Improve Your Play #45

IMPROVE YOUR PLAY #45 with Larry Matheny

The good declarer learns to use his entries to dummy wisely. Here is a good example of how important it is to study the entire hand before playing.

Scoring: Matchpoints

Hand #45
Dlr	N
Vul	E-W

	QJ4
	98743
	843
	74

	K1032
	K
	K92
	J10962

	9865
	J106
	Q75
	K53

	A7
	AQ52
	AJ106
	AQ8

West	North	East	South
	Pass	Pass	2NT
Pass	3*	Pass	4
All Pass

*Jacoby Transfer

BIDDING: The South hand is a classic 2NT opener showing 20-21 high card points and a balanced hand. North was very weak but decided his hand was more valuable in a heart contract. South's leap to game showed four hearts and a maximum. This took North off the hook on whether to bid game or pass a 3

response.

PLAY: West thought he made a safe lead of the jack of clubs but it was into declarer's AQ combination. Declarer counted a possible spade loser, one or two heart losers, and possibly two more in the diamond suit. Since he needed to use his entries to dummy to lead diamonds and spades, he played the heart ace at trick two. Although it might seem lucky when the king dropped on his left, the only time it is correct to take a heart finesse is when there is specifically KX in the East hand. With so few entries, his play was correct. After cashing the heart queen, South played his other top club followed by a club ruff in dummy. Declarer next led a diamond from dummy and played the jack from his hand. Poor West won the king but was in a bad situation. He had no more hearts and a club return would give South a ruff/sluff, so he made his best return of a diamond. South won this in his hand and played his other good diamond. Now he needed to get to dummy to take the spade finesse so he ruffed the 13th diamond in dummy to lead a spade. The finesse lost but declarer made his contract losing one spade, one heart, and one diamond.

The important thing is declarer used his entries wisely. First he played the trump suit correctly and then realized although his last diamond was good, he needed to ruff it to get to dummy. Reminder: play the hand, not the suit. Also, note what happens if you take the heart finesse.

Copyright ©2007 Larry Matheny.