Victor Mollo's Bridge Quiz Book E-Book

Victor Mollo

• Herausgeber: Batsford
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Seitenzahl: 140

Beschreibung

Victor Mollo was justly famous for his satirical accounts of the antics of the Hideous Hog and the Rueful Rabbit, but he did produce a number of instructional books. This classic blend of instruction and entertainment is a combination of a textbook and a quizbook and its reissue is long overdue. Mollo presents 160 play problems of varying degrees of difficulty, from elementary technical plays in the first 50 problems to complicated endplays and scissors coups in the ten examples at the end of the book. Readers of all abilities will find the material challenging and certain to improve their game.

Leseprobe

Victor Mollo’s

Bridge Quizbook

Victor Mollo’s

Bridge Quizbook

Victor Mollo

A Reissue of the Classic

Victor Mollo’s Winning Double

Batsford

Contents

PART ONE

Quizzes 1–50

PART TWO

Quizzes 51–100

PART THREE

Quizzes 101–150

PART FOUR

Quizzes 151–160

Author’s Preface

The dictum that you cannot have your cake and eat it, too, has always struck me as sheer defeatism. Of course you can and I invite the reader to do it with me in the pages which follow. For this is a textbook and a quiz-book in one, and sets out to exploit the advantages of both without incurring the disabilities of either—in short, to gain on the swings as well as on the roundabouts.

A textbook is admittedly the best medium for passing on to the reader the keys to correct card play. But who will tell him how, and above all when, each key should be turned in the appropriate lock? This is where the quiz comes into its own, quickening the reader’s powers of perception and alerting him against the dangers of doing the right thing—at the wrong time.

As in medicine, so in bridge, the diagnosis should precede the cure. Not so in textbooks, where, by the nature of things, the logical sequence is often reversed. At the card table the player must identify each problem as it arises. Then only can he set out to solve it. The textbook tells him what it is before he even sees his hand. A glance at the chapter heading and he knows whether he is expected to execute a safety-play or an end-play, a savant squeeze or a subtle piece of deception. He is taught the correct treatment and is expected to develop the appropriate complaint all on his own.

Here the quiz method scores every time. With the spotlight fixed on RECOGNITION, the diagnosis comes first, where it belongs. No chapter headings guide the reader. No rules of continuity hamper the author. He is free to plan confusion scientifically, so as to put before the reader a series of seemingly unrelated situations, just as they are apt to come up at the card table.

The quiz has many advantages, but, of course, the correct diagnosis will not save the patient unless he pursues the right treatment afterwards. The one must come before the other, but both are indispensable. The question arises: can the secrets of recognition and the mechanics of card play be communicated simultaneously?

The reader will judge for himself. I invite him to join me in seeking the answers to a hundred and fifty questions and I predict that by the time he reaches the last one he will have proof-positive that his card play has improved appreciably. What’s more, he will know exactly by how much it has improved. For built into these pages is a yardstick to measure his progress, and this brings us to the design behind these quizzes.

A PREVIEW

The hundred and fifty quizzes are divided into three equal parts. The first fifty are easier than the others; but all range over the entire field of card play and, though every stratagem finds a place, the focus is always on the everyday situations, which call for more horse-sense than science.

Quizzes 51 to 150 are divided into two parts with marks awarded for the correct answers. Most of the quizzes earn 5 points each, but some are more difficult than others and then the bonus rises to 8 points or to 10. The total for each of the last two parts is 295, but I hope that no reader will be so selfish as to reach the summit. After all, if he knows the right answers already, I must have put the wrong questions and what author could admit a thing like that? But no matter how well or badly the reader fares, I defy him not to do much better as he reads on.

A CHALLENGE

Whatever he scores for his first fifty quizzes, he will return a higher score for his next fifty. This is both a prophecy and a challenge, for the reader will not be able to help himself. And since the result is a foregone conclusion, I am willing, like every true sportsman, to bet on it heavily.

Will some suspicious reader refuse to bet on the pretext that it’s too easy for me to fix the race before the start? Why, he may say, all the author need to do to win his bet is to make the hands in Part III easier than those in Part II. He cannot lose.

If this distrustful reader will double the stakes I will undertake to show him at once how unworthy are his suspicions. Done? Very well. Let him tackle Part III before Part II. He will now return a better score for quizzes 51 to 100 than for the next fifty, and apart from the trifling inconvenience of turning over the pages in an unusual sequence, it will make no difference.

The quizzes are set out in groups, usually three, four or five on each page. Then, overleaf, come the answers. This arrangement lacks uniformity, but spares the reader from having to refer, hand after hand, to the back of the book. Alternatively, it preserves him from the temptation of peeping surreptitiously at the answers across the page. If his willpower is equal to it, he will do best to complete his own answers for each group before turning the page to study the analysis and mark his score.

So much for the procedure. One thing more remains to be said about the substance. The sophisticated reader may dismiss one or two of the first fifty quizzes as too easy. The less advanced may find some in the next hundred too difficult. That is as it should be for at the card table the same hand, posing two or more problems, may be both easy and difficult. The winning player does not always solve the latter, but he is rarely careless over the former. He wins not because he is brilliant, but because he avoids mistakes, especially childish mistakes. For winning is a technique on its own and its prime exponents are not the players who execute clever and complex coups, but those who bring home, hand after hand, the everyday contracts that are easy to make—and sometimes easier still to lose. And since more contracts are lost in the first thirty seconds that at any other time, most of the questions bear on the first two or three tricks. In short, the quizzes have been selected and arranged to reproduce as nearly as possible the conditions which prevail at the card table.

The last ten quizzes, a feature new to this edition, take the process a stage further and bring the reader hands from actual play. Each one is presented as a quiz, exactly like the others, but this time there are no marks and no awards. Instead, world champions demonstrate in practice the plays which the reader has learned in theory. Having grasped the mechanics of this or that stratagem, he can see its execution by a master, performing against other masters, on the world stage. One day the reader of these pages may move before the footlights to join them. Meanwhile Quiz 1 awaits him.

Part One

At times, opponents selfishly enter the bidding, making it harder for us to reach the right contract. In return, they raise a little the veil which hides their holdings. For every bid carries a message and the skilful declarer makes use of all the information which comes his way.

The reader can assume that every bid and every sequence in these pages is simple and straightforward. He need pay no heed to systems or conventions and he can expect every opening no trump to be of the weak variety, 12 to 14 points.

In defence, as in bidding, opponents follow strictly standard methods. They play the king from A K, and though they do not promise to lead invariably the fourth highest of their longest suits or not to false card, the defence is always honest. No fiendish traps await the declarer, either in the first fifty hands or in the more sophisticated ones which follow.

QUESTIONS

(1)

North leads the 10 against West’s 6 .

(a)  How should declarer play trumps?

(b)  Should declarer play trumps the same way if the opening lead is the 6?

(2)

North leads the 7 against West’s 6 .

How should declarer play the trumps?

(3)

North leads the 7 against West’s 6 .

What card should declarer lead at trick two?

(4)

(a)  Seeing the two hands, what contract would you like to be in?

(b)  Assuming the best defence and the worst distribution, can you guarantee to make game?

(c)  How will you play the spades?

(5)

North leads the ace, king, queen and a fourth heart. South follows three times. On winning the fourth heart, declarer leads a diamond and ducks in dummy. He wins the spade return, leads a diamond (trick seven) and again ducks in dummy.

(a)  What is the contract?

(b)  The play to the first six tricks is the same as in (a). At trick seven declarer again plays a diamond (the second round of diamonds), but this time he goes up with dummy’s ace. What is the contract?

ANSWERS

(1)

(a)  A low trump from the closed hand and a low one from dummy—unless North plays the Q or J.

If North has all four trumps (Q J 3 2), dummy’s 6 will hold the trick. If South wins, the trumps cannot be worse than 3–1, so there will be no other loser. Should North show out on the first round, dummy’s king is played and again the defence is confined to one trick. This is a standard SAFETY PLAY—compulsory on a diamond opening, but—

(b)  things are different when North opens the 6. This could well be a singleton, and if so, declarer cannot afford the SAFETY PLAY, because the risk of a heart ruff is greater than the risk of a 4–0 trump break.

(2)

A low trump to dummy’s ace and another to the king in the closed hand.

Since declarer expects to lose a club, he cannot afford to think of safety plays. If he had the K instead of the 9 ( K Q J), he would lead a low trump at trick two and play dummy’s 4—if North followed with the deuce or three.

It is true that if North has K x or if South has 10 x, declarer can avoid the loss of a club trick by good guessing. This is far too much to expect. A 2–2 trump break, which is almost an even money bet, is a far better proposition. One should know all the routine safety plays—and when to avoid them.

(3)

The Q.

If the finesse succeeds, declarer will make a SAFETY PLAY in trumps. Should the club finesse fail, declarer will not be able to afford the luxury of a SAFETY PLAY. He will lead the A, then the K, hoping for a 2–2 split. It’s a very good slam to be in, and should it fail, there will be no need to complain of bad luck—for it will really be unlucky.

(4)

(a)  3 NT.

(b)  Yes.

(c)   K, then a low spade to the nine—unless South plays an honour.

Declarer has eight tricks on top. A spade or diamond opening will present him with his ninth trick, so assume that the lead is a heart or a club. Declarer needs three spade tricks and ensures them by making the standard SAFETY PLAY—the king, then a low one to the nine. If North wins with the 10, the suit will have broken 3–2 and all will be well. If South shows out on the second round, declarer will go up with the A and lead another up to dummy’s J.

(5)

(a)  2 NT.

Since declarer can afford to lose two diamonds, his objective must be eight tricks. By ducking twice he maintains communications with dummy and makes certain of three diamond tricks—and his contract—even if the suit breaks 4–1.

(b)  3 NT.

Declarer’s play shows that he needs four tricks in diamonds.

Therefore he must be trying to make nine tricks.

Note that if the contract were 1 NT declarer would not need to duck at all. If, however, he were seeking to make the maximum—his contract being safe—he would duck once only.

QUESTIONS

(6)

North, who bid 1 as dealer, leads the 6 against West’s 3 NT.

(a)  What card should declarer play from dummy?

(b)  What card should declarer play from dummy had South (not North) dealt and bid 1 ?

(7)

North, who bid 1 as dealer, leads the 6 against West’s 3 NT.

What card should dealer play from dummy?

(8)

North leads the 8 against West’s 5 . Declarer draws trumps.

(a)  Which club should he play from his own hand?

(b)  If there are no trump losers, can declarer make certain of his contract?

(c)  Which suit should declarer play after drawing trumps?

(9)

North leads a diamond. Spades are trumps.

(a)  At trick two declarer leads the ace of spades. What is the contract?

(b)  At trick two declarer leads a heart to dummy, then a spade. South plays the deuce and West the queen.

What is the contract?

ANSWERS

(6)

(a)  and (b) The 4.

It makes no difference who bid 1 or who has the ace or queen. By playing low from dummy declarer makes certain of losing no more than one trick. Should he go up with the king and find South with the ace, he can lose six tricks—unlucky, perhaps, but no more than he deserves.

Is this hand too easy? If so, it is a measure of the advance made by the masses in recent years. In 1935, a player of repute (who took part in the Master Pairs) misplayed this hand—and complained of bad luck afterwards!

(7)

The king.

It is important to win this particular trick, for if the defenders get the chance to switch to hearts, they will take five tricks, at least.

On the previous hand, declarer’s prime purpose was to prevent defenders from running off the spades. This time he has a different objective. He must seize the initiative quickly. Time is no longer on his side.

The low spade from dummy is the correct play—if declarer can afford it. Last time he could and this time he can’t.

(8)

(a)  The ace.

If trumps break 2–1 it will make no difference. If South has all three, a trump trick must be lost anyway. But if North has Q 10 9, declarer can finesse against him successfully—but only if he leads the ace first.

(b)  Yes.

(c)  Hearts.

Having ELIMINATED (played off) the hearts, declarer leads a diamond. Defenders can take two diamonds only. If they lead a third diamond, declarer will be presented with a ruff and discard. A spade will find the queen for him. Either way he will make his contract.

(9)

(a)  6 .

Declarer is making a SAFETY PLAY in trumps. If the spades split 2–2 nothing matters and if North has K J x, nothing helps. But North may have a singleton honour. If so, it will drop on the ace and declarer will have no further problems. Note that if South holds K J x (x), nothing is lost by laying down the ace.

(b)  7 .

This time declarer cannot afford to lose even one trump trick and must find South with K x—or with K x x and North with the singleton jack.

QUESTIONS

(10)

North leads a spade against West’s 4 . West ruffs. What cards should declarer play at:

(a)  Trick two?

(b)  Trick three?

(c)  Trick four?

(11)

A hand is thrown in. The cards are not shuffled and are then dealt three at a time with four cards on the last round. This is known as a GOULASH and usually leads to freak distributions.

North leads the king, ace and another club. South follows once, throws a spade on the second club and ruffs the third. He continues with the king of spades. North discards a diamond on West’s ace and another on the ace of trumps.

Declarer tables his hand, specifying the ten tricks which he will make.

(a)  Which tricks does he claim?

(b)  What will he discard from dummy on his long trumps?

(12)

North leads a spade. Declarer plays a second spade and:

(a)  discards dummy’s ace of hearts.

(b)  discards dummy’s 7.

What is the contract in each case?

(13)

North leads the king of spades against West’s 3 NT. Declarer plays low and North continues with the queen. South follows. Should declarer win or play low again?

(14)

North leads the king of spades against West’s 3 NT.

(a)  Should declarer win the trick or hold up his ace?

(b)  If he holds it up and North leads another spade, should he hold up his ace a second time?

ANSWERS

(10)

(a)  The A.

(b)  The K.

(c)  The A.