Double Dummy Problem

The Problem:

I recently came across what must be the smallest double dummy problem in existence. It was created over 75 years ago by one of the great names from the early days of bridge, Sydney Lenz. Lenz is famous for, amongst other things, losing a famous challenge match against Culbertson at a time when Culbertson was establishing himself as THE authority on the game.

	ª Q 8 © - ¨ - § 7
ª J 2 © - ¨ A § -		ª K 10 © A ¨ - § -
	ª A 3 © - ¨ - § A

South is declarer with spades as trumps and is on lead. He must find the way to make two of the last three tricks.

The Solution:

With only three cards to consider, it is easy to find the solution. Here is the analysis for each of South's three cards.

The ace of clubs.

You can't lead that. West will ruff and East will be left with another defensive spade trick.

The ace of spades.

You can't lead that either. If you lead the ace of spades and then the ace of clubs, West ruffs and East takes the last trick with the king of spades. If you lead the ace of spades and another spade, East gets the last two tricks with his spade and his diamond.

That leaves the small spade.

The key is that if West plays low, so does dummy. East wins but is endplayed. A trump lead lets South take the last two tricks and, if East leads his diamond instead, South discards his club and ruffs in dummy with the queen.

If West plays his jack, you must cover with dummy's queen. East wins the king but has no safe retort. If West plays his jack, you had better not duck in dummy. If you do duck, West wins and leads his ace of hearts. This will promote a trump trick for East/West. West's two of spades may end up taking the setting trick if the heart is ruffed and over-ruffed all round the table..

Hats off to Sydney Lenz for a beautiful idea.