IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny
It’s agreed that
defense is difficult. But sometimes
simply counting declarer’s tricks will allow you to find your way.
Scoring: Matchpoints
(Pairs)
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
BIDDING: I
really won’t comment on the bidding other than to say it worked.
Play: West led the ten of hearts won by
the jack in dummy. Declarer had to bring
in the diamond suit to have any chance so he played the king followed by a low
one. When the queen popped up declarer
could count 8 tricks so he next tried to sneak a spade trick by West. That defender was not falling for that so he
rose with the ace and…..continued hearts.
When the spade jack later dropped declarer had 11 tricks: 3 spades, 3 hearts, and 5 diamonds. It should have been clear to West that
declarer had 3 hearts and 5 diamonds so the only hope was to win the ace of
spades and switch to clubs.
By the way, these
teams were playing for a national club championship. I will be gracious and not mention the name
of their country.
Copyright ©2012 Larry Matheny