Crash!
To have good results in matchpoint pairs, in every deal you have to aim at getting a better (or at least the same) score than the majority of your competitors. So that you understand correctly, it’s not about taking crazy risks to get a good result (top or bottom), but about judging your initiatives accurately in all common situations.
Whenever you have the choice between two actions, you must opt for the one that will be worth a good score if it succeeds, while you still keep a score close to average if it doesn’t. On the other hand, you sometimes must take all possible risks if an atypical action by your opponents suddenly puts you in danger.
As West, you pick up the following hand in a Club game:
The auction (Dealer South. E/W Vul.):
You need a Funbridge Premium or Premium+ subscription to keep reading.
To read the rest of this article by Robert Eskinazi, please log in with a valid Premium or Premium+ account.
I think the analysis is too simplistic.
It looks as if you have 2 spade losers and will need luck to avoid another in clubs or diamonds. You cannot beat the tables in 4 hearts and will most likely go down in a risky 5 so the sensible action is to hope there are enough tables in 4 spades or 4 hearts fails losing 2 spades a diamond and a club. Now the percentage action is X and take the money. After all opps have bid 4 spades hoping to push you out of the only makeable contract. I might think about 5 with a stiff spade but not 2. Once you cannot beat those is 4 hearts you are playing against the tables in 4 spades so double them and show them you are not getting pushed around and get a plus score.