ª 9 4 3

© A

¨ A Q 8 7

§ K 9 8 7 4

ª 10 5                         ª K Q 7 6 2

© K J 8 6 4 3 2          © 10 9 7

¨ J 5                            ¨ K 9 6 3 2

§ Q 10                        § -

ª A J 8

© Q 5

¨ 10 4

§ A J 6 5 3 2

East-West vulnerable

West                North               East                  South

                                                Pass                 1NT

2©                   3NT                 End

Lead ©6

Not everyone will approve of my 1NT bid but it resulted in reaching a reasonable contract.  The play to the first seven tricks was fairly obvious – one heart and six clubs.  In rubber bridge or teams the next two would be ªA and ¨A but match point pairs is a different game.  West had discarded two hearts, one spade and one diamond.  East had signalled in spades so presumably had ªK Q.  That didn’t leave much for West except ¨K so I trusted her vulnerable overcall and took the diamond finesse to go one off in a cold contract.  Partner was polite and a little sympathetic but I suffered some barracking from others at the end of the session.  I used to have a reputation for playing the dummy well but it is slightly dented after this showing.  The reason I took the finesse was that several pairs were likely to be playing 5§ which is equally cold but with the advantage that the diamond finesse is completely safe.  So if it worked they would score +420 so I needed +430.