Maastricht Challenge

I'm currently working my way through Maastricht Challenge, by Tim Bourke, which consists of 60 single-dummy declarer play problems.

Tim Bourke is amazing. You find hands he has composed or identified all over the place (I see him credited regularly in the ACBL Bridge Bulletin magazine), and they usually don't involve anything exotic for their solution. But at the same time, they aren't easy, and they are usually instructive.

Maastricht Challenge is no different. Almost every hand has me a bit baffled, at least at first glance. And almost every hand looks so obvious once you see his explanation. That's a great achievement for an author: not many manage it. You need to get the problems difficult enough to not get solved at a glance, but easy enough that you are not talking over the head of your potential audience, and you have to explain the solution clearly. Hugh Kelsey, for example, wrote very clearly, but his problems were usually very difficult. Tim Bourke's hands are generally accessible to more players, which makes finding that balance more difficult, in my opinion.

He says in the introduction to the book:
“Many of the problems use this “Likely Count” logic in the recommended solution. In order to feel comfortable with this concept as well as the variety of themes in the problems, I strongly recommend reading and re-reading this book until you know the problems by sight. I have used this approach on all the quiz books I own and have found that the technical reach of my game is the better for this.”
I hadn't thought about it, but this is exactly what I've done with the quiz books I own. And I think Bourke's right – my game is better for having done that. So Maastricht Challenge is going to get the same treatment.