IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny

Too often when the play of the hand begins, the auction is forgotten.  In many cases it is the auction itself that should guide the declarer to the proper play of the hand.  Here is a hand where the declarer took advantage of just that.

Scoring:  Pairs Game (Matchpoints)

Hand #19
Dlr   W
Vul E/W
S 84
H A43
D Q43
C 87642
S AQ10762
H Q2
D A8
C J109
    
S K93
H 1095
D 9752
C Q53

S J5
H KJ876
D KJ106
C AK
West North
 East
 South
1S Pass
  Pass
 DBL
   Pass     2C     2S     3H
   Pass
     4H All Pass
     
 
BIDDING:  The takeout double in balancing seat is a bit different than it is in direct chair.  Here by doubling and then bidding his heart suit, South showed a good hand but not necessarily a monster. 

PLAY:  West led the jack of clubs and declarer saw he must lose two spades and the ace of diamonds.  That meant, of course, he must pick up the heart suit without a loss.  The normal play with this suit combination is low to dummy's ace of hearts and then to finesse on the way back.  However, the auction along with the opening lead allowed declarer to place some of the defenders' honor cards.  For his opening bid, West would hold the diamond ace and some spade honors but why didn't he lead a spade?  The answer was clear: he was missing the king.  With the AK or KQ a spade lead would have been preferred to the club lead.  So, if East held the king of spades along with the queen of clubs and passed his partner's bid, the heart queen must be with West.  Accordingly, South won the club lead and played the ace and king of hearts and was rewarded when the queen dropped.  All declarer did was REMEMBER THE AUCTION and make logical ASSUMPTIONS from the opening lead.

This is another example of playing the hand, not the suit.

Copyright ©2008 Larry Matheny.     stats