IMPROVE YOUR PLAY

With Larry Matheny

On many hands the timing of the play must be exact. This hand is a good example of how important that can be.

Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)

#13-44
Dlr	N
Vul	both

	642
	1062
	K542
	Q53

	83
	8754
	AQJ9
	J102

	5
	KQ9
	1063
	AK9764

	AKQJ1097
	AJ3
	87
	8

West	North	East	South
-	Pass	1	4
Pass	Pass	Pass

Bidding: After his partner passed, South jumped to game over East’s bid.

Play: West led the jack of clubs and declarer stopped to analyze his position. He counted 5 possible losers: 2 hearts, 2 diamonds, and 1 club. To succeed he needed the ace of diamonds to be in the West hand and both heart honors in the East hand. He ruffed the second round of clubs and drew trumps. Next he played a low heart from his hand to dummy’s 10 and East won the queen. A third club was led and ruffed by declarer. Next a diamond was led and West rose with the ace. West exited with the queen of diamonds won by the king. Declarer now led a low heart to his jack and made the contract.

Note a heart must be conceded before the diamond entry is used. Otherwise, when declarer leads a heart from dummy, East will split his honors and declarer has no good answer. If declarer ducks, East will exit with a diamond leaving declarer with a second heart loser and no entry to dummy.

Copyright ©2013 Larry Matheny