Succeeding at a pairs event often means winning every trick
available. Here is a hand where declarer took advantage of the
auction to find an extra trick.
Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)
Hand #38
Dlr
N
Vul
E/W
J532
K543
J105
92
108
10962
K962
A75
AKQ976
87
Q83
43
4
AQJ
A74
KQJ1086
West
North
East
South
Pass
1
2
DBL*
Pass
2
3
All Pass
*Negative Double
BIDDING: The bidding was
straightforward with South eventually declaring a club partscore.
PLAY: Declarer
ruffed the second spade and saw he still had to lose a club and
possibly two diamonds. The auction told him that West held four
hearts so that suit wasn't going to break 3-3. He had a discard
coming from the heart king but had no safe way to reach dummy after
three rounds of hearts. At trick three, declarer continued
by leading trumps with West winning the second round and continuing
with a third. Declarer saw a way for an overtrick if West held
one of the two missing diamond honors. He next led a low diamond
and West had to duck or it would leave declarer with a finessing
position over East's diamond queen. East won the queen of
diamonds and played another spade. Declarer ruffed, played the
ace of diamonds, and then led the rest of his clubs to catch West in a
red suit squeeze. In the four-card ending, West could not save
four hearts and the king of diamonds. The score of +130 was a
great result with most N/S pairs winning only nine tricks.
This hands shows how important is to remember the bidding.
Without the negative double, declarer may have simply tried for a 3-3
heart break without recognizing the squeeze possibilities. Also
note there would be no squeeze if East held both diamond honors but it
cost nothing to try for the overtrick.
