IMPROVE YOUR PLAY

with Larry Matheny

 

Most duplicate players know what a “fix” is.  This describes receiving a bad result for doing nothing wrong.  The usual cause is simply playing the hand against the wrong players.

 

Scoring:  Matchpoints (Pairs)

#11-43

Dlr

W

Vul

None

S

J1097

H

A

D

109632

C

KQ6

S

A6542

H

4

D

Q84

C

9732

/images/pad.bmp

S

3

H

KQJ9876

D

J

C

10854

 

S

KQ8

H

10532

D

AK75

C

AJ

West

North

East

South

Pass

Pass

    3H

3NT

Pass

Pass

 Pass

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BIDDING:  In third seat East made a heart preempt and South bid 3NT. His heart stopper was “iffy” but he felt this bid best described his hand.

 

PLAY: West led the 4 of hearts won with dummy’s ace.  Declarer was confident that East would not preempt with such a good heart suit and the ace of spades so the contract seemed safe.  He cashed the top two diamonds followed by a third one when East discarded a heart.  It was now a simple matter to knock out the ace of spades and claim eleven tricks.

 

What does this have to do with a fix?  I was East and in a local game only one other N/S pair reached 3NT.  I was rewarded with ½ matchpoint for making what seemed like a normal bid. 

 

 

Copyright ©2011 Larry Matheny