IMPROVE YOUR PLAY

with Larry Matheny

Conventions can be very useful when confronted with a bidding problem. However, common sense must prevail before you use them at a higher level. This declarer was put in a bad position by his partner who did not understand this.

Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)

#12-02
Dlr	S
Vul	N/S

	AK53
	1085
	32
	Q542

	96
	KQJ9742
	86
	K7

	Q8742
	KQJ10
	J1086

	J10
	A63
	A9754
	A93

West	North	East	South
			1
3	DBL	Pass	3NT
Pass	Pass	Pass

BIDDING: North looked at his hand, saw four spades and four clubs and made a negative double over West’s preempt. South’s last chance for a plus score was to pass for penalties but the vulnerability persuaded him to bid game.

PLAY: West led the king of hearts and declarer had no chance. Or rather, he had no tricks. He won the ace of hearts and tried the spade finesse. That lost and a diamond came back. He won the second round with the ace, cashed the 10 of spades, and led a club. West won the king and declarer was soon down five tricks.

What caused this terrible result for N/S? North was not strong enough to make a negative double at that level. He was forcing his partner to either defend, bid 3NT, or bid a suit at the four-level and his nine high card points do not justify that action. It makes sense that you need more values to bid at each level.

South could and probably should have passed the negative double, but he had every right to expect a better dummy.

Copyright ©2012 Larry Matheny