[Danielth]

There is a bit better line than the one published (better overall probabilities - covers more cases).
Anyone can find it ?
If no answer, I will post the solution in a few days.

[gszes]

Danielth, on 2024-November-17, 01:08, said:

There is a bit better line than the one published (better overall probabilities - covers more cases).
Anyone can find it ?
If no answer, I will post the solution in a few days.

maybe a link to somewhere would be helpful. You can also recreate the info here. As is, not many people will do anything with this post.

[Danielth]

gszes, on 2024-November-19, 20:32, said:

maybe a link to somewhere would be helpful. You can also recreate the info here. As is, not many people will do anything with this post.

Thank you for your advice.
However, since this is a BBO Forum,I assumed that everybody has some knowledge about bridge, connect to BBO sometimes and play there. If this is the case, the board can be found on "Practice" (click on "Practice" on the main page, then click on "Bridge Master", then select Level 5 (World Class), and finally select problem C14 (as mentionned in the Subject).

Of course, this problem is not for beginners (as all the problems in the "World Class" series). A player can always click on Solution to be able to discover the solution.
My question is not about finding the solution published, but to find a better line.

Anyway, I wish to encourage players to try to solve the very interesting Bridge Master problems (interactive problems, as the cards of the opponents may change until one finds the best line). This is also why I didn't reproduce a picture of the declarer's and dummy's cards.

[Danielth]

Danielth, on 2024-November-17, 01:08, said:

There is a bit better line than the one published (better overall probabilities - covers more cases).
Anyone can find it ?
If no answer, I will post the solution in a few days.

Here we go.
After the A of spade, we draw 5 rounds of diamonds (discarding 2 hearts in dummy), heart to Q and A of heart. We are at 4 cards, in dummy s:3 c:KJ9, and in hand d:2 c:543
East, who could not have more than 2 hearts to start with, is left with spades and clubs only, and is submitted to a strip squeeze. if he keeps 3 clubs and 1 spade, ruff a spade and end-play him in club. In other cases, play K of club and club to establish a club winner.

This solution starts with the same assumption than the one published (West is songleton club and has the K of heart), but is a lot simpler, and covers more cases (specially singleton heart in East, or even void).

[AL78]

Danielth, on 2024-November-20, 10:28, said:

Anyway, I wish to encourage players to try to solve the very interesting Bridge Master problems (interactive problems, as the cards of the opponents may change until one finds the best line). This is also why I didn't reproduce a picture of the declarer's and dummy's cards.

I have been through the Bridge Master hands up to and including L4 a few times. I've never looked at L5 as they are almost certainly well out of my league, and I'm not sure I would gain anything having to look up the solution for nearly all of them. It would be great if it were possible to develop analagous software for defence, although I suspect that could be a lot more complicated to do.