IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny

One of the most frequent mistakes made on defense is the automatic return of partner's opening lead.  Here is a hand that shows it pays to stop and think.


Scoring:  Matchpoints (Pairs Game)
Hand #17
Dlr   W
Vul None
S 103
H J85
D KJ1063
C A96
S KJ64
H K1094
D 542
C 52
    
S 987
H AQ32
D Q7
C 10843

S AQ52
H 76
D A98
C KQJ7
West North
 East
 South
Pass
 Pass
 Pass
 1NT
   Pass    3NT     Pass    Pass
   Pass
       
    

BIDDING:  North could have only invited but he decided to add a point for the five-card diamond suit and South was quickly in game.

PLAY:  West led a low spade from his strongest suit.  Declarer won with the ten in dummy as East followed low.  With only eight tricks, declarer needed to find the diamond queen but his play of ace and a low one lost.  East started to routinely return a spade but stopped to think more about the hand.  It was clear South was still holding two (or more) spade honors for West would not have underled three honors.  He also knew West had started with only four spades: he had led the four, the three was in dummy, and declarer had followed with the deuce at trick one.  Still, West could hold the AQ over declarer's KJ so a spade might be right.  Instead, East decided to cash the ace of hearts to get a reaction from West.  That reaction was the encouraging ten.  The defense soon took four hearts along with the diamond to defeat the contract.  Note that a spade continuation allows declarer to claim ten tricks.

Copyright ©2009 Larry Matheny.