IMPROVE YOUR PLAY

With Larry Matheny

Hands with wild distribution can be difficult to bid because it’s not always clear who can make what. After an opponent opens a strong 1NT, it’s usually unlikely you can make game, but if the hand is wild enough….

Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)

#13-16
Dlr	W
Vul	E/W

	A87543
	AQ8754
	10

	K9
	J96
	AK106
	AJ98

	J
	102
	Q8542
	K7654

	Q1062
	K3
	J973
	Q32

West	North	East	South
1NT	2*	2NT	3
Pass	4	Pass	Pass
Pass

*majors

Bidding: North’s 2 bid showed the majors and East’s 2NT the minors. With a good holding in the major suits, South bid 3 and was quickly raised to game.

Play: West led the ace of diamonds and declarer stopped to analyze the hand. He had a club to lose and as long as the heart suit behaved, he only had to decide how to play trumps. Since West would not open 1NT with a singleton, there were four possible spade holdings for West: KJ, K9, KJ9, and J9. He decided J9 was unlikely and he could do nothing about KJ or KJ9, so he concentrated on the remaining K9 holding. He trumped the opening lead and came to his hand with the king of hearts. He continued with the queen of spades, West covered with the king, and the jack dropped on his right. He now had only to draw the last trump and run the heart suit. He was able to discard his clubs on the hearts and ruff dummy’s club in his hand for his thirteenth trick.

Not bad after the strong 1NT.

Copyright ©2013 Larry Matheny