September 2008 - 53

ADVANCED PLAYERS

My Bridge and Yours
Matchpoint Defense -
part 1
At IMP scoring, you focus on
beating the contract. You may need
to make assumptions that will leave
you with only one possible line of
defense. At matchpoints, your score
depends on how many of your competitors you beat - by any margin.
Defense is more taxing because your
goal may be to hold declarer to one
overtrick or to try for down two and
plus 200 against a partscore. You
must often assess the contract as
"normal" or "abnormal," consider
whether the defense has started well
or badly, or judge whether your side
would have done well at a contract of
its own.
Dlr: South  10 7 4
Vul: Both  J 5
654
AQJ94
8653
A7
 Q 10 8 2
732
West

North

East

Pass
Pass

1NT
4

Pass
All Pass

South
1
3

West leads the K. Declarer takes
the ace and leads a trump to dummy's
jack and East's ace.
At IMPs, East would return the
2. To beat 4 he needs at least one
diamond trick and must hope South
has a hand such as:
A 2 K Q 10 9 8 4 2 K 7 K 6.
(South could make his game by
taking a quick spade discard on
the clubs, but that play wouldn't be
clear.)
At matchpoints, East must consider
returning a spade to take his side's
September 2008

spade trick or tricks. At least one
spade should cash since West might
have overcalled despite the vulnerability with K-Q-J-x-x and another
high card. The contract appears to
be normal: Every North-South will
be in the same spot. If East leads a
diamond and finds South with:
A 2 K Q 10 9 8 2 A 7 K 6 5,
East-West will be minus 680 for a
zero.
Dlr: West
Vul: N-S

76
KQ76
A962
K87
AJ954
 Q 10 8 3 2
N
2
A8543
W E
KJ83
 10 7 5
S
A32
-
K
 J 10 9
Q4
 Q J 10 9 6 5 4
West
1
Dbl

North
East
Dbl
4
All Pass

South
5

South misjudges and bids 5,
thinking North's hand may be stronger and East's weaker. West doubles
and leads his singleton heart, and
East takes the ace and returns a noncommittal 5 for West to ruff.
At IMPs, West might try for plus
800 by underleading his A to get
another heart ruff. At matchpoints,
defenders often set a trick target that
will obtain a good result, and West
should cash the A, assuring plus
500 and beating East-Wests who
are plus 480 at spades. (Not many
East-Wests will be plus 750 at 5
doubled.)

Frank Stewart
franks@fayette.net

Dlr: South  K Q 4 2
Vul: N-S  A 9 6
K6
K862
987
 J 10 6 5
N
Q
W E 754
J9732
 A 10 4
S
 10 9 7 5
AJ4
A3
 K J 10 8 3 2
Q85
Q3
West

North

East

Pass
Pass

1
4

Pass
All Pass

South
1
2

West leads the 3: king, ace, 5.
South's 2 rebid promised a six-card
or longer suit, so he has at least six
heart tricks and three spades (he
has the A for his opening bid).
South appears to have Q-x-x in
diamonds: He wouldn't play the king
from dummy if he had the jack, but
West would have led the queen from
Q-J-x-x. If South also has the Q
(likely), East must make sure he
doesn't make six. East should cash
the A at the second trick. If instead
he returns a diamond, South wins,
ruffs a diamond in dummy and runs
his trumps, squeezing East in spades
and clubs for 12 tricks.
r
53
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2008
