Card combination...

[Dinarius]

Contract 4♥ after a blind auction.

 

This is your trump holding.

 

♥ A Q 7 6 5 4

 

opposite...

 

♥ 8 3

 

With plenty of entries in both hands, what is the best play for one loser in ♥?

 

Thanks.

 

D.

[Tramticket]

Low to the ace, return to hand then low to the queen.

 

Edit: thinking about it, it won't help to drop a singleton king off-side. Just as good to duck in both hands, then finesse, I think.

[The_Badger]

Low to the ace, return to hand then low to the queen.

 

Edit: thinking about it, it won't help to drop a singleton king off-side. Just as good to duck in both hands, then finesse, I think.

 

Slight variation on this. If you had arrived in 4♥ via a transfer and the hand holding ♥83 is playing the contract, I would lead a low heart from dummy towards the closed hand. Gives the defence a chance to go wrong.

[ahydra]

http://bridge.esmarkkappel.dk/ is a useful resource, though not as good as Suitplay. It suggests that either cashing the Ace first or ducking a round first both win in the same cases, namely when trumps are 3-2 with the King onside (about 34%).

 

ahydra

[smerriman]

It suggests that either cashing the Ace first or ducking a round first both win in the same cases

Actually it doesn't even say you should duck. Suitplay agrees that cashing the Ace and low to the Queen are both the identical 34% (with low to the queen, unless they play the 2 when you should duck, being the best MP line).

[msjennifer]

Sir,Cashing the ACE and then leading low towards the Queen does not help much as if West plays the 10 or J one is left to a pure guess .Then if the guess is wrong there are always two losers.. Ducking all round after cashing the ace will win whenever a doubleton king appears from either opponent.And lastly if for some reason one is sure that the finesse is a losing proposition then one has to hope for a doubleton king offside . I am poor at mathematics so I do not know the percentages .

[GrahamJson]

You are missing KJ1092 so to lose only one trick you need to find the king onside with trumps splitting 3-2 or 2-3. You will always lose two tricks if the king is offside or if trumps break 4-1. There is therefore no difference between taking a finesse or cashing the ace first.

[Cyberyeti]

You are missing KJ1092 so to lose only one trick you need to find the king onside with trumps splitting 3-2 or 2-3. You will always lose two tricks if the king is offside or if trumps break 4-1. There is therefore no difference between taking a finesse or cashing the ace first.

 

I'd rather not lose 3 tricks to stiff K though

[PeterAlan]

Sir,Cashing the ACE and then leading low towards the Queen does not help much as if West plays the 10 or J one is left to a pure guess .Then if the guess is wrong there are always two losers.. Ducking all round after cashing the ace will win whenever a doubleton king appears from either opponent.And lastly if for some reason one is sure that the finesse is a losing proposition then one has to hope for a doubleton king offside . I am poor at mathematics so I do not know the percentages .

A then low to Q IS better. A then small unnecessarily loses two tricks to all cases (6) of Kxx onside (W) (and hence J/10/9x offside) and only gains in the (4) cases of Kx offside. As Cyberyeti says, cashing the A first avoids 3 losers when there's a singleton K.

[Dinarius]

Thanks for the repies.

 

Very interesting.

 

For the record; if you cash the Ace, the hand on your left (East as I have the cards above) plays the Jack, West playing small.

 

If you now cross to the South hand and play towards the Queen, West again plays small.

 

D.

[PhilG007]

Contract 4♥ after a blind auction.

 

This is your trump holding.

 

♥ A Q 7 6 5 4

 

opposite...

 

♥ 8 3

 

With plenty of entries in both hands, what is the best play for one loser in ♥?

 

Thanks.

 

D.

 

With that holding,I wouldn't try to draw trumps at all but rather try to make them separately by ruffiing.

If you draw trumps,you could quite easily lose control of the hand if they break badly.

[Tramticket]

Thanks for the repies.

 

Very interesting.

 

For the record; if you cash the Ace, the hand on your left (East as I have the cards above) plays the Jack, West playing small.

 

If you now cross to the South hand and play towards the Queen, West again plays small.

 

D.

 

I don't think that the jack dropping changes anything. The jack, ten and nine are all equals and only the two is truly "small".

 

I would play to the queen on the second round and shrug if it loses to the king.

[Tramticket]

With that holding,I wouldn't try to draw trumps at all but rather try to make them separately by ruffiing.

If you draw trumps,you could quite easily lose control of the hand if they break badly.

 

You clearly have an insight into the whole hand that the rest of us lack. How did you deduce that the hand with the short trumps also has a shortage in another suit to get a ruff?

[mikeh]

Many years ago I was playing the equivalent suit (I think it was AQxxx opposite xxx). I cashed the Ace (in my hand, not dummy, crossed to dummy and led a spot. I was playing opps for whom I did not have a great deal of respect (in terms of bridge skill, not as 'people') and when RHO played the 10 smoothly on the second round, I decided to play him for J10x, and ducked, so that the now-stiff King beat the air.

 

That play is definitely anti-percentage against anyone with any reasonable level of ability, but weak players will tend to flinch on the second round, if only because they may not understand the cash of the Ace first, and so are confused.

 

The percentage play is to lead towards the queen on the second round: thus one cashes the Ace first or one ducks all around.

 

There is one tiny edge to ducking all around.....if you lead from your hand first. LHO, with KJ1092, may play the 2, and all will laugh when the 4 holds the first trick...anyone who has played long enough will have seen the equivalent of this play.

[mikeh]

You clearly have an insight into the whole hand that the rest of us lack. How did you deduce that the hand with the short trumps also has a shortage in another suit to get a ruff?

 

While I think the idea of not attacking trumps is silly, on this suit layout and absent some very strong indication to the contrary, I don't know that Phil is suggesting trying for ruffs in the short hand.

 

There is a recognized technique called elopement, where one tries to score small trumps by ruffing. As an example, say we suspected RHO to hold KJ109 over dummy (perhaps we are doubled) and dummy has shortness in a suit where we know/hope/infer that RHO has length. We would strive to score ruffs. Not only would we score low tricks, but by shortening dummy's trump we increase the odds of being able to endplay RHO to lead, eventually, into the AQ.

 

Elopement is not a tactic one employs in the usual case when one has a 6-2 fit, but it all depends on the hands and the auction.

[Tramticket]

Thanks Mike and yes , I am aware of this technique.

 

on this suit layout and absent some very strong indication to the contrary

 

I was merely trying to suggest, humourously that Phil clearly has strong indications to the contrary, not available to the rest of us. :)

[smerriman]

I'd rather not lose 3 tricks to stiff K though

You won't. As above the best MP line is immediately low to the queen (unless West plays the 2, in which case you just duck). If East wins the King, you play low to the Ace (unless West plays the 2). You only lose 2 tricks.

[smerriman]

The percentage play is to lead towards the queen on the second round: thus one cashes the Ace first or one ducks all around.

These are both just the tiniest bit inferior to leading towards the queen instantly. As above, this doesn't cost when there is a singleton king offside, while each of your lines costs a trick with a 5-0 split.

[PhilG007]

You clearly have an insight into the whole hand that the rest of us lack. How did you deduce that the hand with the short trumps also has a shortage in another suit to get a ruff?

 

I was basing my reply on "Murphy's Law" If anything can go wrong,it will. I was visulalising the possibility of the trumps splitting badly

such as a 4-1 split over declarer. if you try to draw trumps it means you are having to use up two of your trumps to pull one of the opponent

that holds the length. That's why its more feasible to try to make your trumps individually..

[mikeh]

These are both just the tiniest bit inferior to leading towards the queen instantly. As above, this doesn't cost when there is a singleton king offside, while each of your lines costs a trick with a 5-0 split.

 

You are mistaken and I will take the time to spell it out for you:

 

 

If LHO has J1092, plays the 2 on the 1st trick, and the Queen loses to the stiff King, you will lose 3 tricks in the suit: one to the King and two more to the J109 sitting in front of the A7xx

 

Whereas if you pop the A on the first round, you drop the stiff King and now lose the same two tricks to the J109 sitting in front of the Q7xx. The difference is that the King lost the trick on this line, whereas it won a trick on your line. Obviously, the King wins a trick if you duck all around, but that comes back because now the J109 holding takes only one more trick...we have both the A and the Q left.

 

If the suit is 3-2 or 2-3, you lose one trick when the K is onside and two when it is offside, regardless of whether one starts with low to the Queen, or ducking all around, or Ace then low to the Q.

 

If the suit is 4-1, onside, then you lose 2 tricks whenever the King is onside, again regardless of which of the 3 plausible lines you take

 

If the suit is 4-1 offside, then you lose 3 tricks unless the King is stiff onside and, again, this is unrelated to how you play the 1st round....if you lead low from dummy, for example, the stiff King scores a trick it won't otherwise score, but now you have the AQ to draw 2 of the 3 outstanding trumps.

 

The key difference between the two plays of Ace first or duck completely first, on the one hand, and low to the Queen on the other, is when the suit is 4-1, stiff King offside. Now the 1st two lines gain a trick.

 

It doesn't much matter what you do when the trumps are 5-0, although as I noted above one can sometimes score a pleasing coup by leading the 3 towards dummy and having a lazy LHO play the 2: now the first trick is won by the 4, provided that you are ducking all the way around.

[mikeh]

I was basing my reply on "Murphy's Law" If anything can go wrong,it will. I was visulalising the possibility of the trumps splitting badly

such as a 4-1 split over declarer. if you try to draw trumps it means you are having to use up two of your trumps to pull one of the opponent

that holds the length. That's why its more feasible to try to make your trumps individually..

Why anyone, absent an informative auction, would plan to play on the basis that RHO held KJ9x (or equivalent) in trump will forever remain a mystery.....by which I mean that no explanation you give me will make sense, because the notion is silly.

 

Now, give me a hand (not one you made up but one in which the context of 'how do I play this suit' actually arose, and give me an auction from which I might reasonably infer a bad break, and it 'may' be that an elopement would make sense. I've certainly played quite a few hands on elopement principles, but there are characteristics common to such hands, and they do not include, as relevant factors, asking how best to play AQxxxx opposite xx for one (or 2) losers

 

If Murphy's Law were a bridge law, as opposed to a popular but superstition-based saying, then the game would be impossible to play....underbid and every card sits right, bid properly and every card sits poorly. That's not how it works and not how to play the game.

[smerriman]

You are mistaken and I will take the time to spell it out for you:

 

If LHO has J1092, plays the 2 on the 1st trick, and the Queen loses to the stiff King, you will lose 3 tricks in the suit: one to the King and two more to the J109 sitting in front of the A7xx

I'm afraid you're mistaken :) I think you missed my post above - as I said, if West plays the 2 you duck; in all other cases you play the Queen, and then return and repeat leading towards the Ace. You only lose two tricks to the singleton K offside. If West plays a middle card, playing the Ace or ducking costs an extra trick to the 5-0 split without ever gaining.

 

In essence, you are using the first round 'duck' to take a triple finesse against West's JT9. If you lose to the King, you get to repeat it, which gains the trick back you apparently lost to the singleton King, but also an extra one with the 5-0 split. It's quite a cool line (and the unique optimal one).

[johnu]

In essence, you are using the first round 'duck' to take a triple finesse against West's JT9. If you lose to the King, you get to repeat it, which gains the trick back you apparently lost to the singleton King, but also an extra one with the 5-0 split. It's quite a cool line (and the unique optimal one).

 

If you lose to singleton king, there is no additional finesse as LHO has J109 left. You just have to lose a 2nd trick.

[smerriman]

If you lose to singleton king, there is no additional finesse as LHO has J109 left. You just have to lose a 2nd trick.

If LHO has JT9 left, that means he played the 2 on the first trick, and you played the 4. You still have AQ, and lose one more trick.

If LHO played the 9, you covered with the queen and he only has JT2 left. Now you finesse again, and lose one more trick.

[johnu]

If LHO has JT9 left, that means he played the 2 on the first trick, and you played the 4. You still have AQ, and lose one more trick.

If LHO played the 9, you covered with the queen and he only has JT2 left. Now you finesse again, and lose one more trick.

 

Sorry, I misread what you wrote.