We are panelists for 3 future months, as a result of finishing 4th in the 2022 contest. This thread is for collecting thoughts and votes on the 202507 set.
Since the problems are copyrighted and not yet published, I’m not going to post them in a public thread. I’ll e-mail them or send them by GoA message to people who have voted on 2023 problems. That’s not to exclude anyone else who might be interested. If you want to participate, let me know.
The problems of this set will be distributed today. Threads and problems for the other two sets will be done shortly.
Yes, and I’m a little behind. I already have votes from two people (on one set), but I haven’t posted them yet. I also have not distributed them yet.
I’m not going to post the problems since copyrighted (and not released yet by the copyright owner), but I think it’s fine to post responses here, and I will post the usual summaries. The two people you have responded did so by e-mail.
Oops. Bridge World wanted our responses to all three sets by now. They have said within 3 weeks of today is OK.
This set looks hard to me, but here are my initial thoughts:
A: 3C. Hoping for possible slam, let partner know club values would be good. This one seems pretty easy. Only reasonable alternative IMO is just 4H.
B. 2D Michaels. Reasonably descriptive, much better than double, somewhat better than pass. No, cancel that. See post below about BWS2017 Changed to P, which indeed better than double
C. 1NT, 1 more HCP than I should have, but least of evils. Copper loess than I should have, but least of evils.
D. B1. 1S, then 2H over 2C. Maybe slightly light for a game force, but best chance of reaching correct denomination.
E. 4H. Hoping they don’t bid 4S, but bidding only 3H now is hoping too much that they will bid 3S but not 4S
F. 3D. Show the diamond length. Expecting to bid 6 anyway, but this is best hope for an intelligently bid 7.
G. 1NT. Perfect description except for lack of club stopper. Better than double with only 2 spades.
H. C10. Works for Garozzo. Second choice diamond J.
A B C D E F G H
procrastinator
oirg 3D ??? 1NTA (2S) 4H 4S 1NT C10
SW 3C 2D 1NT1S/2H) 4H 3D 1NT C10
Klaymen 3D P 1NT1S/2H) 4H 2S 1NT SK
ST
BTDT
NN
veni vidi vici
Leading 4H 1NT
Oirg wanted to bid a sandwich NT on B, but I’ve changed it to ??? since 1NT in sandwich position is natural.
A. 3 clubs. While I like that 4 diamonds gets the fact we are making a slam try off our chest immediately, it would also have partner value the black queens the same: really want partner to know that club royals are gold.
B. Pass. I know it is a bidder’s game, but so few high cards, bad intermediates, and vulnerable is a bridge too far for me.
C. 2 clubs. When in doubt, bid your longest suit.
D. b4. I rejected an immediate 2S because thought too good of a hand, but then ended up making an invitational bid later anyways…not sure that makes sense, but feels right somehow.
E. 4 hearts. Seems obvious…
F. 3 diamonds.
G. 1NT. I would bid this if the jack of clubs were the 7, but would at least feel guilty about it then.
H. Queen of hearts. Second choice club ten.
A B C D E F G H
procrastinator 3C P 2C1S/3S) 4H 3D 1NT HQ
oirg 3D ??? 1NTA (2S) 4H 4S 1NT C10
SW 3C 2D 1NT1S/2H) 4H 3D 1NT C10
Klaymen 3D P 1NT1S/2H) 4H 2S 1NT SK
ST
BTDT
NN
veni vidi vici
Leading 4H 1NT
A) First instinct is 4H. Slam is very unlikely, and at matchpoints, not giving away information can be key. The problem with bidding 3C is that partner will overvalue Kxx of clubs, and possibly take us to places we don’t want to go. Question: Is 3H (forcing) a possibility? I don’t know how BWS defines that bid.
B) 1NT if playing Sandwich, but pretty sure that is natural in BWS. So pass it is.
C) 1NT. Slightly over strength, but so much better than 2C.
D) b1. Second choice 2S, but this sure looks like a game forcing hand.
E) 4H. wtp?
F) 4S seems marked. But of course, I’d really like to know about the DK, rather than about keycards. So 3D is a VERY close second choice.
G) 1NT. The rest of the hand is so perfect, that my lack of a full club stopper is not concerning.
H) HQ. Very close between this and DJ.