IMPROVE YOUR PLAY

with Larry Matheny

The game of bridge has a lot of rules, guidelines, and do’s and don’ts. It is sometimes difficult to know exactly which of them to apply. This hand illustrates the problem.

Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)

Hand #12-40
Dlr	N
Vul	N/S

	K1072
	K85
	654
	KJ6

	95
	9643
	KQJ10
	872

	864
	1072
	A872
	A43

	AQJ3
	AQJ
	93
	Q1095

West	North	East	South
	Pass	Pass	1NT
Pass	2	Pass	2
Pass	4	Pass	Pass
Pass

Bidding: North used Stayman to find the spade fit and reach game.

Play: West led the king of diamonds and continued the suit until declarer ruffed the third round. Next, declarer drew trumps and subsequently lost only the ace of clubs to wrap up his game. Why is this hand interesting? Because this was in a team game and at the other table the auction was simply 1NT-3NT. That contract was quickly defeated. Some subscribe to the theory that Stayman should not be used when responder’s distribution is 4-3-3-3. This is based on the premise that with no ruffing values in dummy, 3NT is often the best contract. Or, why go down when the trump suit breaks badly and you have nine tricks?

Of course one hand does not make or break any theory, but it does give us pause. Perhaps the quality of our 4-card major should be our guide. Or perhaps the theory makes more sense when responder has a stronger hand and can find nine tricks on sheer strength and doesn’t want to risk going down on a bad trump break.

It seems there is no rule that works every time.

Copyright ©2012 Larry Matheny