiter, though I too went low with 4 . Partly because my partner has passed.

February Guesses:

PROBLEM A: 4 Hearts.
It’s a 30-point deck and I’m looking at two-thirds of it. We need so little from partner to make slam a good bet. But I don’t have a good way to convey that. What is 5 Clubs? Some huge hand with club shortness obviously. Anyway, preempts work.

PROBLEM B: 3 Hearts.
Although pass is possible at Matchpoints, it’s a bit much with these poor, scattered values. Partner is asking me to bid, and since the major scores better, I go with it.

PROBLEM C: 3NT.
Like “A,” I worry this is not enough. But let’s see where partner is going with his cuebid. If he passes, we are where we belong.

PROBLEM D: 2 Spades.
Really torn between the “book” 2 and a heart suit just good enough for consideration. But I’ll stick with the “known” 5-2 fit rather than the hoped for 5-3.

PROBLEM E: 3 Hearts.
Keeping 3NT alive and highlighting the club problem. Assuming partner has a stopper, I want the lead coming into him.

PROBLEM F: 3 Hearts.
WTP? I’ve shown my spades, now it’s time to show my values.

PROBLEM G: Double.
Don’t like 6-4 Michaels.

PROBLEM H: Diamond Ten.
Second choice is Club 9. Still hate lead problems.

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NO CHANGES. ABOVE ANSWERS SUBMITTED.

FEBRUARY 2023 MSC
Deadline: DECEMBER 31 at 11:59 p.m. (ET)

Submit your FEBRUARY MSC responses here: The Bridge World - MASTER SOLVERS CLUB

BWS 2017 System: BWS 2017
BWS 2017 POLLS, CHANGES AND ADDITIONS: BWS 2017 - Polls, Changes, and Additions

• Bridge World Standard 2017 (BWS or BWS2017) is effective beginning with the January 2017 Master Solvers' Club problems. This page shows (1) the results of the panelist polls that were used to adjust the system; and (2) the changes in and the additions to Bridge World Standard 2001 (BWS2001) that were made.
  In the listings of the questions and answers, an asterisk indicates the BWS2001 agreement; the proportion of the expert votes for each item, rounded to the nearest percent, is shown in brackets.

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IAC Forum MSC Scores

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Please include a comment or two with your answers.