IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny
There are times in bridge as in life when it appears that defeat is certain. However, you should never give up without giving it one last chance. Here is a hand that fits that description.
Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)
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Pass |
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*Negative
BIDDING: North-South reached a normal game contract.
PLAY: I was South and
suspected the diamond opening lead was from shortness. I played low from
dummy, East followed with the eight, and I won the queen. It appeared I had a
loser in each suit and that was one too many. However, if West was short in
diamonds, it was possible to find East holding the doubleton king of spades.
So, at trick two I led a club toward dummy. West rose with the ace and played
another club. I won the king and played a spade to my queen losing to the
king. My last chance was to make East lead away from his king of diamonds. I
won the heart return in dummy, played two more rounds of trumps, and then the
other high heart followed by a small one. Poor East won the heart and had to
either lead a diamond or a club. I would let a diamond ride around to the jack
and a club return would allow me ruff in my hand and discard my diamond loser
in dummy.
To succeed, it merely required East to have the QJ10 of hearts, be unable to avoid the endplay, and for the hearts to be divided 3-3. Of course this was lucky but that’s better than conceding defeat.
Copyright ©2010 Larry Matheny