IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny

As a defender, it's usually not wise to inform declarer you have a surprise for him.  Here is a hand where defeat was almost certain until the defense opened its mouth.

Scoring:  Matchpoints (pairs)

Hand #8
Dlr   W
Vul E/W
S AK732
H Q53
D QJ
C 863
S 10
H KJ42
D 10862
C KJ97
    
S 9654
H
D K743
C Q10542

S QJ8
H A109876
D A95
C A
West North
 East
 South
Pass
 1S  Pass
 2H
   Pass
     3H     Pass    4NT
   Pass     5D     Pass 
    6H
   DBL
 All Pass

 
BIDDING:  North held a minimum hand but one most people open these days.  South liked his hand much better after his partner raised and bid the slam.  (The Blackwood convention was unnecessary since South knew two aces weren't missing but some players seem to use it for all slams.)  West couldn't stand it and doubled hoping to score two trump tricks.  This was a mistake.

PLAY:  West made the bold lead of a club.  Declarer realized West had no double without a trump stack so at trick two he led the ten of hearts.  When this won the trick it was a simple matter of leading another toward the queen.  West won the king and tried to cash a club but declarer ruffed and led a third heart to dummy's queen.  A diamond back to his hand (safer than a spade) allowed declarer to draw the last trump.  He then discarded his diamond losers on the long spade suit.

Without the double to guide him, declarer would probably start with the ace of hearts from his hand and consequently lose two heart tricks.  West should have realized the difference between +50 and +100 was not enough to allow the slam to succeed.  Greed is a terrible thing.

Copyright ©2008 Larry Matheny.     stats