IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny
It’s natural to trust your
partner during the auction and on defense but there are also times when you
need to believe what your opponents are telling you. Take a look.
Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs
Game)
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BIDDING: North had
enough to invite game and South accepted.
PLAY: West led the deuce of spades and declarer
stopped to count his tricks. He had only six top tricks (2 spades, 2 hearts, and 2
clubs) so it was clear he needed to develop the diamond suit. Next he asked if E/W led fourth best and they
acknowledged that was their agreement.
With that information he saw he could afford to lose two diamonds and
two spades. He won East’s spade king
with his ace and led the king of diamonds.
After all it was possible there was a singleton jack. West won the ace of diamonds and continued
with the queen and another spade.
Declarer won and knocked out the jack of diamonds. West cashed his last spade but declarer had
nine tricks.
At
some tables declarer entered dummy with a club to lead a diamond toward his
hand. However when West won the diamond,
he returned a heart presenting declarer with a problem. After winning the ace, if he cashed the king
of hearts, he would leave that suit wide open.
If he didn’t cash the king, with no other entries to dummy he would only
have eight tricks. A similar problem
occurred for those declarers who entered dummy with a heart.
Sometimes
you have to trust your opponents.
Copyright ©2011 Larry Matheny