Assumptions #08-18

IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny

It is often possible to obtain a complete picture of the opponents' distribution but sometimes you must make some assumptions and play accordingly. Take a look.

Scoring: Pairs Game (Matchpoints)

Hand #18
Dlr	E
Vul	E/W

	5
	K964
	AJ108
	AK93

	Q109876
	Q8
	K3
	Q74

	KJ432
	3
	976542
	8

	A
	AJ10752
	Q
	J10652

West	North	East	South
		Pass	1
1	2	3	4
Pass	4NT	Pass	5
Pass	6	All Pass

BIDDING: North's cue bid showed a limit raise or better in his partner's heart suit. East wanted to bid more but the adverse vulnerability stopped her. After South bid game, North launched into Keycard Blackwood and discovered opener held two aces without the queen of hearts. North gave up on the grand and bid the small slam.

PLAY: West led a low spade and declarer saw the slam was not in danger as long as the hearts weren't 3-0. The ace of hearts from his hand at trick two left him with only the challenge of finding an overtrick. The problem was to find out about the club cards in the defenders' hands. He drew the last trump, cashed the ace of clubs, and then played the ace and another diamond ruffing in his hand. When the diamond king dropped from West, declarer stopped to think about the spade distribution. If East held six spades she might have jumped to four and if West held seven spades, he might have bid more at his first or second opportunity. Declarer knew about the red suits and the other evidence strongly suggested that West was 6-2-2-3. Declarer then ruffed a diamond to his hand and played a club to dummy's nine and the overtrick was his.

This hand is from a local game with all nine pairs bidding the slam but only one pair scored the overtrick. Perhaps East should jump in spades to interfere more with the auction. If N/S decide to defend, they can take five tricks and at four level that is only +800 compared to the +980 for the slam. Also note that the two good diamond tricks in dummy would not help declarer.

Copyright ©2008 Larry Matheny.