[patroclo]

contract 4 s N
attack 2 of d

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Discard A of d in 4th spade

contract 7 d S
attack 7 s

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Discard all the clubs on diamond and a of h

3nt S
attack 4 d -2 of dummy- ace of est

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Sud must discard the K for keep two reentris for 2 finesses in club

[Phil]

Are you getting these out of books?

They all look really familiar.

[patroclo]

 Phil, on 2011-February-01, 19:30, said:

Are you getting these out of books?

They all look really familiar.

[patroclo]

From my bridge course notes

[Phil]

Your teacher must be George Coffin or Fred Karpin then.

[patroclo]

or maybe Carneade

[Cyberyeti]

If you want a spectacular example from real bridge:

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We bid 2♣-3♣-4♠-7N

This is trivial unless they lead a spade, in which case you have to get rid of the A♥ to cash the KQ.

[nige1]

An old one of mine West leads ♠7
against 7NT by South. If South can make the contract against any defence, then exactly what are the East-West hands?
BBO Health warning
Quite hard for intermediate players
(02/08: Cosmetic edit eliminating cook)

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[wyman]

 nige1, on 2011-February-02, 18:30, said:

An old one of mine
West leads ♠8 against 7NT by South.
If South can make the contract against any defence, then exactly what are the East-West hands?

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This is neat, thanks.

[Antraxxx]

That was cool nige1. Is the answer (to the old one) that west has

Spoiler

♠K8
♥T98
♦J965
♣T987

?

[nige1]

 Antraxxx, on 2011-February-03, 03:28, said:

That was cool nige1. Is the answer (to the old one) that west has

Spoiler

♠ K8 ♥T98 ♦ J965 ♣ T987

?

Well done, Antraxxx
But that was not my intended solution
Please try the modified version above which should eliminate that solution.

[Antraxxx]

That seems similar, except now you need east to have

Spoiler

♠Q
♥T98
♦J9865
♣T987

right?

[nige1]

 Antraxxx, on 2011-February-03, 05:04, said:

That seems similar, except now you need east to have

Spoiler

♠ Q ♥ T98 ♦ J9865 ♣T987

right?

Almost
but East is discarding after dummy

[nige1]

This is a bit harder: intermediate level at least
(but my second favourite Bridge World composition).
West leads the Curse of Scotland (♦9).
If South can make his 6NT contract on any defence, then what (precisely) are the East-West hands?

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[Antraxxx]

 nige1, on 2011-February-03, 06:04, said:

Almost
but East is discarding after dummy

I don't see the problem.

Spoiler

You pitch two high hearts, east pitches two low diamonds. You then pitch two low clubs, east pitches a diamond and:
a] a diamond: cash two high hearts and discard AK of diamonds, then run your diamonds.
b] a club: cross to dummy in diamonds and cash all the good clubs
c] a heart: cash three heart tricks discarding clubs, cross in diamonds and cash out.

What'd I miss?

[nige1]

 Antraxxx, on 2011-February-03, 07:38, said:

I don't see the problem.

Spoiler

You pitch two high hearts, east pitches two low diamonds. You then pitch two low clubs, east pitches a diamond and:
a] a diamond: cash two high hearts and discard AK of diamonds, then run your diamonds.
b] a club: cross to dummy in diamonds and cash all the good clubs
c] a heart: cash three heart tricks discarding clubs, cross in diamonds and cash out.

What'd I miss?

Spoiler

You worried me but if RHO abandons diamonds, I think you're left in hand, with a losing heart and no dummy entry. Your reconstruction doesn't uniquely determine the pips in opponents' hands: you've missed something trivial that you'll find quickly

[Antraxxx]

I'm afraid I still don't get it.

Spoiler

I overtake ♠K with ♠A when the ♠Q drops on my right. I play ♠JT98 and discard ♥AK and ♣32.
Now in my hand I have:
♥QJ7
♦QT432
And in dummy I have:
♦AK
♣AQJ654
RHO had to make 4 discards on my spades. If any of them was a heart, I can take my ♥QJ7, throwing off three clubs, then ♦AK and ♣AQJ.
If any of the discards was a club, I now play ♦AK and then clubs from the top.
Otherwise, RHO held on to 3 hearts and four clubs, so he has only the ♦J. I cash ♥QJ and discard ♦AK. I then run diamonds from the top.

[nige1]

 Antraxxx, on 2011-February-03, 09:39, said:

I'm afraid I still don't get it.

Spoiler

I overtake ♠K with ♠A when the ♠Q drops on my right. I play ♠JT98 and discard ♥AK and ♣32.
Now in my hand I have:
♥QJ7
♦QT432
And in dummy I have:
♦AK
♣AQJ654
RHO had to make 4 discards on my spades. If any of them was a heart, I can take my ♥QJ7, throwing off three clubs, then ♦AK and ♣AQJ.
If any of the discards was a club, I now play ♦AK and then clubs from the top.
Otherwise, RHO held on to 3 hearts and four clubs, so he has only the ♦J. I cash ♥QJ and discard ♦AK. I then run diamonds from the top.

Spoiler

Suppose RHO abandons diamonds. Your line is to cash ♥AK discarding ♦AK. And then run your diamonds. At trick thirteen, you are left with ♥7, which loses to RHO's ♥T -- one off in 7NT

[Antraxxx]

Oh, right! So

Spoiler

Move ♦J to be singleton in west's hand, and start by discarding ♦AK and not the ♥AK (and still 2 clubs).

[nige1]

Embarras de Richesse
(Delayed jettison repeating squeeze)
Antraxxx and I are the only two still involved in this discussion, so I shall dot the i's and cross the t's:
You, South, are declarer in 7NT. West leads ♠7. Antraxxx correctly surmised that you need the cards to lie precisely as in the diagram. You win in hand with ♠A and cash spades, discarding a club and both red kings. The penultimate spade triple-squeezes RHO. If he discards a club, then dummy is high, so he must abandon a red suit, say hearts. On the last spade, you discard the ♥A (the suit that RHO abandoned). You cash ♥QJ7, discarding two clubs. The penultimate heart squeezes RHO again, in a similar way, for the remaining tricks.

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