Improve Your Play #49

IMPROVE YOUR PLAY #49 with Larry Matheny

A good declarer will take his time before deciding how to play a hand. Sometimes a simple solution is difficult to see. Try your luck with this one.

Scoring: Matchpoints

Hand #49
Dlr	E
Vul	E-W

	7652
	QJ53
	AKQ10
	4

	QJ10
	K876
	83
	Q952

	94
	A42
	J952
	K876

	AK83
	109
	764
	AJ103

West	North	East	South
		Pass	1
Pass	1	Pass	1
Pass	4	All Pass

BIDDING: North-South had a standard auction to reach the 4

contract.

PLAY: It is often correct to lead a trump when the opponents have bid two suits and ended in a third. Declarer might need to cross-ruff (trump cards in both hands) to succeed. Following this logic, West led the queen of spades. Several declarers counted six losers: one spade, two hearts, and three clubs. They won the first trick and tried to ruff clubs in dummy. Entries back to the South hand were scarce and most declarers failed by one trick. This is really a very simple hand to play. Look at the contract from the North hand. Assuming the trumps behave, you only have to lose one spade and two hearts. If necessary, you can ruff the last diamond in the South hand.

This practice of only looking at the contract from declarer's hand is a frequent mistake.

Copyright ©2007 Larry Matheny.