[nige1]

Congratulations to Alex Hydes, Jason Hackett, Justin Hackett, Ed Jones, David Mossop & Tom Paske, on winning the Spring 4s!


The first difficult declarer-play problem
(based loosely on a hand from the Spring 4s)
Against South's 4♠, LHO cashes ♣A, RHO discarding ♥Q
LHO continues ♠K and RHO follows with ♠7
Plan the play. Hit Next to see the first couple of tricks.


You may say what you like of the weather
You may talk of the birds that sing
But to sit on a red hot poker
Is a sign of an early Spring.

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[FelicityR]

I don't think - and I'm no expert admittedly - it can be made if East has 4 spades to the QJ87 (but what's East doubling on?) So I'm going to play West for spade KQ doubleton. I think it can be made on some sort of crossruff but the timing has to be impeccable.

To be honest, after 20 minutes staring at the diagram, I am no more at an answer than when I first looked at it. I give in. I'll bow to someone else's superior knowledge of this game

[nige1]

.

Congratulations to Alex Hydes, Jason Hackett, Justin Hackett, Ed Jones, David Mossop & Tom Paske, on winning the Spring 4s!

(Deal based loosely on a hand from the Spring 4s)
Against South's 4♠, LHO cashes ♣A, RHO discarding ♥Q
LHO continues ♠K and RHO follows with ♠7

The basic line is ♠A, ♦K, ruff a ♦, lead a ♣ to present RHO with a trilemma
(what I call a "front-wash squeeze")...
1. If RHO discards a ♦, then ruff the ♣. ♦K, ruff a ♦, ruff a ♣, ♥K, ruff a ♣, ♥A, ruff a ♣ en passant.
2. If RHO discards a ♥, then ruff the ♣, ♦K, ♥K. ♥A, ruff a ♣, ruff. a ♦, ruff a ♣ en passant.
3. If RHO ruffs with ♠J and plays ♠Q (to prevent another ♦ ruff), then run trumps for an automatic squeeze on RHO in the red-suits.

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