Gearing up for the year’s final STAC game

to the tournament coordinator.

Silver master points will be awarded to top finishers overall and at each club. Copies of the hands played will be distributed at the conclusion of the game.

Today’s quiz: Here is another in the series of quizzes on basic bridge probabilities. In the following problem, you are given your own and the dummy’s holding in two different suits. Assuming sufficient entries to dummy, which of these two suits is more likely to produce a trick?

You: H K53, C QJ2; Dummy: H 762, C 763.

Answer: Leading toward the king will produce a trick whenever your righthand opponent has the ace, but will lose whenever your left-hand opponent has it (unless it is singleton and you duck the first time around) — slightly better than a 50-50 chance. Leading up to the QJ2 twice, however, will produce a trick in three cases — when LHO has the king and RHO the ace, when LHO has the ace and RHO the king, and when RHO has both the ace and king — and will lose only when LHO has both the ace and king. Therefore, since leading twice toward the QJ2 will win against three of four possible distributions, or 75 percent of the time, that holding has far greater potential for producing a trick than the other combination.

The week’s duplicate results:

Greenwich YWCA weekly open duplicate: NorthSouth, 1-2. Jane and Leo Arnaboldi, Carol FeblesMaureen Smith, 3. Sandy De Martino-Sharon Santow, 4. Kathryn Payne-Mary Sue Saltsman; East-West, 1. Dave Babson-Dorothea Bellafiore, 2. Mary Bell Case-Susanne Redmond, 3. Mary Scarfi-Lois Spagna, 4. Betty Cutting-Mary Oztemel.

Central Greenwich Bridge Club, 10/5: NorthSouth, 1. Dave BabsonDorothea Bellafiore, 2. Audrey Dornier-Regina Pitaro, 3. Barbara CooperGinny Wolff; East-West, 1. Bob Driessen-Dean Goss, 2. Barbara Bellafiore-Holly Pastula, 3. Lolly RaphaelJoe Roe.