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Quiz 110

The Full Deal

You were in a poor three notrump contract, after both partner and you pushed during the bidding.

The ten of clubs opening lead ran around to your King. Now the Queen of spades (King, Ace, deuce). You played the three of spades to your nine and held your breath. You were in luck; East did have the ten. Moreover, spades were 3-3, so you made ten tricks. Plus 430 scored 97%; down one would have scored 28%.

Bonus from Val: West had a difficult decision whether to cover the Queen of spades. On this layout, the winning decision is to play low (and cover the Jack if declarer leads that card on the second round). Also, it turns out that plus 180 (two notrump making four) would have scored 86%; as usual at matchpoints, bidding the thin game was a poor decision. Usually, the better strategy is to stay in a part-score but make overtricks. Deal PN111.

To explore alternative lines of play and defense, use this link: https://tinyurl.com/mrxcvccf

For more about deciding whether to invite when partner opens one notrump, see Chapter 4 of Real World Bridge 6: The Game Zone.

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