Opatija 2015: Put Yourself to the Test

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4th World Youth Open Championships Official Site 

Opatija, Croatia • 20 – 29 August 2015

In 8 of the Opatija 2015 World Youth Championships daily bulletins was posted a series of bridge problems called: Put Yourself to the Test, where you could trie to solve two or three questions, and you could find the answers only a few pages after.

Click Here  to read the Championship Daily Bulletines

We will be posting the excelente series…one per day, remeber that they are designed for the championships participants.

Bulletin 2

Bidding Problem

Opatija 2015 Pongase a Prueba

Card Play ProblemOpatija 2015 Pongase a Prueba

Bidding Problem
Opatija 2015 Pongase a Prueba

Think the answers 

and afterwards

Read the answers belowwwww

Bidding Problem

Opatija 2015 Pongase a Prueba
El Bridge moderno es un juego de subasta

 

Hand a) is much stronger than hand b). Hand a) will be worth at least two or three tricks more than b). As one example, suppose this is the heart suit:

Opatija 2015 Pongase a Prueba

In ai), you are 76 percent to get two tricks (West has at least one honour). Suit combination bi), though, is only a pitiful 1.7 percent to get two tricks, needing to find either East with the doubleton king-queen or West with a singleton honor. So, I think hand a)is too strong for a 15-17 notrump, whereas hand b) is too weak! However, I guess I would open one notrump with b), but not be surprised if we got too high. With a), I am happy to open one club and rebid two notrumps.

Problema de CarteoOpatija 2015 Pongase a Prueba

You know that West has some heart winners. Also, as you have diamonds under control, it is unlikely that declarer is ready to run for home. How can you get West on lead to cash the rest of his heart suit? He could hold the king of spades or ace of clubs — but which?

Yes, partner’s heart card at trick two ought to be suit-preference. But even with a partner who does not know about that method of signalling, you should first assume that partner has the king of spades. And if he does, to make it a winner, you should lead the queen of spades at trick three, then watch carefully to see if partner encourages.

Let’s assume West does encourage spades. If declarer ducks your lead, play another one. Or, if he takes it with dummy’s ace and plays three rounds of diamonds, win the third and lead another spade. Here, you defeat the contract. If partner discourages in spades, switch to a club when in with your queen of diamonds. You will have noticed that leading a low spade at trick three is not good enough. This play of leading an unsupported honour to create and entry in partner’s hand is called the Deschapelles Coup, after Alexandre Louis Honore Lebreton Deschapelles, a Frenchman who was born in 1780 and died in 1847. He was one of that country’s top chess and whist players.

Bidding Problem Opatija 2015 Pongase a Prueba

Would it make a difference if you were playing pairs or teams?

This is the same theme as the first question. With hand a), bid three notrumps. Those excellent minor suits should provide sufficient tricks, assuming the defenders do not run a major early in the game. With the second hand, I would be more inclined to pass, especially in a pair event. But inviting game in notrump is reasonable. And at imps, you might still just bid game to put the opponents under pressure.