IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny

Here is a hand where it all came down to the opening lead.  Of course, one of the defenders helped a bit with that decision.  Take a look.

Scoring:  Matchpoints (Pairs Game)

Hand #26
Dlr   W
Vul None
S AQJ
H AK974
D 9
C AJ94
S 109
H
D KJ1076543
C 1032
    
S 73
H Q10532
D Q2
C KQ87

S K86542
H J86
D A8
C 65
West North
 East
 South
4D DBL
 5C  5S
   Pass    6S All Pass 
 

BIDDING:  After West's preempt, North showed his strength with a takeout double.  Expecting the club ace to be on his right, East made a lead-directing club bid on his way to 5D.  South saw that all of his cards should be working so he entered the auction and North could not resist bidding the slam.

PLAY:  West led the deuce of clubs and the slam could no longer be made.  Note that without a club lead, declarer could draw trumps, cash the ace of hearts, and then lead a low heart toward his jack.  East could win the queen and shift to a club but it would be too late.  Declarer would win the club ace, unblock the jack of hearts, and ruff a diamond to dummy.  He could then discard his club loser on the king of hearts.

Copyright ©2008 Larry Matheny.     stats