IMPROVE YOUR PLAY

With Larry Matheny

Strong hands are often difficult to bid. You want to describe your hand to your partner, but sometimes you just have to bid what you hope you can make.

Scoring: IMPs (Teams)

#13-04
Dlr	W
Vul	E/W

	654
	976542
	53
	K4

	KQ832
	103
	74
	9876

	10
	QJ8
	AK862
	J1052

	AJ97
	AK
	QJ109
	AQ3

West	North	East	South
Pass	Pass	1	DBL
1	2	Pass	3NT
Pass	Pass	Pass

Bidding: I was in the South chair and after my partner showed some values, I bid 3NT. Partner considered 4H but finally decided my bid might be based on a long running suit.

Play: West led the seven of diamonds to his partner’s king. East shifted to the ten of spades and I covered with the jack. West won the queen followed by his last diamond. East won the ace and exited with a heart. I won the ace and saw I had only eight tricks: 1 spade, 2 hearts, 2 diamonds, and 3 clubs. Since any extra trick would have to come from spades, I decided to make West do some discarding. I cashed my red suit and club winners and West erred by discarding a club along with a spade. Here was the 3-card ending:

S-K82

S-A97

I led the nine of spades and West won the king but his forced spade return promoted my seven to the game-going trick. At the other table, the same contract was defeated with stronger defense. It appears 4H is a better contract. There are four losers but West can never get in to cash a spade winner. However, three rounds of diamonds will promote the ten of hearts as the 4^th trick for the defense.

Copyright ©2013 Larry Matheny