IMPROVE YOUR PLAY

with Larry Matheny

Defense can be very difficult and if you lose your concentration for even a moment, a crafty opponent will take advantage.

Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)

Hand #12-35
Dlr	W
Vul	N/S

	J8
	742
	Q762
	AK54

	Q102
	Q1086
	943
	632

	AK97643
	K9
	10
	J98

	5
	AJ53
	AKJ85
	Q107

West	North	East	South
Pass	Pass	3	DBL
Pass	4NT	Pass	5
Pass	Pass	Pass

BIDDING: After two passes East applied maximum pressure with a three-level preemptive bid. South made a takeout double that left North with a difficult decision. He finally took an aggressive view and jumped to 4NT asking South to pick a minor.

PLAY: Declarer trumped the second spade and soon realized he had two heart losers. He saw a possibility if either opponent held a doubleton heart honor. Accordingly, he led a diamond to dummy followed by a low heart. East played low and declarer won the ace. Next, declarer drew trumps followed by three rounds of clubs. Declarer then exited with a heart. East won the king but had to lead a spade allowing declarer to ruff in his hand and discard dummy’s last heart.

It was difficult for East to see the end play coming but it would not cost to play the king when a heart was led from dummy. But give credit to declarer because if he had waited until the end game to play ace and a low heart, East may have been alert enough to drop the king under the ace. After all, if declarer held the AQ of hearts he could have simply finessed.

Copyright ©2012 Larry Matheny