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Wrong-Sided Symmetry

by Richard Pavlicek

With November being election month, the subject of wrong-siding immediately comes to mind. Anyone with a political affiliation, no matter which side, is on the wrong side, because of the huge amounts of money wasted in campaign advertising. A candidate’s true worthiness is rarely judged, as those with the biggest bankrolls effectively buy their way into office. [End rant]

Two months ago in September Symmetry I introduced symmetric deals. Fittingly for election month, we will now examine them for wrong-sided contracts. Consider the following deal with South declarer in 4 :

Suit orientation of symmetric deals is arbitrary. My way is by descending ranks clockwise:
South = West = North = East (cyclically for South’s other suits)

4 South 7
—
A Q J 10 9 8 6 5 4
K 3 2
— Table K 3 2
A Q J 10 9 8 6 5 4 7
K 3 2 —
7 A Q J 10 9 8 6 5 4
A Q J 10 9 8 6 5 4
K 3 2
7
West’s lead? —

In actual play 4 would probably succeed.* Indeed, declarer can make six if West leads a heart or a club: Ruff a heart in dummy, give East his trump trick, and eventually squeeze West in the red suits.

*albeit that in real life you wouldn’t buy it for 4 with all the nine-baggers around

However, if West leads a diamond, the contract is scuttled. Declarer must finesse to have a chance, but East ruffs and returns the spade king to lock declarer in hand, after which three hearts must be lost. Note that if East returns a low spade, declarer can win in dummy and ruff a club to remove West’s exit card; then after drawing the last trump, a low heart forces whoever wins to surrender a 10th trick.

Down one may be good bridge — or so the saying goes — but the contract is wrong-sided. Four spades by North is unbeatable. East does best to lead a trump to prevent a heart ruff, but declarer finesses, cashes the A and gives East his king. The defense can now win only two heart tricks; and if West fails to cash the second and returns a club, he will be squeezed for an overtrick.

Now it’s your turn:

Create a symmetric deal where South has longer spades than North, but only North can make 4 .

Of course you could recreate the above deal, but its wild distribution would not make the leaderboard. In deference to my low regard for politics, ties will be broken by the lowest freakness (nearest to balanced hands) and secondarily by the worst poker hand.

Enter a South hand with one card of each rank and click Make Deal. A symmetric deal will be created and its double-dummy result will be shown. No need to analyze the play! Repeat until you find a winner.

4 North
can be made Table 4 South
can be defeated

Entering three suits will assign missing ranks to fourth suit.
Note that South's holding will become North's holding.

8R99 rpbridge.net Main Top Wrong-Sided Symmetry

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8R99 rpbridge.net Main Top Wrong-Sided Symmetry

4 South	7
	—
	A Q J 10 9 8 6 5 4
	K 3 2
—		K 3 2
A Q J 10 9 8 6 5 4		7
K 3 2		—
7		A Q J 10 9 8 6 5 4
	A Q J 10 9 8 6 5 4
	K 3 2
	7
West’s lead?	—

4 North can be made		4 South can be defeated

		Entering three suits will assign missing ranks to fourth suit. Note that South's holding will become North's holding.