IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny
While it is usually correct to pull trumps as soon as
possible, some hands require attending to other business first.
Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)
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Pass
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BIDDING: After South’s weak-two heart bid, North had an
easy raise to game.
PLAY: With
no attractive lead, West finally chose
the six of spades. Declarer counted four
possible losers: 1 spade, 2 hearts, and 1 club.
The heart play could come later because he first needed to try to
eliminate the spade loser. He won the
ace in dummy and entered his hand with a diamond. Next he led a low club toward dummy and was
delighted to see West win the ace.
Declarer won the spade continuation with the king followed by the king
of clubs discarding the spade loser.
Next he led the nine of hearts losing to the jack. He won the club continuation and lost only
one more trick to the king of hearts.
It’s true it was unlucky to find both heart honors off-side, but those
declarers who attacked trump first were very disappointed.
Copyright
©2011 Larry Matheny