Watch the Spots!

Dummy:
♠K4
♥8754
♦J432
♣KQT

Declarer:
♠QT7
♥KJT
♦AK6
♣A872

You are Declarer in 3NT. You get the 3♣ lead. You play low from Dummy and RHO plays the 5♣. What do you play?

Watch it! You have already won the trick in Dummy. There is NO NEED to play your A♣ here!

Here's another one:

Dummy:
♠AK93
♥KT862
♦Q6
♣AK

Declarer:
♠Q84
♥A9
♦AJ2
♣QJ643

You get the 6♠ for a lead. You play low from Dummy and RHO plays the 5♠. What do you play?

Here you can win the trick with the 8♠! Then you have FOUR ♠ tricks!

Here's another one. This time I'm only going to give you the trump suit.

Dummy:
♠K765

Declarer:
♠JT82

You start with a low ♠ towards the K♠. That loses to the A♠ on your right. The opponents play a card and you win in your hand. You now play the J♠ and your LHO throws away a ♥. They have no more trump!

You are now down to this:
Dummy:
♠65

Declarer:
♠T8

The opponents play another card and you win in Dummy. You have to take out the last two trump. You play a low ♠. Your RHO plays the 3♠. What do you play?

The 8♠ should win the trick! LHO is out of ♠, remember?

These plays seem so OBVIOUS here. But WATCH when you are actually playing the hand. Each of these plays was made today and each of these plays cost a few matchpoints. They add up.

Now I get it. Sometimes you are distracted. Perhaps the first hand Declarer was wondering why Partner couldn't invite to game?

Perhaps the second hand Declarer was wondering why Partner couldn't force to slam?

The third hand Declarer was down 3. Perhaps she was thinking it didn't really matter anyhow? The difference between down 2 and down 3 here was 4.5 matchpoints. That's a big deal.

So next time this happens try to concentrate on the cards. Do NOT worry about where you should be. Concentrate on where you are and try to get the most number of tricks you can. WATCH the spot cards.