IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny
The elimination of
the side suits followed by putting the lead in a defender’s hand for a
fortuitist lead is a play that all declarers need to employ. In this hand, poor West was the victim.
Scoring:
Matchpoints (Pairs)
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BIDDING: South’s response of 1
showed 0-7 high card points. North’s
jump bid invited game and South accepted.
Play: West led the king of spades and was
immediately disappointed when the ace and jack hit in dummy. Declarer saw he had one spade loser, possibly
two in diamonds, and a guess in the club suit.
He won the ace of spades followed by the ace and queen of hearts. Next, he led his last spade toward dummy and
West rose with the queen. A low club
followed and declarer guessed correctly by playing the ten. East won the ace and played a second
round. Declarer won the king and
discarded a diamond on the jack of spades.
The black suits had been eliminated so it was now easy for declarer to
lead a low diamond and play the seven when East followed with the four. West won the jack but was forced to lead away
from his king of diamonds or concede a ruff/sluff.
Although East should
play his ten of diamonds on the first round, the end-play still works. Declarer will cover the ten with the queen
but now West will have to lead away from his jack.
Copyright ©2012 Larry Matheny