[pilowsky]

Having been assured that my bidding needed a bit of work I created a few hands for practice. Number three absolutely stumped me.
The robots guided me gently up to 7♦. I was feeling pretty smug. Hours later I was feeling a bit less smug.
Here's the deal: make 13 tricks on any lead! But West leads the ♣Q.
After getting nowhere for several hours despite double-dummy and bridge-solver saying it was makeable, I left the seat and gave it to GIB who also failed to make it.
It took me another hour to figure it out. Enjoy.

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[Cyberyeti]

OK, the key is to play off the ♠A, go back to dummy and table the Q♠ pinning the 10 and allowing you to take the ruffing finesse against the J with the 98 later. You also pin the ♥10.

It's a terrible contract but yes you can make it.

[doccdl]

Cyberyeti, on 2020-August-31, 04:35, said:

OK, the key is to play off the ♠A, go back to dummy and table the Q♠ pinning the 10 and allowing you to take the ruffing finesse against the J with the 98 later. You also pin the ♥10.

It's a terrible contract but yes you can make it.

Nicely done.

[gszes]

SIGH I HATE these "logic" problems where the answer has nothing to do with how to play the hand single dummy BUT here goes:

CYBERYETI is indeed on the right track but I also think the devil is in the details.

Trick 1 win the club in hand
trick 2 unlock the spade ace
trick 3 lead the heart J (key play) and now the LOP diverges depending on If the J is covered or not.

IF THE HEART J IS NOT COVERED
trick 4 club to the K
-----IF THE SPADE Q AND THE SPADE 9 ARE COVERED
trick 5 spade Q ruff small
trick 6 ruff a club
trick 7/8 pull 2 rounds of trump ending in dummy
trick 9 spade 9 ruff
trick 10 pull last trump (pitch losing spade)
trick 11 finesse heart
trick 12 cash heart
trick 13 cash top spade
-----IF THE SPADE Q IS NOT COVERED
trick 5 pitch a heart
trick 6 trump to hand
trick 7 ruff a club
trick 8 cash top trump in dummy
trick 9 ruff a spade
trick 10 pull last trump (pitch last spade)
trick 11 take heart finesse and claim 2 hearts and a trump

-----IF THE SPADE Q IS COVERED BUT NOT THE SPADE 9
trick 9 pitch losing heart
trick 10 ruff a spade
trick 11 pull last trump
trick 12 take heart finesse
trick 13 claim
----------------------------------------------------------

IF THE HEART J IS COVERED
trick 4 spade Q (rho must cover as above) ruff small
trick 5 top dia in hand
trick 6 small dia to dummy
trick 7 spade 9
IF RHO COVERS THE SPADE 9
trick 7 ruff small
trick 8 club to K
trick 9 ruff the small spade with last trump
trick 10 heart to Q
trick 11 pull last trump
trick 12 cash good heart
trick 13 cash spade 8

IF RHO DUCKS THE SPADE 9
trick 7 pitch losing heart
trick 8 ruff a spade
trick 9 club to K
trick 10 ruff last spade
trick 11 heart to Q
trick 12 pull last trump
trick 13 cash last heart

I HATE these types of problems and, whatever you do, do NOT try to learn bidding by copying the bots

[Cyberyeti]

gszes, on 2020-September-02, 11:08, said:

I HATE these types of problems and, whatever you do, do NOT try to learn bidding by copying the bots

The reverse is utterly revolting before we start on anything else.

[nige1]

Pilowsky "Having been assured that my bidding needed a bit of work I created a few hands for practice. Number three absolutely stumped me. The robots guided me gently up to 7♦. I was feeling pretty smug. Hours later I was feeling a bit less smug. Here's the deal: make 13 tricks on any lead! But West leads the ♣Q. After getting nowhere for several hours despite double-dummy and bridge-solver saying it was makeable, I left the seat and gave it to GIB who also failed to make it. It took me another hour to figure it out. Enjoy."
++++++++++++++++++++
Thank you Pilowsky Your bidding might still need a bit of work e.g. CyberYeti seems right that your 2♥ reverse is a slight overbid CyberYeti also found a successful double-dummy line: ♣A, ♦Q, ♦K, ♠A, ♣K, ♠Q (East must cover) ruff, ♣ ruff, ♠9 (East must cover) ruff, ♦A discarding the small ♠, ♥J. On the next trick, when ♥T drops, dummy is high, so claim.
Another triumph for self-kibitzing

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