Match Point Decisions
Should We Even Be In Game?
North has made a pre-empt. 3♣ shows a six or seven card suit and less than an opening hand. So there's no guarantee that we're going to make game here, despite our 17 high card points. But let's be a little bit greedy and try 3NT.
3NT Is Easy If Clubs Break
♦Q lead. So North has a seven card club suit, We've got two, we are missing four clubs.
If the club suit breaks 2-2, then we can simply win the ♦A or ♦K, play ♣A, ♣K, and run the club suit. So away we go, ace, king...
Clubs Don't Break!
...whoops, that's not so good. So there's still a club outstanding, and when we regain the lead, we've got no entries to get back to the North hand.
Try Ducking A Round Of Clubs
So let's give that another shot, but perhaps be a little bit more cautious when it comes to the play. It's true that if the club suit breaks 2-2 we can make seven club tricks. But if the club suit breaks 3-1, then we need to duck the first round of clubs.
Now there's only two clubs remaining, so we can win the ace of hearts, and play ace of clubs, king of clubs, and run the club suit.
Do you think it's wise to play safe here, or do you want to try for all the tricks you can possibly make? It's not quite clear playing duplicate bridge what the right answer is to this, overtricks count for a lot! But the club suit is more likely to break 3-1 rather than 2-2 so perhaps a cautious approach is better this time.