Valuable Entry #10-32

IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny

Such items as money, gold, and other riches require safe keeping. To the bridge player, a simple entry to dummy can be extremely valuable. Take a look at a hand where a declarer squandered his wealth at trick one.

Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)

Hand#32
Dlr	W
Vul	E/W

	AQ642
	84
	QJ105
	84

	98753
	KQ
	K842
	72

	J
	J9652
	76
	KJ1096

	K10
	A1073
	A93
	AQ53

West	North	East	South
Pass	Pass	Pass	1NT
Pass	2*	Pass	2
Pass	3NT	Pass	Pass

Pass

*Transfer

BIDDING: North showed five spades and then bid 3NT to give his partner a choice of games.

PLAY: West led the deuce of diamonds and declarer put up the queen in dummy. At trick two, declarer led a low spade to the jack and his queen. He followed with the ten of spades and only then realized he might not be able to get back to dummy. His only hope was an error by the defense. After the ten of spades won the trick, declarer played a diamond toward dummy. West saw declarer’s dilemma and quickly grabbed the king. West played the king of hearts and then the queen but declarer ducked both times. West then led a low club and declarer now had seven tricks: 2 spades, 1 heart, 2 diamonds, and 2 clubs. Try as he might, he was done. If he had only given the hand more thought at trick one, he would have realized he must keep two small diamonds in his hand to ensure an entry to dummy. That meant he must win the first diamond with the ACE. He would then have nine tricks: 4 spades, 1 heart, 2 diamonds, and 2 clubs (after taking the finesse).

This was another example of playing too quickly to trick one and playing the suit instead of the hand.