IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny
This hand is from a
recent team game. One declarer played
too quickly and failed. The other
declarer stopped to count his tricks and develop a plan. He gave up a possible overtrick but brought
home his contract.
Scoring: IMPs
(Team)
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BIDDING: South’s rebid of 2NT described
a balanced hand with 22-24 high card points and North had an easy raise to
game.
PLAY: On this auction West decided a
major suit lead would be best so he started with the jack of hearts. Declarer won in his hand and had visions of
overtricks. He continued by cashing the
top two diamonds and East’s club discard on the second round was very disappointing. He struggled but with only one remaining
entry to dummy he could not find nine tricks.
At the other table, the declarer stopped to count his tricks and
realized he needed only five diamonds to succeed. At trick two he cashed the king of diamonds
and then played the queen overtaking with dummy’s ace. Next he led the ten of diamonds losing to the
jack. He was now able to win the heart
return in dummy and enjoy the remaining diamonds winners. His nine tricks were: 3 hearts, 5 diamonds,
and 1 club.
It was not easy to
explain the loss of 12 IMPs to his teammates.
Playing too quickly before developing a plan has caused many contracts
to fail.
Copyright ©2011 Larry Matheny