IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
With Larry Matheny
Matchpoint scoring
definitely favors plus scores. Some
players will take extreme measures attempting to win 200 points instead of
settling for 140. Sometimes it doesn’t
work.
Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)
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Bidding: Preempting at adverse vulnerability is always
risky but South decided to tempt fate.
West was not to be trifled with and made a very weak takeout
double. With scattered values, East
decided to defend with the expectation of at least +200.
Play: West
led the king of spades and East overtook with the ace to fire back a second
round. West cashed a third spade as East
discarded a diamond. Next, West exited
with the jack of diamonds and declarer assessed his situation. His first thought was that East must hold all
four clubs to elect to defend. But, he
stopped to consider what he had learned so far.
West held 6 points in spades, 1 (at most) in hearts, and, from the
diamond switch, only 1 in diamonds. Even
the most aggressive bidder would not make a 3-level t/o double with only 7 or 8
points so it was clear to declarer that the ace of clubs was in the West
hand. It was doubtful that East would
have elected to defend with fewer than three clubs, so the club distribution
was clear. Declarer won the diamond in
his hand followed by a low club. West
won the ace and continued diamonds.
Declarer won the king, discarded his other low diamond on the ace of
hearts, and took the winning club finesse.
Making three for +670 and a good matchpoint result
Copyright ©2013 Larry Matheny