Puzzle 8K99 Main

Carding Accident

by Richard Pavlicek

Last week in the Fort Lauderdale Team Championship, I held the West cards on Board 31. Whoop-de-doo, and a pinochle too. South on my right opened 1 , and I was lured by the vulnerability to psych a takeout double, carefully hiding my hand from the many kibitzers to avoid a flurry of 9-1-1 calls.

When I later showed the hand to members of my ward, they claimed I was nuts, almost unanimously preferring a 1 overall. Whatever! My double seemed to work, as our opponents stopped lamely in 3 NT, though I can’t remember the auction.

3 NT South	?		West	North	East	South
Illegal lead	?					1
	?		Dbl1	?	Pass	?
	?		Pass	?	Pass	3 NT
Q 8 7		J 10 9	Pass	Pass	Pass
7 6 5 4		J 10 9 8
J 10		9 8 7 6 5	1. maybe 1 is better with 2 honors
10 9 8 7		J
	?
	?
Cards ripped	?
Fire!	?

Before I could lead, partner led the J, then an argument broke out between North and South about the sloth bidding to reach 3 NT with 34 HCP. When the words became heated, North ripped up his cards and gave South an obscene gesture before stomping out of the room. Not to be outdone, South pulled out a cigarette lighter and torched his cards, as well as the pieces North left behind.

Note to ACBL: Fewer stupid events. More fire extinguishers!

All the commotion brought the Director, who tried to mitigate the situation. “It seems North-South did bid like friggin’ idiots, and a lead out of turn hardly matters with their cards on fire [cough] [choke]… the smoke in here is making me nauseous. I see only 6 HCP for East-West, so my ruling is 12 tricks for North-South. Score it up!” The Director then relit his cigar from the burning embers and left.

We certainly had no objection to being gifted 13 IMPs, and the kibitzers were so delighted with the opportunity to toast marshmallows that one of them filled in for North on the last board.

When the smoke cleared…

We scurried to find our teammates to compare scores. On Board 31, I announced “Minus 690.”

“Lose 13,” said Joe, our team captain and Topaz Life Master.

“What?” I asked in shock. “Don’t you mean win 13?”

“No, I was down in 6 NT, impossible to make with the lead I got. Where’s the board? Look at it.”

“We can’t! Our opponents had a carding accident, and the North-South hands are in a pile of ashes.”

Help! Somebody! Anybody!

Reconstruct the North-South hands to fit the story.

More specifically, construct a layout where South cannot make 6 NT against best defense. Also try to equalize the 34 N-S HCP (17 each is perfect) and minimize the freakness (tamer distribution is better). Give it a try before reading the solutions below.

Tim Broeken Wins

Congratulations to Tim Broeken, Netherlands, who was the first of only two to submit the perfect solution, splitting the HCP and spot cards exactly evenly and achieving the lowest possible freakness. This is Tim’s fifth win in my puzzle challenges. Nearest rivals are Leigh Matheson and Manuel Paulo, each with two wins.

Places 11-17 appear to be ranked incorrectly, but these solutions did not resemble a 1 opening by South, so they’re demoted from top ranking. In view of the takeout double and table antics, one could argue “Who really cares,” but I’m the Director now [cough, choke] and rule that fitting my story counts. Wayne Somerville shrewdly claimed that North-South were using a strong club system and failed to alert. Nice try, but the last player who failed to alert in these parts was toasted — not with champagne, in a bonfire.

Winner List

Rank	Name	Location	HCP	Spots	Frkn
1	Tim Broeken	Netherlands	17-17	27-27	14
2	Jean-Christophe Clement	France	17-17	27-27	14
3	Jamie Pearson	Ontario	17-17	27-27	16
4	Dan Gheorghiu	British Columbia	17-17	27-27	16
5	Audrey Kueh	England	17-17	27-27	19
6	Nicholas Greer	England	17-17	29-25	22
7	Jon Greiman	Illinois	17-17	29-25	22
8	Julien Reichert	France	20-14	25-29	24
9	Hans Huls	Netherlands	11-23	37-17	9
10	Jim Munday	Mississippi	23-11	14-40	17
11	Tom Slater	England	17-17	27-27	14
12	Dean Pokorny	Croatia	16-18	29-25	15
13	Radu Vasilescu	Pennsylvania	13-21	31-23	15
14	Peter Nixon	British Columbia	9-25	34-20	7
15	Wayne Somerville	Northern Ireland	7-27	39-15	4
16	Jacco Hop	Netherlands	7-27	41-13	4
17	Jeff Yutzler	Virginia	7-27	45-9	8

Puzzle 8K99 Main

Top Carding Accident

Solution

With North-South holding 11 top tricks ( A-K A-K-Q A-K-Q A-K-Q) and a guaranteed long spade that will establish with spades 3-3, 6 NT would be cold on most deals. The only possible cause of failure is a communication problem that prevents a winner and/or established trick from being reached. Think blocked suits.

The tamest valid construction was submitted by Hans Huls, Netherlands. Despite 23 HCP, opening 1 as South is certainly reasonable, and probably wise, considering the rebid problems after 2 . This also injects some realism into the story, as after the 1 Dbl 1 start, South might indeed end in 3 NT.

6 NT South	A K 6 5 4 3
	A
	3 2
	5 4 3 2
Q 8 7		J 10 9
7 6 5 4		J 10 9 8
J 10		9 8 7 6 5
10 9 8 7		J
	2
	K Q 3 2
	A K Q 4
	A K Q 6

Hans Huls: West leads a heart [killing the entry to the long spade]. West guards hearts and clubs, and East guards spades and diamonds.

All true, though any reasonable defense will suffice after the fatal heart lead.

Unfortunately, tameness of distribution was only the third priority in tie-breaking. Hans’s 23-11 HCP disparity was well off the mark in that department. Before showing the winning entry, let’s look at the second-best solution submitted by Jamie Pearson, Ontario. Note that each player has 17 HCP and spot cards totaling 27.

6 NT South	A 6 5 4 3 2
	2
	A K Q 3 2
	A
Q 8 7		J 10 9
7 6 5 4		J 10 9 8
J 10		9 8 7 6 5
10 9 8 7		J
	K
	A K Q 3
	4
	K Q 6 5 4 3 2

Jamie Pearson: A heart lead knocks out the key entry to South. Establishing clubs requires unblocking the ace and using the spade entry; establishing spades requires unblocking the king and using the [club or] diamond entry. Either way, communication is broken; so if a black trick is lost to establish the suit, the defense can lock declarer in one hand.

A similar layout (equal counts and freakness 16) was submitted by Dan Gheorghiu, British Columbia. Ah, but of course! Players in the Great White North drink, er, think alike. Party on!

Lowering the bar

The ultimate solution, found by our winner and runner-up, drops the combined freakness to 14 (North 6-4-2-1 = 6, South 6-5-1-1 = 8) while retaining equal HCP and spot cards. (Any lower freakness forces a HCP imbalance for 6 NT to be defeatable.)

6 NT South	A 6 5 4 3 2
	K Q 3 2
	A
	A 2
Q 8 7		J 10 9
7 6 5 4		J 10 9 8
J 10		9 8 7 6 5
10 9 8 7		J
	K
	A
	K Q 4 3 2
	K Q 6 5 4 3

Tim Broeken: A diamond start, then playing spades when in with clubs, kills 6 NT.

Jean-Christophe Clement: Getting closer; but is this the best solution? I hope so.

Tom Slater: A diamond lead prevents declarer from establishing spades. If declarer [gives up] a club, a spade return ruins all communication, and declarer ends up two off. Teammates did well to go just one off, maybe by cashing out and throwing West in to make all the top winners.

While Tom produced the winning layout, he had North-South switched, so the 1 opening didn’t jibe. Therefore, I must officially retract my “most alert” anagram dubbed in January.

Burnt out

Peter Nixon: This layout works, but I don’t much like South’s 1 opening. Then again, I don’t much like your takeout double either.

Jim Munday: The story reminds me of a board-a-match teams at our local regional. Opponents had an accident and stopped in 2 when a grand was cold on a good day. Teammates reached the excellent 6 and went down with the foul distribution.

Bidding accidents… carding accidents… not important! All that matters is: Were there any flames?

Jeff Yutzler: Since I probably can’t build the best solution, maybe I can build the worst.

Well, you succeeded… but you still beat 24 solvers who failed to make the leaderboard.

Puzzle 8K99 Main

Top Carding Accident

© 2015 Richard Pavlicek