IMPROVE YOUR PLAY

with Larry Matheny

Everyone loves to hold powerful hands. However, some may be difficult to bid if you don’t have the tools to keep the auction alive until you find your best contract.

Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)

#12-12
Dlr	W
Vul	none

	10842
	Q743
	9842
	3

	63
	J1092
	J107
	10942

	Q75
	K865
	K653
	J5

	AKJ9
	A
	AQ
	AKQ876

West	North	East	South
Pass	Pass	Pass	2
Pass	2*	Pass	3
Pass	3	Pass	3
Pass	4	Pass	6
Pass	Pass	Pass

*Double negative

BIDDING: South opened his huge hand with a forcing 2 bid. North’s disappointing response denied as much as two queens. South showed his club suit but North replied 3, again indicating no values. After South bid a second suit, North raised to game. Hoping for the spade queen or at least an entry to dummy for a finesse, South bid the slam.

Play: West led the jack of hearts to declarer’s ace. Declarer cashed the ace of spades followed by the ace of clubs. A club ruff in dummy established that suit and gave declarer the entry he needed to take the spade finesse. Next, he led the ten of spades from dummy and that held the trick. He was careful not to take the diamond finesse for if it lost, another club would allow East to ruff and defeat the contract. A spade to the ace drew the last trump and declarer conceded a diamond at the end.

Although short of high cards, the fourth spade and the club singleton made North’s hand a great dummy.

Copyright ©2012 Larry Matheny