IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
With Larry Matheny
Too many players
bid with no clear objective. You should
be trying to 1) buy the contract, 2) impede the opponents, 3) suggest a
sacrifice, or 4) make a lead directing bid.
Otherwise, you are just helping the opponents.
Scoring: IMPs (Teams)
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Bidding: After an opening bid and a game forcing 2
response, East’s takeout double was very questionable. After North rebid 3
,
South bid the notrump game.
Play:
West led a low spade and when East could only play the ten, it seemed
clear that the king was in the West hand.
That also meant every other missing honor was in the East hand. With this information, declarer won the queen
of spades and led a club to the ace hoping the king was singleton. A club was continued to East’s king. She led another spade and South ducked to
rectify the count for the squeeze that seemed likely to work. Declarer won the third spade, cashed the ace
of diamonds, and then played the remaining clubs. Here was the four-card ending when the last
club was led:
A7 Q 2
QJ5
K
K109 J
East discarded a
heart and declarer had 11 tricks for a near top. Without the takeout double, would declarer
have taken the losing diamond finesse?
We will never know.
Copyright ©2013
Larry Matheny