In a duplicate, overtricks matter

Over the last seven or eight months, thousands of people have played online, many in duplicates at Bridge Base Online. It has been a low-pressure way for newcomers to meet duplicate.

Say you are NorthSouth. Your score on each board is compared with the scores of all the other North-Souths. For each pair you beat, whether by 10 points or 1,000, you receive one matchpoint. For every tie, you get half a matchpoint.

As you can tell, overtricks are important. In today’s deal, most Souths played in two hearts. What should have happened after West led the heart jack?

South’s two-heart intervention conventionally showed both majors.

West, with an unenviable lead, decided that a trump was less likely to cost a trick than anything else. Declarer drew trumps ending in hand and played a low spade. After West won with his king, what did he do next?

Just exiting with a spade did not feel right, though it would have been safe here. Instead, West hoped his partner had a minor-suit king, and he wondered which one.

Well, East told him at trick one by playing his heart 10, the higher heart showing a useful holding in the higher-ranking of the two minors. So, West led his diamond five. After taking the trick, what did East do next?

He realized that it was time to shift to clubs, and, hoping for three tricks there, he correctly led the jack.

Minus 110 was a neartop for East-West.

Employ useless trumps to send suit-preference signals — if your partner is watching!