IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny

This hand was very painful for declarer.  He and his partner reached the ideal contract but his card play let him down.  Take a look at an accident that should have been avoided.

Scoring:  Matchpoints (Pairs Game)
Hand #13
Dlr   E
Vul N/S
S 8
H KQ6
D AKQ76
C Q764
S KJ6432
H 82
D J32
C J5
    
S Q1095
H 753
D 5
C K10983

S A7
H AJ1094
D 10984
C A2
West North
 East
 South


Pass
 1H
   Pass    2D    Pass
     3D
   Pass
    3H    Pass
     4C
   Pass
    4NT
    Pass
     5S
   Pass
    7H    Pass
    Pass
   Pass
   


 
BIDDING:  North's 2D bid was game forcing and South had an easy raise.  North then showed his support for hearts and South followed with a club cue bid.  Next Blackwood was used to discover South held three aces and confident he could count thirteen tricks, North bid the grand slam.

PLAY:  West led a trump and declarer saw he did indeed have thirteen tricks: one spade, one spade ruff, five hearts, five diamonds, and one club.  He quickly won the ace of spades, ruffed a spade in dummy, and drew trumps in three rounds.  He then led the FOUR of diamond to dummy blocking the suit.  He squirmed a bit but finally had to concede a club. 

Playing too quickly is often costly.  After counting his tricks, declarer should have looked around for possible problems and the potential blocking of the diamond suit could have been spotted.  Obviously, declarer has no trouble if he plays his ten, nine, and eight of diamonds under dummy's three honors.

Copyright ©2009 Larry Matheny.