IMPROVE YOUR PLAY

With Larry Matheny

Some hands require aggressive defense in order to establish tricks before they are lost. Other hands require a more passive approach. Knowing which approach is best is often difficult.

Scoring: Imps (Teams)

#13-27
Dlr	W
Vul	E/W

	KQ108
	AK107
	72
	Q87

	73
	9642
	AKJ65
	105

	J654
	J
	10943
	AJ42

	A92
	Q853
	Q8
	K963

West	North	East	South
Pass	1	Pass	1
Pass	2	Pass	3
Pass	4	Pass	Pass
Pass

Bidding: North accepted South’s game try of 3 and bid the heart game.

Play: West led the A-K of diamonds and then erred by switching to the ten of clubs. Declarer played the queen from dummy and East won the ace. It was now easy for declarer to finesse East for the jack of clubs and wrap up his game. He ended up losing only two diamonds and one club.

After cashing the two diamonds, if West simply exits with a trump or a spade declarer will lose two clubs and be down one.

Copyright ©2013 Larry Matheny