IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny

 

A small card can often carry its weight and be the difference in success or failure.  In this hand, a defender didn’t realize he needed to keep his partner from being squeezed.

 

Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)

#11-21

Dlr

N

Vul

N/S

S

K9543

H

75

D

A1065

C

KJ

S

J10

H

1084

D

J32

C

109632

  pad  

S

876

H

QJ632

D

K98

C

84

 

S

AQ2

H

AK9

D

Q74

C

AQ75

West

North

East

South

   

   1S

   Pass

    2C

  Pass  

  2D

  Pass

   2S

   Pass       3C        Pass       4NT

   Pass       5H         DBL       5NT

   Pass       6C        Pass       6D

   Pass       6S        Pass       6NT

   Pass      Pass      Pass

 

 

BIDDING:  Holding such a great hand, South was surprised when his partner opened the bidding.  The 2C response was game forcing and after establishing spades as the agreed suit, South bid 4NT.  This pair uses Roman Keycard Blackwood where the trump king is treated as an ace.  North’s response showed two keycards without the spade queen.  Brushing aside the double, in response to 5NT North showed the king of clubs but then denied holding the king of diamonds.  South then settled for 6NT.

 

PLAY:  West led a low heart and declarer counted twelve tricks if the spades behaved.  He won the ace of hearts and then unblocked the king-jack of clubs.  Next, he cashed the ace-queen of spades and was delighted to see the suit break 3-2.  He then cashed the ace-queen of clubs pitching two diamonds from dummy.  East discarded one diamond and one heart.  Now he cashed the ace of diamonds followed by a spade to dummy.  On the fourth spade West erred by discarding a heart.  Now when the last spade was played, East was squeezed.  Here was the ending:

 

                     S3  H7 D10

                                             HQJ

                                             DK

                     HK9  DQ

 

When the last spade was played, East was toast and declarer had the overtrick.  West must keep three hearts so East can safely discard a heart.  Also note it is important to cash the ace of diamonds (Vienna Coup) to remove an idle card from East’s hand.