IMPROVE YOUR PLAY

With Larry Matheny

There are several bidding conventions and agreements to help us arrive at the best contracts. The Splinter bid is one of those and this hand shows how effective it can be.

Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)

#13-18
Dlr	W
Vul	N/S

	AKQ86
	Q42
	AKJ8
	A

	972
	K763
	9432
	Q6

	J1043
	AJ985
	J532

	5
	10
	Q10765
	K109874

West	North	East	South
Pass	2	Pass	2
Pass	2	Pass	3
Pass	3	Pass	4*
Pass	6	Pass	Pass
Pass

*splinter

Bidding: South’s 2 response showed values without a strong suit. South next bid 3 and was excited when his partner revealed a diamond suit. After some thought, South jumped to 4 to show good diamond support and heart shortness. North bid the slam.

Play: West led a heart to his partner’s ace. East continued with a heart and declarer ruffed. Declarer decided to establish dummy so he led a diamond to the ace. He was disappointed when East discarded a heart but continued with his plan. He played the ace of spades and ruffed a spade high. Next, he led a club to dummy’s ace and ruffed another spade with another high trump. He continued with his king of clubs discarding dummy’s last heart. Now he led his last diamond to dummy’s eight and drew trumps.

The results around the room were mixed; some played in the diamond game and some suffered defeat declaring 3NT with a heart lead. The splinter bid was an excellent solution to North’s bidding dilemma.

Copyright ©2013 Larry Matheny