IMPROVE YOUR PLAY

With Larry Matheny

You usually need to be in the best contract for a good result but sometimes you can win with good declarer play.

Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)

Hand 12-52
Dlr	E
Vul	Both

	AJ9
	4
	K10543
	Q974

	K643
	Q10
	J
	AK10865

	1082
	86
	Q9862
	J32

	Q75
	AKJ97532
	A7

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

Bidding: North was hoping to punish a club contract if his partner would reopen with a takeout double but South jumped to game in hearts. North finally decided to pass.

Play: West led the ace of clubs ruffed by declarer. Next, declarer played the top two hearts and was pleased to see the suit behave. Now he looked for overtricks. First, he checked the diamond suit by playing the ace followed by a low one to dummy’s king. Seeing this suit was not a source of extra tricks, he realized West very likely held the king of spades for his overcall along with the king of clubs. This meant a squeeze was likely. He ruffed a diamond back to his hand followed by a spade to dummy’s jack. Now he ruffed a club to his hand and ran the rest of his hearts. Here was the end position with one heart left to play:

A9 Q

K6

K

Q7 2

When the heart was led, poor West was toast. N/S missed the slam but making all 13 tricks was a near top.

Copyright ©2012 Larry Matheny