2022 December MSC

[Masse24]

DECEMBER 2022 MSC
Deadline: OCTOBER 31 at 11:59 p.m. (ET)

Submit your DECEMBER 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.

IAC Forum MSC Scores

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[blubayou]

for problem A,  i THINK the footnote means "we" have  done away with the BWS agreement  that a jump to 3H or 3D  shows natural game going 5-5, and are allowed to use those as splinters.   I still don't know what to do, and i keep wondering  "where are the opponents in the bidding??" .  Even a wimpy 2S rebid is on the table,  along with 4 or 3 others


for the lead problem, the footnote DOES mean that they are playing XY-Notrump so dummy has a game-forcing checkback hand,  and opener has, presumably,  3=2 in the majors.  I am leading our long suit - early and often we hope ("what's the problem?".
      Thanks Oliver for waking me up  that I had misread  problem H.  Unfortunately realizing  opener has 4 spades only suggests a change of mind;  I still may go for it as a passive move.


problem B:>>  On day one,  I felt  that our 2   butt-in left us with no RIGHT to press on alone  when the (surprise) 3   comes from the opponents.  Self-raising myself to 3    is only some less unspeakable  than rebidding FOUR  .  Because passing now hurts so bad,  some of us will follow up now with a double.  I wish them  the -530 they deserve, since partner could have made his own  penalty double,.  IF you think I am full of it, I suggest you back up and do Michaels 3 hearts on the previous round.

Problem C:>>  This one made and excellent hand for a 100-deal SIMULATION!  It turned out that rebidding   3   and 2 come out dead even  IF you  assume the double-dummy opening lead.  Very many of the deals where 4 was on the cusp would have failed on an improbable lead,  but been easy  on some other.
   Switching my first guess to  a jump-rebid...
                    --- 3 Spades ---

problem D:>>  A 14-point 4=0=5=4  dummy  will normally make our spade game pretty attractive. in my old age, however,  I have developed a jaundiced brain about declaring with 8xxx when dummy's big ones are ruffing (in this case) hearts.  A dummy that has only 3 wonderful spades doing the same seals the deal!  I am taking the measly 300!
                   ---pass---



 the other -5 leave me speechless  for one reason or another so here comes the bare bones:
B>>  pass    [or double]
C>>  2                      .
D>>  pass  -  (confirmed,  10/21)
E>>  2NT
F>> pass [ ]
G>>  3NT

[jcreech]

My initial thoughts:

Problem A  3   I have a huge fit, first or second round controls of the side suits, so I will splinter since I am assured that partner will take it as such.  Anything in the black suits from partner is gold, so partner should be in a position to evaluate that and decide whether to take a move toward slam.

Problem B  Pass Do I want to double with my only quick tricks in spades and partner may pass with a four or five card stack?  Do I want to rebid my spades with only five, albeit great, spades?  Do I want to try NT with a void in partner's probable longest suit?  Or do I want to introduce a jack-high suit at the four level?  Sometimes the better part of valor is to know when to back away.

Problem C 2   I am probably going to switch to 2 , but right now, I want to try the hearts on.  The advantage I see to bidding the hearts is that in addition to finding partner with four as well, you may get a preference to spades with two or three trump, and could make a game try.

Problem D  4   Reverse the vulnerability, and Pass is my choice.  At unfavorable vul, I'm a bidder and hope for a safe landing.

Problem E 3   Without length in the spade suit, and length in the diamonds, double is clearly wrong.  Qxx is a shaky stop at best, so I am not inclined to bid NT unilaterally.  That leaves cue-bid looking for help and 3 .  I prefer to bid where I live; partner still has room to cue-bid and ask if NT is right.

Problem F  Dbl Partner has 5 to 9 HCPs and probably shortness in clubs.  I hate doubling without hearts, but at least I can takeout partner's hearts with spades and suggest both pointed suits.

Problem G  3 NT  I really hate this set.  23 HCPs, a probable double stop in the opponents suit, first round control in all suits, and nine almost certain tricks.  There may be a slam in these cards, but I will settle for the almost certain game.

Problem H 9  Once I decided to go with a spade, I checked out which spot was called for. BWS says "(ii) Spot-card leads: fourth-highest; second-highest (but highest of equals) from a weak suit"  My initial plan of leading the 8, was fine for "second-highest," but not good enough with "highest of equals."

[blubayou]

So glad to see you chiming in with juicy stuff, Jim  . 


FIRST:  this problem set is totally  hate-able--agreed!
next/problem D PROBLEM E!:..we have 20; opp has 12  (I am a very old fart)... pard and righty may both think they want to be somewhere else....Three clubs seems to spit in the face or the idea than nobody can make nuttin'.
I agree that 2NT  either direct or after doubling and correcting pard's 2 can get blown off the map,  but 3 clubs failing to hit the jackpot  is not an alternative for me.
   If all this suggests I may be defending at the 2-level,  well yes, that is still on the table

[hoki]

A  4♠, a typical matchpoint gamble and hopefully one more likely to be successful
     than the alternative gamble of 6♣. If you are confident with a Minorwood 4♣ then be
     my guest and go for it; in contrast a regular 4NT could get you too high if we don’t
     have the requisite number of key cards for slam.

B  double, maybe if I say it loudly enough or write it in capitals my partner will under-
     stand that it is takeout .

C  my first tactical choice since 2♠ is an underbid and 3♠ leaves partner no room to
     express an opinion; I could even try 2♥ over 2♦.

D  5♣, fortunately it’s IMPs and I prefer to take heart ruffs with low trumps in dummy;
     if we were behind in the match I’d consider 6♣, but not 4♠ since I don’t relish the
     thought of having to use partner’s top spades to ruff my heart losers.

E  3♣ since I’d hate the thought of having to cope with 2♠ from partner should I double.

F  2♦, another “tactical” choice since the thought of having to cope with some number of
     hearts bid from partner over a double or notrump bid is traumatic

G  5♣ which in contrast to 3NT might see us reach slam if partner, holding a couple of
     useful kings, sees fit to raise us.

H  ♣J, am always a sucker for “standard” leads; really can’t see how a spade lead into
     declarer’s four card suit which is likely to contain two or three hours can help us.

[wackojack]

A:  3
The obvious descriptive bid.  If partner can next cue, we are on the road to slam.

B: Pass
Best we can expect is an 8 card minor fit and another 4 points from partner to add to our 14 points.  The opps likely have a 9 card heart fit, meaning that if they can make 3 then we could go 2 off in 4m doubled for a zero. Or if they can only make 8 tricks in 3 then we have phantom sacd in 4m.

C: 2
To strong to rebid 2

D: Pass
Possible but uncertain 620 missed. Bet on the more likely defend for +300 or 500.

E: 3
What else?

F: 2
I will risk a pass out.  Double or 2NT looks wrong

G: Double
Easy!  The problem is my next bid over 3 .

H: 9
I chose 9 without looking at the bidding.  Then I looked and still chose the 9 .

[blubayou]

about leading around to declarer's pretty good spade suit:  I am KEEPING  my 9-8 for later!.  If there is a mighty crash of honors on the first two tricks,  the  9-8  may have grown up into 'something",  and I may be glad to have a pusher later to set up the fourth round.  My motive  is not ENTIRELY  to go passive, you see, so I don't care if I have given partner a wrong message too much  (In fact  I will be pleased as punch  if he even gets in, before I do!)

[jcreech]

about leading around to declarer's pretty good spade suit:  I am KEEPING  my 9-8 for later!.  If there is a mighty crash of honors on the first two tricks,  the  9-8  may have grown up into 'something",  and I may be glad to have a pusher later to set up the fourth round.  My motive  is not ENTIRELY  to go passive, you see.

So Blu, does this mean if you lead a spade, it would be the interior sequence (i.e., the 6)?

[blubayou]

any low one  (why not 4th best-- but all 3 low ones will score the same).  My dream is to have partner cover a short quack in dummy  ,  then If I am the first defender to get in AND if things look desperate  maybe i will try for the jackpot of hoping pard has a second honor  which will ESTABLISH my 9 and 8....
                 Qx     
                 AQxxx
                 Qxx
98652        Qxx            KT
Tx                               J9xxx
Ax                               JTxxx
AJT6          AJxx            x
                 K
                 Kxx
                 K98xx
( a work in progress  for my successful def-- the trouble with this layout is that almost any lead beats them
                 

[peuco]

SOLUTIONS FOR:
Frank

PROBLEM A: 3 Diamonds
PROBLEM B: 4 Diamonds
PROBLEM C: 2 Spades
PROBLEM D: 4 Spades
PROBLEM E: 2 Notrump
PROBLEM F: Double
PROBLEM G: 3 Notrump
PROBLEM H: Spade 5

[jcreech]

Blu,

I was only having a bit of fun with you.   My problem is not with your choice of spade, but with the fact that any of the small spades is counter to partnership understandings under BWS.  A small spade implies an honor, while a high spade does not, though it can be from length.

From length, there is an explicit understanding that you lead 2nd highest unless that card is part of touching cards, then you are expected to lead the highest of the touching cards.

The only reason to lead something other than the nine from this holding is that you do not know what has been agreed, or you want to false card.  Since I quoted BWS above, I presumed that you were aware of the agreement, there does not seem to be much of a reason to false card, so my guess is that you want to rail against the BWS agreement.  You have strong opinions, some better than others; nonetheless, when they run contrary to explicit agreements, perhaps they should be identified as such.

[blubayou]

Ahem!:  As I tried to indicate just upthread,  I dream than there will be might crashes of honors  on  possibly the first AND second  spade tricks--  so I will need both the 9 and 8 to push out decl's 3rd stopper  and draw his youngster  with  the remaining 8 + score our fifth one.     So I don't much care that partner will take this spot card  as 'an attacking lead'.   anyway  fat chance he will get in before I do,  and if he DOES,  the opps are almost set, even if we do no more in spades than  deny him his 4th card there 

[Masse24]

On H, East's shape seems to be 4=1=3=5 or similar. So if west has the presumed five hearts, that leaves partner with five also.

I'm leading the T.

P.S. Still not fond of lead problems.

[wackojack]

I have tried to construct hands based on the bidding.  Here is what I have come up with:

                    2
                    Q987x
                    Kxxxxx
                    x

AJx                               KQxx
AKJxx                           x
xx                                QJ10
xxx                              KQ9xx

                   98654
                   103
                   A2
                   AJ106

Certainly 3N is off on any lead except a club.  Give declarer the Q instead of the J, then 3NT will make on any lead.  Maybe someone can construct a hand where 10 defeats the contract when a  lead does not.

[bAbsG]

SOLVER: Babs Giesbrecht
   Your Solutions for the December 2022 Contest 
-------------------
PROBLEM A: 3 Diamonds
PROBLEM B: Double
PROBLEM C: 2 Hearts
PROBLEM D: Pass
PROBLEM E: 3 Clubs
PROBLEM F: Double
PROBLEM G: 3 Notrump
PROBLEM H: Spade 9