IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny

 

Every now and then a hand comes along so wild that no bidding convention or agreement will help.  When that happens, you just have to make a decision and stick with it.  Here is such a hand.


Scoring:  Matchpoints (Pairs)

Hand#10

Dlr

N

Vul

E/W

S

87

H

J10963

D

AJ

C

J942

S

54

H

Q8754

D

1097

C

AQ6

  pad  

S

J32

H

AK2

D

6

C

K108753

 

S

AKQ1096

H

 

D

KQ85432

C

 

West

North

East

South

   

   Pass

1C

1S

   DBL

   Pass

2C

    6D

   Pass

     6S

   END

 

 
BIDDING:  East opened the auction and South was not sure what to bid.  Should he start by overcalling in his longer suit?  Was it right to bid spades first?  A cue bid would show both majors so that wouldn’t work.  Finally he had a plan and began by overcalling in spades.  West made a negative double and East rebid her club suit.  Now South jumped to 6D showing a monster two-suited hand that asked his partner to take a preference.  North who had been trying to decide if he should have another cup of coffee woke up with a start.  Finally deciding that with equal length he would return his partner to spades.  He stopped to wonder if holding the ace of diamonds was enough to bid the grand slam.  After much thought he decided six was enough.


PLAY:  West led the ace of clubs ruffed by declarer.  There was nothing more to do than drawing trumps and claiming thirteen tricks.  This hand was played in a local fourteen table game and only two pairs bid the slam, one in spades and the other in diamonds.  There was no guarantee that the slam would make, but it was a good gamble.

 

 

Copyright ©2010 Larry Matheny.