IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny

While defense can be difficult, sometimes it's just a matter of counting to thirteen.  Take a look at this simple math problem.

Scoring:  Matchpoints (Pairs Game)

Hand #22
Dlr   E
Vul BOTH
S 542
H A1054
D Q10
C Q764
S AJ10
H KQ
D K9732
C 1053
    
S KQ763
H 9862
D J4
C 98

S 98
H J73
D A865
C AKJ2
West North
 East
 South


 Pass
 1NT
All Pass    
    
     

BIDDING:  South's 1NT showed 12-14 high card points and became the final contract when the vulnerability made West too nervous to get involved.

PLAY:  West led a low diamond and declarer mis-guessed by playing the ten from dummy.  Declarer won the jack with the ace and led a low heart to the queen and ace.  Next he led a low heart to his jack and the king.  West cashed the diamond king and then the nine.  On the third diamond, East discarded the nine of clubs.  This partnership uses "upside-down'" attitude signals so the nine said "I don't have anything in clubs".  West quickly added up declarer's known high card points:  1 in hearts, 4 in diamonds, and 8 in clubs.  That meant East must hold both the king and queen of spades.  It was then easy for West to shift to the ace, jack, and ten of spades to beat the contract two tricks.  As you saw, proper defense involved nothing more that communication and simple math.

Copyright ©2008 Larry Matheny.     stats