IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny
In
competitive auctions it’s not always clear whether you should pass, double, or
bid one more. Of course, the form of
scoring is often an important factor.
Playing in a pairs event, you strive for plus scores and may not want to
reach the five-level. In a team game,
you want to avoid the dreaded “double game swing” so it’s often safer to bid
one more. What would you do with the
South hand in this diagram?
Scoring:
Matchpoints (Pairs)
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BIDDING: South had a very nice hand but the auction
left him with a difficult decision. His
partner had been no help so he was on his own.
Should he pass, double, or bid one more?
There were several different
results when this hand was played in a local game. One E/W pair bid the spade game and made ten
tricks so South should not double. Two
N/S pairs bid the heart game and made an overtrick so that result says to bid
one more and that is what this South decided to do.
PLAY: West led a top spade and then shifted to his
singleton club. East won the queen and
returned another one. South was
helpless; if he ruffed low West would over ruff and if he ruffed with the ace
or king, West’s ten of hearts would be promoted. Still, down one and -50 was a better result
than allowing the opponents to make their spade game. At my table, I opened 1
with the South hand and
that became the final contract. After
scoring eleven tricks I was disappointed until I saw the opponents could make a
game in spades. My +200 was an average
result and it was on to the next hand.
Copyright
©2010 Larry Matheny