IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny


An experienced declarer will always look for ways to avoid a finesse.  This hand shows that some of these opportunities can be difficult to see.

Scoring:  Matchpoints (Pairs)
 
Hand #53
Dlr   E
Vul N/S
S AJ96
H Q3
D K943
C 763
S 102
H AK62
D 10875
C K82
    
S 74
H J985
D QJ2
C J1095

S KQ853
H 1074
D A6
C AQ4
West North
East
South


 Pass
1S
  Pass    3S     Pass     4S  
All Pass
  
   
  

BIDDING:  South had just enough to continue on to game over his partner's limit (10-12 pts.) raise.

PLAY: 
West led the ace of hearts and then shifted to a spade.  Declarer counted two heart losers and two possible club losers.  Rather than rely on the club king being on-side, declarer looked for another way to make the hand.  South returned a heart at trick three and West exited with his last trump.  Next, declarer played ace, king, and a third diamond ruffing in his hand.  He then ruffed his last heart in dummy and led the last diamond.  When East showed out, declarer pitched a low club from his hand.  Poor West won the diamond but now had to lead a club into declarer's AQ or give a ruff/sluff.  If East had held the last diamond, South would ruff and fall back on the club finesse.

You can see there was nothing difficult about this hand.  Declarer merely needed to look at all of his options and select the one with the best chance of success.  Here he found one that was 100%.

Copyright ©2007 Larry Matheny.