CORRECTIONS
April 2024 issue
On page 46, a score of 10 for six hearts was inadvertently omitted from the chart for Master Solvers' Club Problem B. (Solvers who submitted this answer were scored correctly.)
In Improve Your Play A, declarer should draw one round of trumps before starting clubs.
March 2024 issue
At the top of the right column of page 14, if West held 2=4=6=1 with either the club queen or both heart honors, East's heart discard at trick four would ensure that the defense came out on top.
February 2024 issue
On Board 15 of the Leather Anniversary Swiss, if East holds the ace of hearts declarer needs to lead a heart at trick two to take seven tricks.
January 2024 issue
In the two-heart contract on page 26, declarer can make the contract without a third round of spades from the defense (and can succeed against any defense after the first trick).
December 2023 issue
On page 26, the reference to "dummy's queen" should be to "dummy's jack."
November 2023 issue
In the right column of page 22, "ace-king of diamonds" should be "ace-queen of diamonds."
October 2023 issue
The problems shown for the November MSC contest on page 63 are incorrect and should be disregarded. The correct problems for the November 2023 MSC Contest are presented on the MSC web page.
September 2023 issue
In the right column of page 9, the declarer's distribution East feared was 1=3=5=4.
In the left column of page 29, North's second spade pip should be a club pip.
August 2023 issue
The problems shown for the September MSC contest on page 63 are incorrect and should be disregarded. The correct problems for the September 2023 MSC Contest are presented on the MSC web page.
In Test Your Play A, alternatively, declarer could hope for queen-jack-doubleton of spades and (for example) plan to draw trumps, duck a diamond while ruffing two hearts, and succeed when the heart queen drops or West is squeezed between the red suits.
In Test Your Play B, when East shows out on the ace of diamonds, declarer also has the option of hoping to find East with seven hearts and the spade ace at most doubleton (or the ace-queen-jack) by discarding the heart ace on dummy's club king before leading a spade, aiming at one spade, two spade ruffs, seven diamonds, and two clubs.
In the right-hand column of page 74, East's four of clubs is superfluous.
In Improve Your Play B, it is a slight improvement to lead a trump at trick three.
In the left column of page 18, the Open Room declarer took 9 tricks.
July 2023 issue
In the last paragraph of the left column of page 44, it is West who ruffs the third diamond.
In the left column of page 7, it is South who might have flown with the king of spades.
On page 12, the second heart queen South played was in fact the jack.
May 2023 issue
In the at-the-table line of play discussed in the left column of page 28, by playing the ace and another diamond before ruffing any clubs, declarer could succeed against any 5=3=3=2 East hand with the king of diamonds.
March 2023 issue
At the top of page 29, the reference to "four spades" should have been to "four hearts."
January 2023 issue
On page 5, the description of Board 16 should specify North-South vulnerable.
For the deal in the left column of page 6, the conditions should be North dealer, East-West vulnerable.
On page 64, the alarm-clock description should have said fifth-highest from seven cards.
In Test Your Play B, South's given early plays would be improved after trick two with heart ace, heart king, club ace, heart ruff. Then declarer can make mild adjustments in the methods in the given solution based on what has been learned about West's heart length.
December 2022 issue
In Test Your Play A, the layout shown was wrong in two ways: (1) North's hearts should have been queen-jack-eight-four; (2) West's distribution should have been 2=4=3=4.
November 2022 issue
On page 65, the next Challenge of the Decade is scheduled for 2029.
The second sentence of the solution to Test Your Play B should end: " . . . or the other missing honor dropping from a doubleton."
October 2022 issue
In Problem 1 of The Difference, declarer should take one of the high hearts before the king of spades.
September 2022 issue
Corrected solution to Test Your Play A:
If the lead follows the announced system, West has three or four diamonds. Ruff a diamond and cash the ace-king-queen of hearts. Then:
(1) If East has ten-fifth of hearts, continue with spade ace-king, club ace, diamond ace, spade (guarding against East's holding two spades).
(2) If West has ten-fifth of hearts, continue with the jack-nine of hearts, succeeding if spades are three-three or West has 2=5=3=3 (East will wind up squeezed between the pointed suits) or 2=5=4=2 with no club honor (East will be squeezed between the black suits).
In Improve Your Play (B), playing the king of hearts and a heart to the nine at tricks two and three has approximately the same success chance as the recommended line.
August 2022 issue
In the right column of page 22, "to East's queen." should say "to East."
In Test Your Play A, to cover the case that West might hold a singleton club, if West follows to the second round of diamonds, declarer should pass a heart honor at that point.
June 2022 issue
On page 2, "renown" should have been "renowned."
The deal shown in the left column of page 40 is a very-small modification of one in H. W. Kelsey's
May 2022 issue
On page 18, in the discussion of Board 12, the play postulated for declarer after the defense of the ace and another club will not succeed; a (questionable) line that makes the contract would be available.
On page 36, "perhaps with a major-suit lead from East" should have said "perhaps with a heart lead from East"
In the solution to Improve Your Defense, the reference to keeping the jack of hearts should be to the king of hearts, and the parenthetical remark about double-dummy does not hold when West holds at most two clubs.
April 2022 issue
In Better Odds (page 34), under the assumption that declarers in four and five of a minor will take the same number of tricks, either 10 or 11, the imp odds favoring bidding game are 6 to 5.
March 2022 issue
In Test Your Play B, if declarer discovers that East holds three trumps, difficult calculation is required to determine the best continuation.
February 2022 issue
In the hypothetical four-heart contract discussed briefly on page nine, on a double-dummy basis, after a club ruffed and a spade to the ace, declarer can survive after a diamond or spade continuation but not after a heart or a club.
January 2022 issue
In Test Your Play Solution B: (1) the first paragraph should have said that the ten of diamonds will squeeze East down to two spades or one heart. (2) The comment in the bracketed paragraph at the end has been withdrawn.
In Challenge the Champs Deal 8, the score for six hearts should be 2.
December 2021 issue
On page 10, the description of Board 10 should have shown Hamman as North and Weichsel as South.
October 2021 issue
In the left column of page 25, West's play on the second round of diamonds is the four and East's is the five.
September 2021 issue
In the last sentence of the solution to Combination 190, if the nine is covered by the ten, the best play is to duck in dummy.
August 2021 issue
In the second hand diagram on page 45, a low club is missing.
July 2021 issue
In Test Your Defense, West's spade four should be in the East hand.
In Challenge the Champs Deal 8, seven spades and seven diamonds should be scored 4.
In Improve Your Play B, the (inferior) approach of leading the club jack to the queen is misdescribed. After the queen wins, declarer should discard a diamond on the ace of clubs, and, if the king remains at large, discard another on the ten of clubs.
June 2021 issue
Kai-Ching Lin's name was misspelled on page one and the front cover.
May 2021 issue
In the diagram on page 43, the ace of spades is superfluous.
March 2021 issue
In the Master Solvers' Club, the reference to Simple Minds should have been to Tears for Fears.
January 2021 issue
In Improve Your Play B, declarer would do better to discard hearts on the third and fourth rounds of diamonds.
Ron Andersen's name is misspelled on page 30.
On the first deal on page 23, West is the dealer.
On page 22, the North hand at the bottom of the left column should match the one in the right column.
December 2020 issue
Ben Kristensen's name was spelled incorrectly in Challenge the Champs.
The West hand on page 34 is missing a club x.
November 2020 issue
The line recommended in Test Your Play B is among several that (virtually) guarantee the contract. At matchpoints, it provides a substantial chance of making an overtrick in a normal contract. A better chance for an overtrick is to play heart ace, spade ace (say both opponents follow low), spade king, heart king, diamond ace-king, and club ace-king-queen. Then, (a) take the spade ten if high and lead to the diamond queen to squeeze West; or, (b) if the count shows that a minor breaks three-three, take the diamond queen and a minor-suit winner to squeeze West; or (c) cash the heart queen, and either (i) run diamonds or (ii) take the diamond jack and then--unless West is 3=5=1=4, where the diamond jack will squeeze him among three singletons if he holds the spade queen--lead the major guarded by the defender who holds the long diamond.
In the Bridge Movie, West's four of clubs and South's five should have been switched; and the first round of hearts should have been reported as heart deuce, seven, eight, ten.
Ben Kristensen's name was spelled incorrectly in Challenge the Champs.
October 2020 issue
In Test Your Play B, when clubs are two-two, declarer, when in dummy with the club ten, can either (a) cash the heart king (discarding a diamond) before ruffing a heart or (b) ruff a heart and play diamond ace-king before discarding a diamond on the king of hearts.
On page 34, should West hold the long defensive club, declarer can ruff the fourth round of the suit and continue with a low diamond.
September 2020 issue
On page 36, Kim Frazer should have been described as "an Olympian and multiple gold-medal winner in international events."
On page 42, "Let the good times roll" would have been translated better as laissez le bon temps rouler.
In the solution of Combination 178 [3 2 | K 10 9 6 5 4 for four tricks], playing low to the ten will pick up two three-two cases (East's ace-queen and ace-jack) in addition to those mentioned. The recommended play (duck the first round, then low to the king unless West played an honor earlier) is even better than claimed, as it works against East's queen-jack-doubleton as well as the cases listed.
August 2020 issue
The 9-imp swing cited on page 4 should have been 8 imps.
July 2020 issue
On page 25: After two diamonds -- two hearts -- two spades -- ?, three diamonds = five-plus spades and four-plus hearts (hearts not longer than spades). [Opener bids three hearts with two spades and three-plus hearts; three spades with three-plus spades and fewer than four hearts (with three=four, opener bids a major based on suit quality), three notrump with no major-suit fit; four clubs|diamonds with four-plus hearts|spades and good slam values. After opener's three hearts, responder can inquire about heart length with three spades; sign off in game; bid four clubs|four diamonds with extra heart|spade length and slam interest.]
After two diamonds -- two spades -- two notrump -- ?, three diamonds = long hearts; responder may pass opener's discouraging three hearts, but any other continuation is a slam-try.
In Playing Suit Combinations, the recommended approach also gains against East's singleton nine.
In Improve Your Play A, after drawing trumps, declarer can increase his chance of success slightly by taking the ace and king of diamonds. Then: (a) If all follow or East is short, continue as suggested. (b) If West shows out of diamonds (thus is more likely than East to hold the king of clubs), cash the black-suit winners in the hope of effecting a double squeeze.
On page 11, the sentence "East then can win tap dummy, with or without cashing the trump queen" should read "East then can win, cash the trump queen, and tap dummy."
May 2020 issue
On page 28: Stephen Kennedy's under-25 team represented England.
Ultra-Hi Def was an independent development of the same basic mechanism used in the February 2019 Two-Way Two-Over-One.
April 2020 issue
In Improve Your Play A, declarer can slightly improve the chance of making an overtrick by playing the ace of hearts before leading toward the jack.
March 2020 issue
Diagram adjustments: In ending on page 35, East should have 1=1=1=4; on page 35, North's club should be the six; on page 37, South clubs should be diamonds.
February 2020 issue
The editor's footnote on page 34 was meant to apply if East had been on lead in the ending shown. (In the actual deal, South was on lead and played a club.)
January 2020 issue
In Test Your Play A, since declarer intends to lead the first round of hearts from the closed hand, he should have ruffed the queen of clubs (to avoid allowing East to discard a singleton heart honor when a second round of spades is used to provide an entry).
In the Awards for Challenge the Champs Deal 2, the second listing of five diamonds should have been four diamonds.
In the description of Board 52 on page 13, the first reference to the Closed Room should have been to the Open Room.
December 2019 issue
In Improve Your Play B, if declarer discovers that East was dealt four clubs and four or five spades, he should discontinue spades after two rounds and continue according to his best guess of East's distribution.
In Test Your Play B, the comment about when and how West could defeat the contract assumed that declarer would play normally, aiming to ruff a diamond in dummy.
November 2019 issue
On page 8, the number of the line followed by Levin was (3), not (2) as shown.
In Test Your Play B, the basic line of play is correct, but the subsequent statements about the dangers of playing trumps early on are not.
October 2019 issue
In Combination 167 (page 9), it is superior to take two finesses through East.
In Test Your Play A, when West turns up with jack-fifth of hearts, declarer should start running spades and adjust the continuation based on how many spades West holds.
The Master Solvers' Club problem set that appears on page 63 (for the November 2019 MSC Contest) is not correct and should be disregarded. The actual problem set for the November 2019 MSC Contest appears on the MSC page of the Bridge World's web site.
September 2019 issue
On page 22, as the play started, declarer in two spades redoubled could have taken seven tricks once North cashed the ace of diamonds.
August 2019 issue
In the second example deal on page 60, the king of diamonds should have been a low diamond.
July 2019 issue
In Test Your Play A, in the branch where West started with five hearts and the deuce of hearts has appeared, before leading the third round of hearts, declarer should cash dummy's queen of clubs to squeeze West among three suits.
In Test Your Play B, if declarer is willing to guess the shapes one trick earlier, he can succeed independent of the location of the queen of clubs.
On page 10, the second mention of the Open Room should have said the Closed Room.
On page 11, the Closed room result on Board 17 was down one, minus 50.
As the cards lay, the line proposed for the Closed-Room declarer in the right-hand column of page 22 would have failed if East discarded a club on the first spade ruff in the South hand.
June 2019 issue
In Test Your Play A, a better try is to ruff a diamond after the spade ace. If diamonds break four-three, continue as in the original solution; otherwise, aim at ruffs in the closed hand: If East has five diamonds, duck a heart; if West has five diamonds, play heart ace, diamond ruff, heart.
In Text Your Play B, leading to the club king succeeds when East is 2=5=4=2 (or 2=6=4=1).
May 2019 issue
In Test Your Play Solution B, the reference to the nine of hearts should have been to the ten.
April 2019 issue
The analysis of the four-heart contract on page six should say that declarer could have succeeded if he had begun by playing dummy's spade ace at trick one.
In Test Your Play A, if West discards the ace and queen of clubs, declarer can avoid the need to guess which opponent holds the jack of clubs by keeping four diamonds and two clubs in dummy, then leading the last spade.
March 2019 issue
In Test Your Play B, an alternative that is equally-good technically, gives declarer a chance to select a line of play based on the opponents behavior and signals, and is more likely to induce imperfect defense, is to attack spades before playing the third round of clubs.
The declarer-play advice in Fifty Years Ago assumes that West follows to the third round of diamonds. If not, declarer should ruff low and lead the club queen, choosing his continuation based on whether or not East follows.
January 2019 issue
In four spades doubled discussed on pages 28 and 29, to escape for two down against best defense declarer needed to play a low club after winning the ace of spades.
In Improve Your Play A, if East shifts to a club at trick two, a stronger line is: win, draw trumps, heart finesse, club to hand, heart finesse, ruff a heart if necessary.
In the scoring chart for Master Solvers' Club Problem B, the action listed as one notrump should have been three notrump.
October 2018 issue
In Improve Your Play A, declarer can safely try for an overtrick by winning the second round of trumps in dummy and leading a heart toward the singleton king, Should the opponents capture the king, declarer can revert to the suggested line of play, being careful to cash one top diamond before exiting with the second round of clubs.
In the description of the play of Board 9 of the Vanderbilt final (page 14), the statement that declarer's winning the first trick could "minimize" the heart danger could have been strengthened to "eliminate" the heart danger (to the contract).
August 2018 issue
In Deal 4 of the Swiss Match, the line of play proposed to avoid guessing which finesse to take is flawed in that dummy would need to give up a valuable asset on the fifth round of spades.
In Suit Combination 153, declarer does best to lead to the ten, which succeeds in 14 cases, whereas ace-first handles only 11 cases.
In the left column of page 19, East's deuce of clubs is superfluous.
July 2018 issue
On page 17, in the discussion of Board 54, the Open Room and Closed Room references are switched.
In the Open Room play of Board 60 (page 21), declarer took three trump tricks (one with a trump in dummy) in the ending, leading to the stated result of down four, minus 800.
June 2018 issue
In the solution to Pietro's Pearls, IX (page 75), the sentence "If East shows out of spades by the third diamond or was void of spades, only he can hold long hearts" should have added to it: "(unless West is 6=4=2=1 or 6=4=1=2, which will become obvious by the time declarer has cashed the minor-suit winners)."
On the deal discussed on page 11, in the Open Room, East could have defended successfully by discarding a heart on the fourth round of spades, planning to go up with the ace of hearts if declarer discarded a heart and led a heart from dummy.
May 2018 issue
In Challenge the Champs, Deal 8, East's ten of spades is superfluous.
April 2018 issue
The statement on page 16 that a successful double club finesse assures success is not 100-percent accurate: When West is four=four in the blacks, he cannot avoid being squeezed; when he is three=five, the squeeze operates only when West has both spade quacks, as on the actual deal.
March 2018 issue
The scoring of Master Solvers' Club Problem H should have included a score of 50 for the spade three.
In the solution to Imperfect (page 18), in (a) there should be no reference to discarding a diamond (which has already happened); in (b), the first line under the diagram should say fewer than five diamonds (not four).
February 2018 issue
The inspired diamond lead mentioned on page 22 would have reduced declarer's chance to a heart finesse but presumably not have defeated the contract.
In Solution 6 on page 23, declarer should draw only one round of trumps while reaching dummy for the second diamond ruff. This preserves a necessary late trump entry to dummy if West plays a fourth round of diamonds after winning his spade trick.
January 2018 issue
In the Closed-Room auction in the left column of page 12, the opening bid was three spades.
The apostrophe gremlin struck five lines from the bottom of the right-hand column of page 51.
November 2017 issue
In Test Your Play A, in the suggested line of play, at trick four it is superior to cross to dummy in hearts to take the next spade ruff.
The article on pages 24-25 discusses the 2017 Canadian Open Pairs.
October 2017 issue
In Deal 7 of the Senior Swiss Match, a small improvement is to execute the same general plan but start diamonds with the lead of the ten, ducking in dummy whether or not West covers.
September 2017 issue
In Test Your Play A, in the alternative possibility when trumps break four-one, whether West keeps three or four spades when trumps are drawn, declarer is better off next playing a second round of diamonds (than the suggested play of attacking clubs).
In the last paragraph of the solution to Kantar for the Defense (page 37), the sentence that ends ". . . cross to the club ace, ruff a diamond, return to dummy in clubs, and lead a diamond." could be clarified to say ". . .cross to the club ace, ruff a diamond, return to dummy in clubs, and lead a high diamond."
August 2017 issue
In the left column of page 13, the defenders could defeat a hypothetical five-diamond contract with three rounds of clubs.
In the left column of page 9, the posed-problem auction occurred in the Open Room.
The four-hand diagram in the solution to Kantar for the Defense does not show a winning case for the suggested defense. Declarer could eliminate diamonds before starting trumps, endplaying West after the heart ruff.
July 2017 issue
In the solution to Test Your Play A:
(1) If declarer starts with heart ace, two spades, and three clubs, then sees a three-three club split, the best continuation is diamond ace, spade to dummy, clubs, diamond ruff.
(2) Drawing two rounds of trumps early works against West's 2=6=4=1 or 1=6=5=1, regardless of the location of the king of diamonds.
(3) Drawing one round of trumps early works when West has 1=6=4=2 or 1=5=5=2, regardless of the location of the king of diamonds. In this approach, the correct order of play is heart ace, spade king, diamond ace, three clubs discarding a diamond. If clubs break three-three, draw trumps and hope to ruff out the king of diamonds. If West has at most two clubs, continue with a fourth club discarding a diamond (a fifth club is safe if East must follow), diamond ruff, heart ruff, and another diamond.
May 2017 issue
In Improve Your Play B, should East discard on the third club, declarer can ensure the contract by playing heart king and three rounds of diamonds, ruffing in dummy.
On the five-club contract discussed on pages 28 and 29, thanks to the very favorable lie of the East-West spades, declarer could have taken another trick by playing spade ace, spade ruff, and a heart toward dummy's king.
April 2017 issue
On page 6, the Closed-Room analysis was incomplete, as the four=two club split more than offsets the two=three trump break. Declarer's play remains correct.
The problem in Kantar for the Defense should have stated that the jack-lead denied a higher honor. This would have made the suggested defense clearer.
March 2017 issue
In Improve Your Play B, declarer can afford an early round of spades, planning to follow the recommended loser-on-loser approach if East holds all three missing trumps.
In the Master Solvers' Club April Contest problem G, the footnote is correct for the problem but should not have been labeled BWS. In BWS, four clubs is a control-bid.
In the four-spade contract on page 35, the R.E. was incorrect in his claim that the contract was unbeatable after his trump shift at trick two.
December 2016 issue
In Improve Your Play B, if, from trick four, declarer takes South's top diamonds and spades, and discovers West with at most one spade and East with at least two diamonds, the double finesse in hearts is a better chance than the trump squeeze against East.
On line 9 of the second paragraph of the right column of page 8, "queen-ten-fourth" should be "king-ten-fourth."
November 2016 issue
In the ending diagram on page 35, East should hold the eight of clubs instead of the deuce of hearts
October 2016 issue
The intent of the sentence in the Editorial that stated: "It makes sense to revise the results of an event in which the convicts participated, but we see no reason for affecting bystanders any further." would have been made clearer by the insertion of the words "and were convicted of cheating" after the word "participated." (The current policy affects all results involving a convicted pair going back four years.)
In the hypothetical line discussed in Fifty Years Ago, if declarer decides to try for 13 tricks he would need to discard a spade from dummy on the third round of diamonds, thus could not use the approach mentioned by the author.
In the solution to Test Your Play A, the recommended line against a five-zero trump break will fail (because dummy's clubs will not be winners after South's ace is discarded). When West shows out on the first heart, declarer, needing East to hold three clubs, should cross to dummy in clubs, finesse in hearts, cash the aces of clubs and diamonds, cross to dummy in clubs, and continue with black-suit winners.
The ending diagram on page 73 should show North with the nine of diamonds, not the five of clubs.
The suggested line of play in Improve Your Play A also fails if West ducks the ten of hearts from queen-doubleton and 6=2=3=2.
September 2016 issue
In Combination 129 (b) [page 64], declarer does slightly better on average by running the eight, intending, if it loses to the king or jack, next to lead the ten from dummy; or, if the eight loses to the nine, later to finesse the queen. (If Easts play the jack or nine on the eight, declarer finesses the queen.)
August 2016 issue
In the second sentence of the first full paragraph on page 17, from trick three declarer can succeed by cashing four minor-suit tricks, ruffing in dummy, taking two hearts, ruffing in dummy, then scoring the spade queen on a heart ruff.
In Improve Your Play A, declarer may increase his chance of success slightly by not cashing the ace of hearts until after the third diamond ruff in dummy.
The BWS-poll vote for 1516B was 82 percent.
July 2016 issue
In the Master Solvers Club: (1) the votes on Problem A should have shown five for two notrump and three for three clubs; (2) Eddie Wold's answer on F1/F2 (page 55) should have been four hearts|double.
June 2016 issue
The example hand in the right column of page 32 should show seven spades to the ace-king (not ace-queen).
In Test Your Play A, when East turns up with the singleton jack of spades, under the assumption of best defense, playing for a two-two heart break is superior to taking the ruffing finesse in clubs.
May 2016 issue
On Master Solvers' Club Problem D, the score for three clubs | three notrump should have been listed as 60.
At the bottom of the right column of page 19, the statement about the earlier play of the ace of spades is correct, but declarer must follow a different order of play than in the main discussion.
In Test Your Play A, there are other sure-trick lines, some of which offer superior chances for overtricks.
In Improve Your Play A, a superior line is for declarer to begin with the ace and another spade, guarding against West's holding five (or six) spades and the short queen of hearts.
March 2016 issue
In the first full paragraph on page 15, the reference to Room 4 should be to Room 2.
In Test Your Play B, the recommended play is better than claimed, because the eight-of-hearts finesse loses a makable contract when East started with nine-doubleton of hearts and any number of diamonds.
In the scoring chart for Master Solvers' Club Problem D (page 49), the line that said c|two clubs should have said c|one notrump, and the line that said b|two clubs should have said b.
Two scores were accidentally excluded from the scoring chart for Master Solvers' Club Problem H: diamond five, 100; spade four, 70.
January 2016 issue
In Improve Your Play A, if a competent West plays the nine or ten on South's spade three, the percentage play is to hope for ten-seven-low or nine-seven-low. However, if West follows low, declarer can equally well finesse the eight or the six.
December 2015 issue
In the solution of Test Your Play A, a superior continuation for declarer in paragraph (d) is spade ace-king (club discard) and a spade-ruff low. (If spades are three-two, West cannot afford to overruff.) Then: heart ruff, club ace, club ruff, spade ruff high, a ruff in the suit that declarer guesses West's remaining plain-suit card to lie, and a spade, with declarer discarding to endplay West. (If West turns up with four spades, South can also ruff the fourth round of spades low and then guess.) A small improvement in part (c), after West shows out at trick two, is to play spade ace-king-high ruff (declarer needs three-two spades), then continue with a low trump.
In the four-heart contract discussed on page 36, a simpler (and superior) procedure after winning the second diamond in dummy is spade ruff high, club king, two trumps, spade jack.
On page 4, the reference to page 25 should refer to page 73.
November 2015 issue
In Challenge the Champs, Deal 3, a score of 6 for six notrump was omitted.
A typing error caused Eric Kokish's printed comment in Master Solvers' Club Problem A to refer to three diamonds when it should have been two diamonds.
October 2015 issue
In Test Your Play B, if West was dealt at least two hearts among the jack, ten, nine and seven, declarer can avoid the guess for the king of hearts by leading the eight of hearts from dummy in the four-card ending, covering East's card, and later finessing the six if necessary.
In Kantar for the Defense, if declarer holds the pointed-suit kings in a 3=2=2=6 hand, he can make the contract after a spade shift by executing a trump squeeze.
The "all-Canadian" team mentioned in the first paragraph on page 4 included an American, Alex Hudson.
The East-West heart holdings are switched on Board 8 of the Challenge the Champs hands for November.
September 2015 issue
The comment attributed to Benito Garozzo on page 2 was in fact made by Lorenzo Lauria.
July 2015 issue
In Rate Your Own Play, II, on Problem 2 North should hold the club four, and on Problem 4 South should hold the diamond queen.
On page 34, the statement that Poland won the 2000 Olympiad is incorrect. (Poland lost to Italy in the final.)
On page 19, Meckstroth's Adjunct (and the Adjunct to that Adjunct) use three of opener's major as strong, four of opener's major as weak (not with the strengths reversed as printed).
May 2015 issue
The hypothetical 500-point penalty mentioned in the left column of page 8 would have been only 300. (Declarer can use three pointed-suit entries to ruff three clubs in dummy.)
April 2015 issue
In the left column of page 40, the East hand has a superfluous three of clubs.
The last sentence of the solution to Improve Your Play Problem A, though harmless, should be ignored.
February 2015 issue
In the Money Puzzle, East might also have been dealt four hearts and the ace-king-deuce of clubs. The description of the solution is correct where it says that East must hold "at least one high club honor," but the example deal covers only the case where he has exactly one. If the spade queen is doubleton and East has the ace-king of clubs, there are more possibilities.
December 2014 issue
In Test Your Play B, if West shifted to a spade at trick two and East overtook, declarer would need to guess whether to duck (probably the percentage move, as West, with limited defense, might have led a singleton spade) or to win.
In the deal discussed on page 21, after West leads a third round of hearts, the defense can overcome the line of play given for declarer if East ruffs the third round of clubs and continues hearts. To preclude this possibility, declarer must take one round of trumps before leading the third round of clubs.
The solution to the double-dummy problem on page 22, after a low-club lead, should state declarer takes a round of trumps at trick 10.
In the Master Solvers Club Problem G, Doug Doub and Adam Wildavsky bid six spades (not six hearts); the comment appeared correctly.
November 2014 issue
In Fifty Years Ago, the text under the first diagram should refer to the spade eight.
In Improve Your Defense, the impact of the recommended approach would be potentially critical if dummy's heart holding were weaker.
September 2014 issue
In Test Your Play A, the defense can succeed when East has nine-eight-doubleton of clubs if West keeps king-jack-low or king-ten-low.
On page 53, the figures of 800 and 2800 should have been 750 and 2200, because the cited deal was played before the most-recent change in duplicate-bridge scoring.
July 2014 issue
In the solution to Improve Your Play A, the eight of spades should be in the West hand.
In Master Solvers' Club Problem H, the scoring chart listed the spade deuce or three as scoring 50 points; it should have said the spade deuce or four.
April 2014 issue
In the editor's note on page 34, the words "take one high heart" should have been omitted.
March 2014 issue
The Solution to Combination 99b (page 64) incorrectly states that two ways of playing ace-jack-seven-four-three opposite ten-nine-deuce for four tricks (deuce first, ten first) are equal. The ten-play is superior, gaining against four East singletons (king, queen, six, five), while the deuce-play gains against only two West singletons (king, queen).
January 2014 issue
In Improve Your Play B, the contract can be defeated if East continues spades each time he gets on lead with an ace. It would not help declarer to attack clubs early, because then West could discard a club on the third round of spades.
December 2013 issue
In Test Your Play A, the best alternative to the suggested approach is not mentioned. Leading the heart jack from dummy is superior to the two start-with-hearts lines described.
November 2013 issue
In the right column of page 17, the words "finesse the queen of clubs, and cash the ace of clubs," should have been "and finesse the queen of clubs,"
September 2013 issue
In the second-to-last paragraph of the left column of page 8, the phrase "key card" should say "critical card" (in this case the queen of hearts).
A scoring line was omitted from Master Solvers' Club Problem H: The club six received a score of 50.
August 2013 issue
In Test Your Play Solution B, declarer should not draw a second round of trumps before leading a club to the jack.
June 2013 issue
In Improve Your Play B, an improvement is: heart ace, heart ruff, spade ace, spade queen; after ruffing a spade in dummy: diamond ace, eliminate spades, diamond (guarding against the possibility that West lacks the club queen despite the bidding).
In Solution 90a, page 75, add: The ace is the correct play, because leading low may fail against a four-two split.
The sample Bridge World Standard auction on Deal 10 of Challenge the Champs omitted the overcall. With that taken into account, the sequence might be: 1 club - (2 spades) - 3 diamonds - 3 NT - 4 clubs - 4 spades - 6 clubs - Pass.
May 2013 issue
The next-to-last sentence on page 30 should refer to West's keeping three diamonds among five cards and declarer's keeping two diamonds and two clubs.
The second sentence of the second paragraph in the right column of page 32 should begin: South won in dummy . . .
In the construction on page 62, after a heart lead and a club shift, declarer can make the contract by winning the first or second round of clubs and running spades to squeeze North.
March 2013 issue
On page 13, North's five-spade bid should be five diamonds (ordinary Blackwood).
February 2013 issue
In the ending shown on page 24, North's seven of clubs should be the jack of hearts.
The last paragraph of Test Your Play A should read:
If either East discards on a club or both opponents follow to three rounds, ruff a club. If East turns up with five clubs, cash two top spades in dummy and continue with a high heart. [Should East ruff, overruff, cross to dummy in diamonds, and lead another heart winner.] If East has three or four clubs, cross to dummy in spades and lead hearts.
December 2012 issue
On page 23, the right-hand column reference to Open Room should be Closed Room.
On page 75, the reference to problem page should be page 17.
November 2012 issue
In the solution to Test Your Play A, the phrase "at least four cards" should say "at least five cards." (Solution and analysis remain the same.)
October 2012 issue
In the Suit Combination of the Month, the conclusion that starting with the jack is best is correct, but the case count is wrong (it overlooks the possibility that East holds royal-low--six cases). When these are added in, of the four-two and five-one splits,: (a) running the jack picks up 21 and 4; (b) running the nine picks up 18 and 3; (c) cashing the ace picks up 12 and 6.
In the solution to Test Your Play B, the line of play not recommended is mistimed: Declarer should lose a heart trick before drawing the second round of trumps, leaving an entry to allow cashing two rounds of spades in the South hand, just before reaching the ending shown.
September 2012 issue
In Improve Your Defense, declarer might play to overcome the suggested defense (four rounds of spades, a diamond to the queen, and the last heart, squeezing West). A club shift at trick three is a stronger play and will defeat the contract as the cards lie.
In Challenge the Champs: Deal 1 (revised scoring): two hearts doubled or passed 11; two spades, 10; three spades 8; three diamonds or three clubs 7; three notrump 5; four spades, 4; four diamonds or four clubs 3; five diamonds or five clubs 2. Corrected final score for Deas-Palmer: 76.
The problem in Kantar for the Defense originally appeared in H. W. Kelsey's Killing Defense at Bridge.
July 2012 issue
On page 14, the sentence: "If South has two or more clubs and no king of hearts, he has no play." should have been prefaced with: "As a practical matter,"
June 2012 issue
On page 4, the names of Brazilians Miguel Villas-Boas and Joao-Paulo Campos were mismatched.
The extra card in the East hand at the top of the left column of page 18 is the eight of diamonds.
April 2012 issue
On page 28, the statement that "South surely would have scored 620 for a 14-imp gain" should have said "South would likely have been down one for an 8-imp gain."
March 2012 issue
On page 13, the result described four lines from the end should be down three (not two).
The sentence in the right column of page 16 that begins "If East had another club," should have continued: "however, declarer would have failed with that approach."
In the right column of page 18, North's five of hearts should be the four.
April Master Solvers' Club Problem E is set at IMPs with neither side vulnerable
February 2012 issue
In the last example on page 60, the diamond king should be the queen.
November 2011 issue
The author's apology in the second paragraph on page 34 is inadequate, because the defense might be able profitably to shift to hearts.
October 2011 issue
On page 12, in the description of the play at Table 2, the sentence about creating a losing option should be ignored.
August 2011 issue
In Master Solvers' Club Problem D, the score for either four spades or "b" is 50.
July 2011 issue
In the Master Solvers' Forum, the reference to Problem F should be to Problem D.
The left-column item on page 23 repeated (with different emphasis) an analytical point that appeared in October 2010's Bits and Pieces.
May 2011 issue
On Master Solvers' Club Problem D, Zia doubled. His comment and chart listing are correct.
March 2011 issue
In the example hand shown at the top of the left column of page 9, the jack of hearts should be a low heart.
The alternative squeeze suggested in the editorial insertion on page 14 is inferior to the approach given in the text. East could discard a spade and then a diamond to hold his loss to one trick.
February 2011 issue
In the Master Solvers' Forum, the score additions listed for Problem D should have referred to Problem F.
The article on Knothole Stayman should have mentioned that the same basic structure was recommended by Dave Caprera and Gerry Oehm in the June 1981 issue.
January 2011 issue
On page 35, top section, left column, West's club nine should be the eight.
The solution to Improve Your Play A is correct but could be amplified: After spade queen-king-ace and two top diamonds, the danger of crossing early to the closed hand in spades is that West may have led from a six-card suit, and declarer might rethink this choice if West showed out of diamonds early.
The Honor Roll for August 2010 was accidentally reprinted. The Honor Roll for September 2010 appears in the March 2011 issue.
November 2010 issue
On Challenge the Champs, Deal 6, add: 3 NT 7.
October 2010 issue
On page 23, the reference to the February issue should have specified the year: 2009.
August 2010 issue
In Test Your Play B, before trying to cash the club queen, declarer can more safely ruff his remaining low club in dummy, ruff another heart, and draw the last trump.
July 2010 issue
On page 16, in the hypothetical line where declarer ducks a diamond to East, the eventual squeeze occurs when declarer uses his last trump to ruff West's club exit.
On page 22, the second line from the bottom should begin "slightly less likely . . . " (The rest of the text is correct.)
June 2010 issue
In the deal on page 18, the spade deuce should be in the North hand.
In Test Your Play B, should declarer keep the ace of spades and three diamonds in dummy, he should continue with a low diamond (not the jack) to dummy's ace.
May 2010 issue
In Improve Your Play B, declarer can improve his chances slightly by playing the ace of diamonds at trick four, then if necessary following the recommended approach.
April 2010 issue
In the four-heart contract on page 36, it is slightly better to withhold the heart ace until it is determined that the spade suit can be used. If East discards on the second round of spades, declarer can continue with a club ruff and a diamond.
In Improve Your Play Solution A (page 37), to maintain the (slight) chance that West will duck from king-third of spades, declarer needs to ruff trick three, cross to dummy in hearts, lead the spade jack to the ace, take two more hearts, then play the nine or ten of spades.
March 2010 issue
Improve Your Play A should be at IMPs, and in the solution (page 37), the count of king-tripletons should be six, not four.
The first full paragraph on page 44 should have been deleted.
February 2010 issue
The East hand in the right column of page 62 should have an eighth diamond.
In item (3) on page 45, 98 percent should be 88 percent.
January 2010 issue
The reference to "the February issue" on page 23 should have been to "the February 2004 issue."
December 2009 issue
The recommended spade-ace play at the bottom of page 30 (after a diamond lead) is not as safe as taking a spade finesse at trick two.
In the four-heart contract discussed on page 32, declarer should cash the ace of clubs at an earlier point.
In Improve Your Play B, declarer should draw one round of trumps before ducking a heart.
November 2009 issue
In Test Your Play A, East plays the spade nine at trick three.
In Test Your Play A, declarer should cash the heart ace before starting diamonds, in case East has 4=3=5=1.
August 2009 issue
On Board 1 of the Swiss Match, the result after a two-spade opening should be minus 450.
On Board 6 of the Swiss Match, the eight-of-diamonds lead also allows the slam to be made.
July 2009 issue
In Test Your Play B, variant (a) in the last paragraph should be omitted: The South hand is an entry short for declarer to take advantage of that lie of the minor suits.
In the ending on page 42, contrary to the text, East would be better off keeping two clubs; he could then discard the jack of diamonds on the last trump. Declarer needs to keep two clubs in dummy to make the contract against best defense.
June 2009 issue
In Improve Your Play B (pages 30 and 37), switch the heart nine and heart four.
On a double-dummy basis, if declarer misplays the four-spade contract on the top of page 32 by winning trick one and returning a heart, to defeat the contract West must win and shift to a diamond,
May 2009 issue
In the diagram in the right column of page eight, the spade three and the club five are switched. (The text is correct.)
The last sentence of Text Your Play B is silly and may safely be ignored.
On Deal 1 of Challenge the Champs, Balicki's rebid was two diamonds (not two spades), and the sequence concluded five clubs - five diamonds - five spades - six notrump - pass (the five-diamond bid was omitted). The description of the meanings of the bids is correct, including those that were misrecorded.
March 2009 issue
In Making Room for Jack (page 16), the description of five diamonds should end with: "or three key cards and the trump queen."
In the solution to Improve Your Play B, from trick three the recommended play should continue: spade king, heart ace, spade to dummy's ten, heart queen.
February 2009 issue
The phrase "unknown suits" at the bottom of page 15 would be more appropriate as "two specified suits."
The suggested defense on Board 4 of the Swiss Match will lead to plus 200.
In the solution to Combination of the Month 38a (page 76), the answer is correct but the comparison between the jack and nine should read: Playing the jack gains on West's AQ7, AQ6, and AQ76 (3 cases); playing the nine gains against West's Q107, Q106, Q1076, AQ107, AQ106, and AQ1076 (6 cases).
January 2009 issue
In Test Your Play A, leading low from dummy loses in two cases: one where East is forced to play the eight, one where East is forced to play the ten. Leading toward dummy is the superior play.
In Improve Your Play A, a small improvement is to begin the play with diamond ace, spade to South, diamond.
December 2008 issue
On page 34, the remark about the singleton jack of clubs in Solution 2(a) should be part of Solution 2(b).
November 2008 issue
In Improve Your Play B: On pages 31 and 36, the opening lead is the four of hearts. On page 36, West does not have the nine of hearts.
Corrected version of paragraph (e) of Test Your Play Problem A: If West leads a club at trick three, declarer should win with the ace (hoping that if West has four diamonds he is 2=5=4=2), cash the top spades, and finesse in diamonds. When West shows up with four diamonds, declarer knocks out the king of diamonds and takes a long diamond and the nine of hearts in dummy. (If South ducks at trick three, West could cash a high heart and exit safely.)
October 2008 issue
On page 8, the score of 1540 near the top of the right column should be 1090. The other score and the IMP result are correct.
September 2008 issue
In Master Solvers' Club Problem H, the last scoring line should refer to the club king.
In the first paragraph on page 18, aiming to ruff diamonds in dummy would succeed if West's distribution were 6=3=2=2.
August 2008 issue
In Master Solvers' Club Problem G, it should be three hearts getting a 60-point award, not three spades.
July 2008 issue
The distributions listed on page 51 should be 3=0=6=4 and 1=2=6=4.
The Editor's footnote on page 52 should have explained the acronym for PLOB as petty little odious bid.
May 2008 issue
Add to the solution of Improve Your Play A: That heart position is so unlikely that perhaps a more attractive approach is: win trick one, run diamonds, lead a heart to the jack, then judge which black-suit top to cash to squeeze an opponent between leaving a heart honor unprotected and allowing a throw-in with the other black suit to let South make a second heart trick.
April 2008 issue
On page 18, right column, line 4, word 5 should be "diamond."
In the left column of page 41, the sentence that begins "Suppose declarer had to play six diamonds . . . " should refer to seven diamonds.
In the ending diagram for Test Your Play A (page 74), South should have two fewer spades. A superior play after drawing trumps is to ruff the third round of diamonds. Then:
(1) If East is known to have at most one more diamond, play club ace, diamond ruff to reduce East to black cards, then (depending on East's remaining cards) either establish spades or strip East's last club preparatory to endplaying him.
(2) If East is known to have more than one diamond, play club king-ace to squeeze him: If he keeps only one diamond, diamond ruff then endplay; otherwise, work on spades.
March 2008 issue
On page 30, right column, first paragraph, delete "discarding a spade from dummy"
On page 31: South in the hand diagram should be labeled "Laila"
November 2007 issue
In Improve Your Play A, the card that West leads to trick three is the club six. [And shifting to the queen of diamonds would be a stronger defense.]
August 2007 issue
In Test Your Play B: (1) give West the five of clubs; (2) in the line presented, the defense can also prevail (when diamond blockage can be avoided) if West keeps 0=2=2=2 and East 0=1=3=2; thus, a persuasive case can be brought that a stronger play for declarer is to start with only six trumps, retaining 0=2=3=2 in dummy, before taking a position on how to continue based on guessing the opposing shapes.
The first diagram on page 18 was meant to show South playing the deuce, the trick to have been ace: five, six, deuce. The quotation in the next paragraph should be "The ten, nine and four are missing." The a priori odds are two-to-one encouraging, and South can't do anything to change those odds in his favor. If South plays a "wrong" card, such as the nine, he gives the defenders even better odds; here, it would mean that East's card will surely be seen as encouraging.
July 2007 issue
In Test Your Play A, a stronger play for declarer is not to play his last trump. Then, when East has three diamonds with or without the queen or seven, after ruffing a club he must either allow entry back to the South hand or let dummy run diamonds.
After refusing the trump finesse, the victim of the swindle on page 44 could have tested hearts with no risk.
In Improve Your Play A, although it is very unlikely to matter, it is superior to cash one round of diamonds before proceeding as suggested.
June 2007 issue
In Test Your Play A, if trumps break two-two, after ruffing a heart in dummy, if the defender with short diamonds started with more spades than his partner [e.g., East might be 5=4=2=2], declarer can, instead, cash the spade ace and lead a diamond, hoping to endplay the defender who started with jack-low of diamonds.
Absent a clue from the bidding, declarer might be better advised to adopt a line of play other than the one described in the last paragraph on page 23.
A previously undetected bug in the process that creates the Master Solvers' Club Honor Roll (the computer blames the humans, the humans criticize the machine) caused scores from a different month to be mixed into the February Honor Roll.
May 2007 issue
The results of Board 2 in the Swiss match presume a trump lead against four spades; declarer has a winning line after the ten-of-diamonds lead.
March 2007 issue
In the deal in the left column of page 38, at double-dummy the defense can also defeat three spades after the heart-ace lead.
In Test Your Play A, it is (very slightly) superior to make the first heart winner cashed the king.
February 2007 issue
In the right column of page 42, nine-card should be eight-card.
On Board 14 of the Swiss Match, it is an improvement to draw only one round of trumps before starting clubs.
January 2007 issue
In Test Your Play A, declarer should have eliminated spades before hearts (in case East discarded or played low on the third heart).
In Test Your Play B, the correct implementation of the endplay idea, starting at trick three, is: club to dummy, trump finesse, two more hearts, clubs (endplaying East if he ruffs, otherwise scoring the heart seven en passant and the diamond ace).
In the four-heart contract discussed on page 8, a different defense (involving refusing three ruff-sluffs in both hands) would be required if declarer started clubs at trick two.
In the ending on page 76, the theme works, but declarer's play can be improved to ace and another spade. (One way to require the intended line of play would be to make dummy's diamond a middle club.)
November 2006 issue
The solution of Test Your Play A should end: . . . spade ruff high, diamond ace, heart to dummy.
October 2006 issue
In the Master Solvers' Club, Russell Shoup's answers to F1 and F2 were reversed.
August 2006 issue
On defense against the Closed-Room six-club contract discussed on pages 11 and 12, Hamman dropped the heart jack when declarer cashed the heart ace-king.
July 2006 issue
On page 64, the seventh line should begin "he can be thrown"; and in the ending diagram, North's spade should be the seven.
June 2006 issue
The correct distribution of the hand at the bottom of the right column of page 22 is 2=5=2=4.
In the Honor Roll, the February 730 listed for Jan Galey was in fact a score for March; the confusion was a consequence of disruptions caused by hurricanes in Louisiana.
May 2006 issue
In Kantar for the Defense, the queen and jack of diamonds were switched. Dummy should have held king-jack, declarer ace-queen.
March 2006 issue
On page 46, the deal shown upped the lead to 49 imps (not 47).
In Test Play B, another danger of leading the third round of hearts is that if East started with nine-tripleton of clubs, West might unblock while discarding clubs and be able eventually to force a club entry to the East hand.
January 2006 issue
In Board 2 of the Swiss match, an alternative line of spade ace-jack at tricks three and four (intending, after a diamond return, to win with the ace, ruff a spade high, ruff a heart, ruff another spade high, and exit with the queen of diamonds) ensures the contract if spades are no worse than four-two while West started with fewer than three clubs and diamonds that are seven-long or six to the king.
In Test Your Play B, an earlier stronger line for declarer is a heart finesse at trick four, ruff the diamond return, and lead a club, ducking if East plays an honor (aiming at a later red-suit squeeze).
On the deal in the right column of page 58, with good breaks in the majors declarer can make four spades by reversing the dummy.
December 2005 issue
In Problem 2 of Fifty Years Ago, an alternative line is: diamond ace, club ace, club ruff (high if East follows). If clubs break three-two or the king has dropped singleton, transpose into the given line. When East has a low singleton club: cheap ruff at trick three, diamond ruff, heart queen, heart ace, heart ruff, cheap club ruff, diamond ruff, club ruff.
November 2005 issue
In the paragraph under the diagram on page 42, one-third and two-thirds should be one-quarter and three-quarters, respectively.
September 2005 issue
The vote chart for the Master Solvers' Club appears here.
August 2005 issue
On page 75, the September Problems should say directed by Eric O. Kokish.
July 2005 issue
In Improve Your Play A, because there are six ways West's spades could be king-low-low to only four that they could be king-low, a more complete count of the relevant West hands shows that king-tripleton is more likely than king-doubleton (by a ratio of 9 to 8).
On page 55, the name of a famous puzzle maker is spelled Lloyd (the way it was spelled in the July 1955 issue). Despite more Internet references to Lloyd than to Loyd, research suggests that the latter is in fact how he spelled his name.
June 2005 issue
We continue to lose in the apostrophe war. The one that should have been in let's on the second line of page 45 wandered to where it didn't belong on the third from the last line on page 48.
May 2005 issue
On page 63, remove "be" from last sentence.
In Test Your Play B, it is better not to play any extra clubs if two rounds suffice for drawing trumps. Then, should West show out on the second round of spades, declarer should conclude with heart ace-heart nine, gaining over heart ace-spade nine when East has three low hearts.
March 2005 issue
In Improve Your Play A, declarer should lead the third round of hearts from dummy only after trumps have been drawn, in case East carelessly plays the lowest missing heart (or one lower than the seven), allowing declarer to discard and endplay West.
In the discussion on page 65, the East defender can succeed by keeping the singleton five of spades; West's second spade winner will squeeze dummy.
February 2005 issue
On page 60, left column, five lines from the bottom, the reference to the seven of diamonds should be to the nine.
January 2005 issue
On page 65, near the top of the right column, the statement about a tenth trick should be ignored.
Challenge the Champs incorrectly identified the winners of the 1991 World Junior Championship. They were: John Diamond, Jeff Ferro, Martha Katz, Brian Platnick, Wayne Stuart, and Debbie Zuckerberg.
The eventually suggested line of play for the six-spade contract on page 26 of the January issue should have included cashing a second round of clubs before the attempted heart throw-in.
November 2004 issue
In Test Your Play B, declarer should ruff a low club. If West discards, the remaining diamonds are two-two and at most one trick will be lost in that suit. If West follows to the club, declarer runs hearts, then plays a diamond to dummy's ace. In the three-card ending, dummy has the queen of diamonds and king-jack of clubs. South now has the complete count and knows whether to endplay East or to run clubs.
In the ending diagram on page 28, East's hearts should be two questions marks.
The sixth word of the fourth paragraph on page 44 should be "states."
The statement about double-dummy possibilities in the last paragraph of Improve Your Defense is incorrect. East could successfully overruff a low ruff in dummy, because declarer could not thereafter take the spade finesse without losing a trump trick.
October 2004 issue
In Test Your Play A, however unlikely it is to help, it can't hurt declarer to make his first club play low to dummy's jack. Perhaps West bid with 5=4=1=3 and will fail to play the queen of clubs when South leads the six back to his king (allowing declarer to play diamonds before finishing the clubs).
Alternative possibilities in A Lion by the Tail include trying to endplay West when he has all four clubs (by drawing trumps, cashing as many diamonds as the trump break allows, and leading a low club, intending to duck West's honor), trying to profit from a ruffing finesse in spades (by leading a club through West's hypothetical void at trick two and later using a diamond-ruff entry to dummy), and drawing trumps followed by the club ace after which there are further alternatives.
September 2004 issue
The correct distribution of the last West hand on page 70 is 4=2=4=3.
In Improve Your Defense, West's second spade play is the seven.
The explanation of part (b) of Test Your Play B can be clarified: (1) if diamonds break four-three declarer plays on hearts; (2) in contrast to part (a), employing the entry-shifting mechanism is not superior to simply running the red suits.
In Improve Your Play B, declarer should cash dummy's top spades and run the rounded-suit winners, squeezing any opponent guarding the pointed suits. (The intended point, about clearing the winners in one of the menace suits, is valid, but for the squeeze to apply against only West there must be no potential spade menace in the South hand.)
August 2004 issue
A double hold-up in trumps will defeat the suggested line on the deal on page 67; the best approach is to win trick one in dummy and finesse in spades.
On the deal in the right column of page 68, declarer should cash the club ace at trick two, intending, if a high honor appears on the right, to overtake in diamonds only if the nine drops and West does not show out. (This is best even if East is capable of falsecarding from king-queen-ten, king-queen-ten-low, king-ten-doubleton and queen-ten-doibleton.
Another of those !@*#@!! extra apostrophes snuck into the second paragraph of the left column of page 23. Apparently, no number of proofreaders guards against them; perhaps they are living in the printing press.
The hypothetical three-club contract discussed beginning at the bottom of page 8 can be defeated by sound defense, even if declarer guesses well.
In the dummy reversal on page 70, a slightly better order of play is to use hearts for the first two crosses to dummy (but the club queen immediately if a defender discards a club on a spade). This gains if a defender is 3=4=3=3 (because declarer learns about the trump break in time to play four rounds of clubs next) and loses only if a defender has two or three spades, at most three hearts, and one club.
July 2004 issue
The defensive club plays in the first deal of Fifty Years Ago are not necessary if declarer in fact drew two rounds of trumps.
The discussion of Improve Your Play B is incomplete in that after heart king, club ace, club ruff, spade to the king with both following low, club ruff, diamond ace-king, declarer must decide whether to play West for 3=5=2=3 (heart king and another heart) or 2=6=2=3 (trump).
May 2004 issue
The Results of Swiss Match Board 5 should have mentioned that if declarer had thought of leading the second round of diamonds from his hand, he could have established and cashed a club trick in dummy (after ruffing three times).
April 2004 issue
In the solution to Test Your Play B, delete the reference to East's 5=5=0=3 (where the suggested line of play, including if necessary playing a second round of hearts when in dummy with the ace of diamonds, succeeds).
February 2004 issue
In March Master Solvers' Club Problem B, the footnote "forcing to two diamonds" indicates how high the two-club bid extends the force on the partnership; "forcing to game" would be an analogous statement, in that case saying that the system requires at least game to be reached eventually, though not necessarily immediately. Thus, the impact of the actual footnote is that after bidding two clubs South would be free to pass partner's two-diamond bid. To indicate that two clubs systemically required partner to say the words "two diamonds," the note would read, "puppet to two diamonds."
January 2004 issue
In the solution to Test Your Play B, the two references to "bearing" should be to "baring."
On page 55, in the last paragraph in the left column, "it's" should be "its."
December 2003 issue
In Improve Your Play B, it is not quite true that declarer can shorten himself only by ruffing a heart in the closed hand. If West shows up with four clubs when the tops in that suit are cashed, dummy's last club can be ruffed.
November 2003 issue
In Test Your Play A, if declarer is certain that East would not (mis)defend with a doubleton trump, he should discard a diamond from the closed hand at trick four (intending to discard a club from dummy if West ruffs). This gains when East's distribution is 4=3=5=1.
In the solution to Improve Your Play B, the defenders' trumps should be shown breaking three-one. With the two-two trump break, declarer should use the same elimination plan, but if the club jack holds he should return to dummy and lead another club, intending to duck unless East plays the king.
October 2003 issue
On the deal discussed on page 5, there are (largely double-dummy) alternatives to the defense outlined against four spades by North.
In the diagram at the top of the left column of page 8, the spade ace should be the spade queen.
On line 5 of the left column of page 15, "two hearts" should be "one heart."
September 2003 issue
A superior line of play in the four-heart contract in Fifty Years Ago is to win the opening lead and play the ace-king of diamonds. This allows declarer to overcome four-one breaks in both red suits.
In Test Your Play B, cashing only two rounds of spades before running diamonds allows declarer to squeeze West when that defender guards both black suits (at the cost of a possible overtrick, because declarer must keep dummy's heart to retain the possibility of squeezing East).
August 2003 issue
The Test Your Play solution after "Win with the ace of spades, draw trumps, . . . " assumes, as in the diagram, that West has a singleton club. However, if West has two trumps, declarer should cash the ace of spades after the ace of diamonds, then play West for 8=1=2=2 if he follows or 8=0=3=2 (with the queen of diamonds) if he doesn't.
In the (in any case inferior) standard line of play in ths seven-heart contract discussed on page 18, tricky strategies are available to the defense when declarer runs all his trumps but one and then cashes the king of diamonds. Declarer might then profit from leading his last trump (perhaps squeezing West among three suits), but playing for such advantage may lead him to abandon a winning club finesse in pursuit of a nonexistent squeeze.
July 2003 issue
In Challenge the Champs, the cited realistic maximum score is 97 (not 98).
In Improve Your Play B, a slight improvement is for declarer to play a diamond to the king and a diamond back, with details changing if certain extreme distributions arise.
May 2003 issue
Page 15: Partner's continuation is the club king.
Page 30: In solution one, North's hearts should be king-queen-nine-eight-six.
April 2003 issue
The solution in Test Your Play A also works against some four-one spade breaks (e.g., when East is 1=3=3=6).
March 2003 issue
The article on Extended Flannery is a different implementation of the same fundamental idea in an article by William Schramm in the May 1988 issue.
Test Your Play A: A superior execution of hoping to find East with ten-tripleton of diamonds is to win the third spade, lead the jack of diamonds-king-ace, then a low diamond.
Test Your Play B's soluton would be better worded: spade ace, heart ruff high, spade to dummy, queen of hearts discarding a diamond, club to dummy, diamond to the ace, club to dummy, ruffing finesse in hearts.
The suggested solution in Improve Your Defense would be clearer if dummy's trumps were king-queen-jack-fourth. As shown, it is possible that a club shift will lose the contract.
Page 50: "Reviewing the Situation" should be attributed to Fagin.
February 2003 issue
Page 73: Holding up the ace of spades in three notrump in theory damages declarer's chances only mildly; after winning trick two in dummy, the best play is a club to the nine.
January 2003 issue
Page 17: The parenthetical explanation near the bottom of the left column should begin, "If you ruff with the ace and play a spade, declarer can crossruff."
December 2002 issue
Page 4: The Use Common Principles defense against two diamond openings should have said: (1105 vs. W; double of two of a major shows diamonds vs. M).
Page 26: Alvin Bluthman (corrected spelling) does not suggest several parts of Einberg Over Notrump.
In The Bridge Brothers, deals that had been published long ago were erroneously reported in a fictitious context. The final deal took place in the 1956 European Championship.
In Test Your Play B, it is approximately as good to cross to dummy in clubs and lead a spade as to follow the suggested line.
November 2002 issue
In Test Your Play: In A, the detailed line given can be improved by playing heart ace and a heart ruff before losing a trick to the ace of spades. In B, it is slightly better to win the first trick with the club king, preserving a club reentry to dummy in case declarer wants to play hearts early.
Owen Leibman's name was misspelled in the Honor Roll listings.
See February 2002 regarding the alternative solution to its Test Your Play B on page 24.
September 2002 issue
In Improve Your Play B, it is slightly better to play one high club from South before leading a club to North. If both opponents follow: spade ruff, heart, spade ruff, hearts. If West shows out in clubs, declarer can make adjustments.
Page 23: The hand labeled WEST should be labeled YOU.
Page 31: Line 6 should read "North-South plus 110."
Page 51: In the right column, the first word of the seventh line from the bottom should be "its."
June 2002 issue
In the report of the IOC Grand Prix, the names of Canadians Judy & Nick Gartagantis and Keith Balcombe were misspelled.
Page 69: the last word of the top section is "optimization."
Page 11: The Challenge the Champs reference to page 62 should be to the East hands.
In Problem 3 of "Little Things Mean a Lot," the chance for the contract can be improved by shifting to diamonds after both opponents follow to two rounds of trumps.
May 2002 issue
In the ending described on page 7, the suggested defense also works if West's diamonds are headed by the seven.
April 2002 issue
A tiny (but interesting from the standpoint of technique) improvement for declarer in Test Your Play A via ace of hearts, ace of spades, duck a diamond.
In the ending diagram on page 21, add the heart seven to the South hand.
The attribution in Kantar for the Defense should be to John Stiefel.
March 2002 issue
A small improvement for declarer in four hearts on page 10 is to win the trump shift in dummy, take an immediate heart finesse, and later play diamonds according to his needs in that suit and the count of the opponents' hands.
February 2002 issue
The line suggested in Improve Your Play B has only small advantages over leading a heart from dummy at trick eight.
In Test Your Play A: (1) The suggested play also works when East is 3=2=5=3 with the ace of spades. (2) If the opponents win the diamond at trick four, force with a heart, and duck the king of spades, declarer should cash off dummy's ace-king of clubs. (Against strong opponents, it is sensible to cash the club ace-king earlier.) (3) It is approximately as good to play ace, king and a third club, intending to discard the remaining heart (but if East discards, ruff, cross in diamonds, and discard a heart on a winning club).
In Test Your Play B, a tiny improvement [doing away with the requirement that West hold four spades] is available after beginning with four rounds of clubs, discarding two spades from dummy, eventually forcing West to reveal his distribution.
In the Classic Rewind deal on page 30, if East trusts West not to return a trump when in with the ace of hearts, he can keep his heart queen, ruff the minor-suit continuation, play king and another spade, and thus succeed when West's second heart is either the jack or the eight.
January 2002 issue
In Improve Your Play B, if the king of diamonds loses to West's ace, declarer should win the spade return in dummy to continue diamonds (not duck as stated).
In Test Your Play A, declarer should ruff at trick five (to avoid West's discarding a singleton ten of hearts on a spade lead to the South hand).
In Test Your Play B, if West reduces to at most two diamonds on the last spade, declarer should discard a diamond from dummy, lose the jack of clubs to West's queen, and play to squeeze East between the red suits.
In Deal 7 of the Swiss Match, declarer can slightly improve his chances by starting hearts at trick two, intending, when West has four hearts, later to finesse the eight of diamonds if West drops the ten or nine on the first round of the suit.
December 2001 issue
In the 1936 Olympiad three-heart contract, declarer does better to duck the first trick.
August 2001 issue
In You Be the Judge Deal 2, after winning a spade trick, East's best return is a diamond.
June 2001 issue
In Bits and Pieces, the improvement to September Test Your Play A is flawed. (See June 2002 issue, page 28 for details.)
In the four-spade contract discussed on page 4, declarer can succeed with a squeeze-endplay against West if East switched to clubs as recommended.
March 2001 issue
Page 22, left column: The score in the Open Room is 1660, not 1430, and the swing 14 imps. Later, the match was tied prior to the final board.
In Challenge the Champs, these cards should be three-spots: Deal 3, West's spade seven; Deal 7, West's diamond six; Deal 8, East's heart six. On Deal 2, add a score of 2 for three hearts.
February 2001 issue
In the new Challenge the Champs hands (for March), these cards should be three-spots: Deal 3, West's spade seven; Deal 7, West's diamond six; Deal 8, East's heart six.
December 2000 issue
Page 41, left column, last full sentence: "queen-jack-fourth of hearts" should be "four low hearts."
November 2000 issue
Page 7: Five diamonds can be defeated (details on page 36 of June 2001 issue).
In the six-diamond contract from the 1934 World Olympic discussed on pages 71 and 72, declarer might prefer to begin by taking two spades and five diamonds, succeeding often when he can read the lie of the cards.
October 2000 issue
Page 7: The remark about the queen-of-spades shift on page seven of the October issue applies to a contract of three notrump. Declarer could have made the actual contract of two notrump by guessing the right line.
Page 12: The opening leader was Levin, not Weinstein. At the bottom of the page, "Hamman led the ace of hearts" should have said, "Hamman won the heart lead with the ace."
Although it is wildly unlikely to matter, in Test Your Play A, when East follows to two rounds of diamonds, declarer can guarantee the contract by drawing the last trump, entering dummy with a heart, and leading a spade to the queen.
In Test Your Play B, an alternative is diamond jack, three trumps ending in dummy, spade finesse, pull the past trump, aim at a pointed-suit squeeze against East.
September 2000 issue
Page 29: The link to Evan Bailey's Web material is now: http://members.home/net/evanbailey
August 2000 issue
Page 27, right column: The parenthetical remark is wrong because West's remaining spade is high.
The final parenthetical expression in Soluton A of Test Your Play should say: "West is more likely to be two-two than either three-one or four-one in the red suits."
In Improve Your Play A, should West put up a club honor declarer should win two clubs and play two rounds of diamonds.
In Test Your Play B, an improvement is to ruff a spade at trick three, planning to lead a diamond toward dummy's ace, making the contract unless West started with all four missing diamonds (or perhaps if East discards the king of diamonds).
July 2000 issue
Page 70, right column: The recommended play fails on the lie of the cards (because West can get an overruff). To preserve the point of the discussion, switch the nine and seven of spades.
May 2000 issue
Page 22: In "Kantar for the Defense," the suggested defense fails against the illustrative South hand, because declarer can ruff the club and play two spades ending in dummy, then the last diamond. Ducking the club king to partner's hypothetical jack is inadequate also, because if West won and led a diamond to break up the squeeze, declarer could similarly score two spades and his last two trumps.
Page 12, right column: The second play to the third trick is the heart four.
Swiss Match, Board 7: The other-room score is North-South minus (not plus) 650.
Page 70: In "Improve Your Defense," the opening bid is two notrump.
In Test Your Play B, declarer can gain a minuscule advantage over the suggested line by wining the spade ace, running four trumps, cahsing the heart ace, ruffing a spade, then playing according to West's shape and distribution he has kept.
April 2000 issue
Page 30, The (missing) last word in "Kantar for the Defense" is "lead."
Page 65. Improve Your Defense: North's play to trick seven is the club seven.
March 2000 issue
In Test Your Play B, when the nine of spades holds declarer should lead a diamond, finessing the ten if West follows, later using the king-of-clubs entry to run diamonds and, if necessary, squeeze-endplaying East to produce a ninth trick.
January 2000 issue
The discussion of results of Board 6 of the Swiss match should have mentioned that the opposing declarer could have succeeded in his grand slam, even against the recommended heart lead, by following the best line of play, a dummy reversal: heart ace, heart ruff (high), club ace, diamond ace-king-ruff (high), trump to dummy, heart ruff, draw trumps.
Page 17: "five-eighths pole" should have been "three-eighths pole."
The point of the four-spade deal discussed on page 68 would be better made if North's diamonds were king-eight-seven-three-deuce (so that the suggested defense defeats the contract despite declarer's most effective line).
December 1999 issue
Page 44, last word should be "grisly"
Page 50, left column, line 13, "its"
November 1999 issue
Page 66, In "Summary: After a Reverse" under two spades, the eighth word should be "diamonds" (not "clubs")
September 1999 issue
Inside front cover: Expiration date September 30, 1999 (but September 31 was going to be such a nice day).
Page 11, Deal 1 Results: "four hearts would be down two" should be "four spades would be down two."
Page 63, Solution B, paragraph 3, line 5, "critical"
August 1999 issue
Page 3, left column, line 10: "competitors"
Page 9, right column of article, line minus 5, "plus 90"
June 1999 issue
Page 11: The suggestion that a club continuation would defeat the contract is wrong. For details, see October 2000, page 28.
The last paragraph of "Improve Your Defense" should read: "At double-dummy, declarer could have succeeded by ruffing three spades in the North hand, with a trump endplay to follow."
May 1999 issue
On page 32, left column, last paragraph, "(or queen)" is superfluous.
The description of Board 3 of the "Swiss Match" should state that, as the cards lie, only holding up in clubs, cashing spades, and then failing to shift to a heart will expose partner to the squeeze.
As the cards lie in the diagram, the suggested line of play in Test Your Play B fails after West forces dummy in hearts each time he gains the lead.
March 1999 issue
On page 21, a superior lie in six diamonds is diamond won in South, club queen, club ace, club ruff, then (if necessary) a spade to the king and another club.
July 1998 issue
In East Hands for August Bidding Match (page 18): On Deal 6, East's clubs are 10 8 6 4. On Deal 10, East's hand is: A 8 7 4 3, A, K J 6 4, A Q 2.
June 1998 issue
In Table of Contents, "Kantar for the Defense" should be listed on page 6 (not 10).
November 1997 issue
Kantar for the Defense: If West cashes a second diamond before shifting to clubs, declarer can succeed if he guesses the position--win trick three; ace and another heart; win the trump return; run winners ending in the closed hand, leaving ace-king-low of spades in dummy, producing a double squeeze.
October 1997 issue
Challenge the Champs: On deal 7, add a score of 6 for two diamonds doubled.
July 1997 issue
Master Solvers' Club, Problem F, scoring chart: "four clubs" should be "five clubs."
March 1997 issue
Editorial: The hyphen that appeared typographically in the World Wide Web address should not be typed into one's Web browser.
February 1997 issue
Master Solvers' Club: New problems should be labelled March 1997 (not 1996).
In the deal on page 6, declarer can succeed at double-dummy against the hold-up of the ace of hearts by playing a third heart from dummy and discarding a diamond.
January 1997 issue
On page 12, right column, line three, the reference should be to the club seven.
Challenge the Champs, Deal 5: three diamonds = 6.
Master Solvers' Club: New problems should be labelled February 1997 (not 1996).
The reference on the third line of the right column of page 12 should be to the club seven.
A parethetical explanation in the solution of January "Test Your Play" (page 55) mentions "when [East] holds any other [diamond] singleton." That last bit would have been better as "when East holds a small singleton or some tripletons"
December 1996 issue
Correct issue reference is Volume 68, Number 3.
The last word of the editorial is "inquiry."
In "Test Your Play" (A), since declarer can be virtually certain to get the distributional count right, a superior line is to win the trump shift in dummy, ruff a spade, draw trumps, and run the remaining red winners ending in dummy. Then, if West keeps two spades, play a club to the king; otherwise, play a spade.
November 1996 issue
Correct issue reference is Volume 68, Number 2.
August 1996 issue
Correct issue reference is Volume 67, Number 11.
March 1996 issue
In Board 1 of the Swiss Match, an improvement is to draw trumps without discarding a heart from dummy; continue with ace, king and another heart; ruff the third heart if East follows, discard (aiming at a double squeeze with spade the bilaterally-guarded suit) if he doesn't.
August 1995 issue
In Kantar for the Defense, continuing with a third round of clubs is an equally effective defense and also offers a good chance to defeat the contract when the king and jack of hearts are switched, thus is a stronger try.
February 1995 issue
In the diagrams on pages 27 and 28, West's clubs should be 8, 6, and 6 respectively.
December 1994 issue
In Test Your Play B, declarer can do a little better with heart ace, spade ace-king, heart ruff, two rounds of clubs, then deciding how to continue depending on what has happened in clubs.
October 1994 issue
In the deal on page 34, where South's deuce of hearts is really the five, declarer in four hearts can succeed against the suggested defense with a strip-squeeze against South.
December 1979 issue
On page 24, Dragoslav Velovic should have been reported not as the declarer but as the player who so dramatically expressed his support after a failure by his partner.
CORRECTIONS
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