Paul Lukacs

Paul Lukacs (1915–1982) was a Hungarian-born Israeli analyst and composer of problems in the "play of the hand" at contract bridge. Some consider him "the best bridge player ever away from the table", as defined by Victor Mollo. He specialized in single dummy problems.

Contrary to double dummy problems, in which that all four hands are shown and the task of the solver is therefore limited to finding the solution that works given that specific distribution, the single dummy problem reflects, instead, much more closely the challenges encountered by a declarer when dummy is tabled: he needs to find a line which caters to all the possible layouts. The subtle difference between some single dummy problems and the real life approach of a good declarer is that the latter will usually choose the best percentage line while the expert declerer as well as the problem solver will look for a line of play which works for all possible distributions.

Lukacs was born in Hungary in 1915 and lived in Israel since 1939. He contributed regularly to the leading journal The Bridge World and wrote several problem books well known in bridge literature. His most lasting contribution to bridge literature was as co-author of Spotlight on Card Play (with Robert Darvas), the first post-war problem collection to highlight expert thought processes.

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