IMPROVE YOUR PLAY

With Larry Matheny

This hand shows how important it is to use your entries to each hand wisely.

Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)

#13-24
Dlr	N
Vul	None

	9632
	986
	AQ10
	863

	Q104
	QJ72
	9753
	54

	KJ85
	103
	642
	A1097

	A7
	AK54
	KJ8
	KQJ2

West	North	East	South
-	Pass	Pass	2NT
Pass	3NT	Pass	Pass
Pass

Bidding: North-South had a routine auction to game.

Play: West led the deuce of hearts and declarer stopped to count his tricks. The number came up to only six (one spade, two hearts, and three diamonds) so he needed to bring in three club tricks. Without much thought, he won the heart lead and hoping for a 3-3 club break, played the king of clubs. East won the ace and returned a heart leaving declarer with only eight tricks.

Declarer had three entries to dummy so he should have led a diamond to the ten followed by a low club. He can enter dummy two more times to lead clubs and will end with three club tricks and make his contract.

Copyright ©2013 Larry Matheny