IMPROVE YOUR PLAY

With Larry Matheny

In a team game you want to avoid going for large numbers and you certainly don’t want the opponents to succeed at both tables.

Scoring: IMPs (Teams)

#13-45
Dlr	S
Vul	Both

	KJ6542
	87
	A7643

	AQ3
	KQJ105
	AQ1087

	987
	J104
	92
	KJ953

	10
	AKQ96532
	8
	642

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

Bidding: West bid 4NT to show the minors. North continued the preempt and East passed unwilling to commit to slam. West’s double ended the auction.

Play: West led the ace of spades and then shifted to the king of diamonds. Declarer won the ace, cashed the king of spades to discard a club, and then ruffed a spade to his hand. He ruffed another club in dummy, ruffed a diamond to his hand, and ruffed his last club in dummy. Now he merely had to ruff another diamond to his hand, pull the trumps, and enjoy the overtrick.

At the other table, North passed over the 4NT bid and East bid 5 to end the auction. South led the ace of hearts that was ruffed in dummy. East drew trumps followed by a diamond. North won the ace but declarer was able to discard two spades and one heart on the good diamonds and also made an overtrick. The +1050 at the first table and the +620 at the second table resulted in swing of 17 IMPs.

Copyright ©2013 Larry Matheny