IMPROVE YOUR PLAY

With Larry Matheny

A good defender will use all of the information available. In this hand, East used the auction and the play to the first three tricks to give him the answer.

Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)

#13-51
Dlr	N
Vul	E/W

	1074
	K765
	QJ4
	QJ2

	KQ3
	J4
	932
	109854

	A985
	Q10
	108765
	73

	J62
	A9832
	AK
	AK6

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

Bidding: North-South had a routine auction to game.

Play: West led the king of spades and his partner encouraged with the nine. West continued with queen and a third spade to the ace. East stopped to analyze the hand and realized declarer probably held the rest of the missing honors cards to justify the leap to game. He felt his only hope was to promote a trump trick. At trick four East played the last spade. Declarer discarded a club and West ruffed with the jack of hearts and declarer had no answer.

Down one was a good result.

Copyright ©2013 Larry Matheny