Proper Play Pays Off
It's fun to make a top on a board by an expert play like a guard squeeze. But opportunities for those are few, and frequently not apparent, even to an expert. Proper play of everyday card combinations, however, pays off frequently. Matchpoints; both vulnerable; South deals:
The bidding is only slightly ambitious, and most players with the North
cards would rate their five card suit as worth an extra point. When you play low from the
dummy at trick one, East wins the Queen of spades and returns the seven. On your Jack,
West covers with the King. What do you play from the dummy? If you carelessly followed with your three when East won the Queen, you've blocked the suit, allowing the opponents to knock out dummy's only sure entry before clubs are established. Now when you win the Ace, the ten is a second stopper, but your entry is gone prematurely. Look at the difference, though, if you foresee this and drop the 10 under East's Queen on the first trick. Then at trick two you have the J3 in your hand and the A9 in the dummy. When East returns the suit, you can play the Jack from your hand and preserve a later entry to dummy. Look what happens. if West covers the Jack with his King, you win the Ace in dummy, and dummy's 9 becomes the master card in the suit. One the other hand, if West ducks when you play the 3, you win the trick and retain the Ace in dummy. Ok, so let's assume you made the correct unblocking play at trick one, and West covers your Jack on the spade return, so you win the Ace in dummy, with the spade nine becoming your later entry. If you're tempted to take a club finesse, you're in danger of falling into a trap. Suppose you lead the Queen and it's covered by the King? You can win the first two club tricks, but you still have to give up a trick to establish the suit, so you haven't gained a trick by winning the finesse. And that, of course, is assuming the suit is split 3-2. In other words, whether the finesse is on or off makes no difference when the suit is 3-2. you'll win four tricks and the opponents one. But what if clubs are 4-I? Now it's a terrible mistake to lead the Queen. if either opponent has the singleton King, you'll cost yourself a trick. if it's West, you'll lose your Queen to a singleton King, and East's 1098 will be a second stopper. If it is East, your Queen will be covered by the singleton King, and West's 1098 will become a double stopper. Even worse, if East has a singleton other than the King, then by leading the Queen from dummy, you'll be creating a second stopper for West. Lay out the cards and see for yourself. Here's the actual hand:
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