[eagles123]

AT54

Q863

whats the best play for one loser with this suit

many thanks

Eagles

[wanoff]

Probably low to the Q and then low to the 10.
Picks up K onside and KJ offside in 3-2 breaks plus singleton K onside.
Also beating singleton 9 or J onside, so long as you run the 8 after the Q has lost.

As a defender with J9 doubleton onside, it's probably another one of those auto false cards just to make sure of the trick.

[lamford]

From my database, excuse poor tabbing:

3.11.6 North A105x South Q86x
Three Tricks L-Q, L-10 L-A, L-Q L-10, A R-Q,L-10(7)
% 55.39% 50.30% 47.48% 45.78%
Two Tricks L-A L-Q L-10 Duck in both hands
% 95.22% 97.17% 97.17% 100.00%
Max tricks L-Q, then L-10
Average tricks 2.525652174
NB If you lead low towards the queen and East plays the jack and your queen loses to the king,
you should play run the eight on the way back; if East has J9 or J7, he would have made a trick by playing low
because your percentage line was low to the ten; if East plays the seven on the first round and your
queen loses to the king, again you should run the 8.
The 100% safety play for 2 tricks of ducking in both hands is pretty

[ArtK78]

lamford, on 2015-June-18, 10:06, said:

From my database, excuse poor tabbing:

3.11.6 North A105x South Q86x
Three Tricks L-Q, L-10 L-A, L-Q L-10, A R-Q,L-10(7)
% 55.39% 50.30% 47.48% 45.78%
Two Tricks L-A L-Q L-10 Duck in both hands
% 95.22% 97.17% 97.17% 100.00%
Max tricks L-Q, then L-10
Average tricks 2.525652174
NB If you lead low towards the queen and East plays the jack and your queen loses to the king,
you should play run the eight on the way back; if East has J9 or J7, he would have made a trick by playing low
because your percentage line was low to the ten; if East plays the seven on the first round and your
queen loses to the king, again you should run the 8.
The 100% safety play for 2 tricks of ducking in both hands is pretty

Sorry, I don't follow your terminology. Does L mean lead? Does it mean lead from? Lead towards?

[ahydra]

ArtK78, on 2015-June-18, 11:02, said:

Sorry, I don't follow your terminology. Does L mean lead? Does it mean lead from? Lead towards?

Probably L-Q = "low to Queen". So the four lines for 3 tricks are
- low to Queen then low to Ten
- low to Ace then low to Queen
- low to Ten then play the Ace
- run the Queen (?), then low to 10 (or the 7, should the opponents be kind enough to let you borrow it).

ahydra

[jogs]

lamford, on 2015-June-18, 10:06, said:

From my database, excuse poor tabbing:

3.11.6 North A105x South Q86x
Three Tricks L-Q, L-10 L-A, L-Q L-10, A R-Q,L-10(7)
% 55.39% 50.30% 47.48% 45.78%
Two Tricks L-A L-Q L-10 Duck in both hands
% 95.22% 97.17% 97.17% 100.00%
Max tricks L-Q, then L-10
Average tricks 2.525652174
NB If you lead low towards the queen and East plays the jack and your queen loses to the king,
you should play run the eight on the way back; if East has J9 or J7, he would have made a trick by playing low
because your percentage line was low to the ten; if East plays the seven on the first round and your
queen loses to the king, again you should run the 8.
The 100% safety play for 2 tricks of ducking in both hands is pretty

The code command works.

3.11.6	North	A105x		South	Q86x
Three Tricks		L-Q, L-10	L-A, L-Q	L-10, A	R-Q,L-10(7)
%		        55.39%	       50.30%	        47.48%	45.78%
Two Tricks		L-A	L-Q	L-10	Duck in both hands
%		        95.22%	97.17%	97.17%	100.00%
Max tricks		L-Q, then L-10			
Average tricks		2.525652174	

[lamford]

ahydra, on 2015-June-18, 11:21, said:

Probably L-Q = "low to Queen". So the four lines for 3 tricks are
- low to Queen then low to Ten
- low to Ace then low to Queen
- low to Ten then play the Ace
- run the Queen (?), then low to 10 (or the 7, should the opponents be kind enough to let you borrow it).

ahydra

yes those are the four (plausible) lines. And you are right: the (7) should be (8) - the former was the previous entry in the database. I now find swapping the 7 and 8 makes a difference here and the figures seem to be for having the 7 but not 8. There will no doubt be odd errors as the data was derived manually when I reviewed the Encyclopedia of Card Combinations by Roudinescu. Sad, I know ...

And thanks, jogs, for the tabbing advice.

[Trick13]

This site, which seems to be a web equivalent of suit play, suggests that starting with the Ace is 2.8% better than low to the Queen (and that 7 vs 8 turns it around). Difference appears to be picking up the singleton King.

[SteveMoe]

FWIW, Suit play says 4 strategies are completely symmetrical yielding 58.7826% chance at 3 tricks. However all 4 strategies begin with A or low to the A, followed by small toward the Q or 8.

[Trick13]

SteveMoe, on 2015-June-18, 22:52, said:

FWIW, Suit play says 4 strategies are completely symmetrical yielding 58.7826% chance at 3 tricks. However all 4 strategies begin with A or low to the A, followed by small toward the Q or 8.

The web site says the same. But swap the 8 for the 7, then it's small to the Queen. Of course we all knew that.

[GrahamJson]

According to the suit combination tables in my Official Encyclopedia of Bridge the best play is Ace then small to the Queen, although there is very little in it.

[lamford]

SteveMoe, on 2015-June-18, 22:52, said:

FWIW, Suit play says 4 strategies are completely symmetrical yielding 58.7826% chance at 3 tricks. However all 4 strategies begin with A or low to the A, followed by small toward the Q or 8.

Yes, I get that figure as well now, when I have the 8 and no 7, and I get 55.9565% for low to the queen.