From                  26th April, 2006, Board 31

                                          Theme               Matchpoint Decisions

                                          Difficulty           * * *

                                          Dlr East            E-W Vul                 Hands Rotated

                                                                                                   for Convenience

West leads the Club Two.

It would be pusillanimous to settle for those 7 top minor suit tricks.  All self-respecting matchpoint players, in a quest for an overtrick or two, have managed to go down in a stone cold contract.  Here is your opportunity!

SOLUTION

The safe way to try for 8 tricks is in Hearts.  If you lead up to the K♥, and it is taken by the A♥, then your mission for the 8^th trick will have failed, but at least you still have a guaranteed 7 tricks, there is no way that the opponents can muster enough tricks to defeat you.

However, we’d go after Spades, winning the opening lead in our hand, and finessing the 9♠ at Trick Two.  Yes, it’s possible that we could get caught in a major suit cross-fire, and with every card off-side, and with perfect defense, the opponents might score 4 Spades and 3 Hearts.  The odds are very much against this happening, and, if it does, you can consider it a matchpoint badge of honor to go down in this cold contract.  The main reason for playing on Spades first is that, if the finesse loses, we can try Hearts next, whereas, if we play on Hearts first and the Ace is offside, we won't have time to develop a Spade if the defense shifts to Diamonds.

But, let’s look on the bright side.  We win the A♣, finesse the 9♠, and it draws the King.  We’ve got 8 tricks in the bag, but let’s not stop now!  East shifts to the ♦2, low from our hand, Jack from West, won by the Ace.  Now a Spade to the Jack and Ace.  Next, the Spade Ten, won on the board, East following.

The time has come to cash the Clubs, West following to 4 rounds and pitching the 2♥, East pitching two low Hearts and two low Diamonds.  Now, we are down to a 4-card ending.  Declarer’s last 4 cards will be ♥ KT ♦ KT.  Between them, the opponents have: ♥AQJx, a Spade winner and the ♦Qxx.  Do you take your sure 8 tricks by leading a Diamond?  Or do you try for 9 (and risk making just 7) by leading a Heart?

We suggest going for 9 tricks here … even if the A♥ turns out to be with West it’s highly unlikely that the defense can take the rest of the tricks … in fact, West would have to be left with ♥A and two other Hearts and the good Spade for that to happen, and the earlier Diamond play suggests that this is not the case.

	♠ Q932 ♥ 5 ♦ A85 ♣ QJT86
♠ AT54 ♥ 62 ♦ QJ4 ♣ 9542	North    West           East            South	♠ K87 ♥ AQJ73 ♦ 9732 ♣ 3
	♠ J6 ♥ KT984 ♦ KT6 ♣ AK7

Keys to Success

   - Not being satisfied with just 7 tricks!

   - Playing on Spades instead of Hearts, slightly risky but more with more ways to win

   - Not being satisfied with 8 tricks in the end-game!