IMPROVE YOUR PLAY

With Larry Matheny

When plan A doesn’t work, it’s good to have a backup. Playing this slam, I took a finesse that lost but I had a second plan to fall back on.

Scoring: IMPs (Teams)

Hand 12-47
Dlr	E
Vul	N/S

	K985
	Q54
	K987
	Q2

	63
	K8
	J642
	KJ943

	107
	7632
	Q10
	108765

	AQJ42
	AJ109
	A53
	A

West	North	East	South
-	-	Pass	1
Pass	3*	Pass	6
Pass	Pass	Pass

*limit raise

Bidding: I held this great South hand in a Swiss team event against strong opponents. My partner in the North chair jumped in diamonds to show a 4+ card spade raise with invitational (10-12) strength. Rather than give away information, I bid the slam.

Play: West led a low trump. I saw an almost certain diamond loser so it appeared I needed to find the king of hearts in the East hand. I won opening lead in my hand followed by another spade to dummy. Next, I led the queen of hearts losing to West. He exited with a heart and my chances seemed slim. It appeared the only possible winning position was to find West with length diamonds and the king of clubs. So I played the ace of clubs and here is the end position when I played my last spade:

K98 Q

J64

K

2 A53

Poor West had to discard a diamond or a club and I had my slam. At the other table they bid and made the slam executing the same squeeze.

Copyright ©2012 Larry Matheny