[kgr]

You play on BBO with unknown expert:

KT6
AT65
J82
J95

opps bid (3D)-(3NT). Dummy has no ♥'s.
Partner leads ♥K.
What is the standard way to play the ♥'s here? A, T or 6?

...


Suppose you signal with the 6:
Partner leads the ♥Q.
What do you play now?


...


I played A over the Q and returned the T


...


Now the expert overtook the T with the J making declarers 9 high and 3NT+1. (partner had ♥KQJ73). Still wondering in what case the J would be the correct play. I'm not an expert, so will probably not find it.
Anyway: I played ♥'s: 6AT5. should it rather be T5.. or AT..?

[kenrexford]

If partner has KQx or KQJ tight, you need to duck twice. He will play the King, then Queen, then out, presumably. Thus, I'd play (if standard count/attitude), the six, then the 5. The only reason for the 10 is fear of the 6 being a misread.

Give partner, instead, KQxx. Now, there is no reason for him to play the Queen, unless he has KQJx and fears that you have Axxxx. If he has KQJx, playing small at trick two does not matter. Again, with KQxx, he should win the King and then lead his highest pip.

If he holds a five-card suit, playing the Queen is nonsense.

Thus, overtaking the Queen seems to be catering to a mistake.

Now, once you overtake, his overtake of the 10 was equally bizarre. If you happened to have A10x, then his play of the Q from KQJx was an error, and he is trying to fix that error with a play that cannot fix the error. If you held A10xxx, and that is his fear, he must be playing you for an absolute moron.

[jdeegan]

Your NON-expert BBO partner forgot to lead the heart J at trick two.

[Walddk]

You need an agreement (as always). If the lead of a king asks for attitude, you should encourage; if it asks for count or unblock, you should overtake. If the latter, he has considerable length apart from KQJ, and if he asks for attitude, it could easily be from KQx and an encouraging signal is called for.

That would either show the ace or jack, perhaps both.

I don't know what "standard" is, but I prefer that ace and queen ask for attitude, king for unblock our count (Garozzo vs. NT).

Roland

[cherdano]

I would have thought if you lead the K, then follow-up with the Q, this denies the Jack. Is this just me, or is this standard?

Arend

[HeartA]

I thhink your play is OK (in my style, at least).
1) With 4 cards, you don't don't over-take with HA at trick #1. While to play H10 could cost a trick, so the H6.
2) At trick #2, if you play H5, it might block the suit, while H10 may confuse pd (not that much if he thinks carefully). Over-take with HA is OK.
3) You couldn't have A106 only, with which you would play H10 at trick 1. Besides, you did have A106 only, it wouldn't do any good to overtake.

In summary, it's 100% partner's fault: 1) didn't play HJ at trick 2 and 2) mistakely overtake with HJ.

[kgr]

jdeegan, on Aug 18 2006, 07:18 AM, said:

Your NON-expert BBO partner forgot to lead the heart J at trick two.

According to BBO rules he could have been a real expert. (Isn't it: Won a major tournemant in your country)
Guess why

[Stephen Tu]

Quote

I don't know what "standard" is, but I prefer that ace and queen ask for attitude, king for unblock our count

Standard carding, in the U.S. at least vs. notrump, is A asks unblock/count, K asks attitude. The A/Q = attitude K=count/unblock style is more recent, growing in popularity among good players, and I also prefer it, but it is not "standard" & shouldn't be assumed without discussion.

Quote

I would have thought if you lead the K, then follow-up with the Q, this denies the Jack. Is this just me, or is this standard

It is standard that following with the Q asks partner *not* to unblock, although this detail is not known by many int- players. It doesn't deny the J though. One might be leading from KQJ tight. Or one might really prefer a lead through declarer in another suit, and not mind blocking the suit if partner has the A. In normal situations with KQJxx & something like xx(x) in dummy you lead J second round so partner does the right thing with Axx. With the void in dummy probably shouldn't be doing this not holding the 9, 2nd round *low* might be right esp. at MP, if the 6 could be read as probably having the A.

So it is wrong to overtake the HQ at trick 2, both because of the std & you don't need to unblock yet. If partner has the Jxx left, playing low won't block the suit; he can lead low and overtake the T. That said leader overtaking the T is also bizarre.

[Walddk]

Stephen Tu, on Aug 19 2006, 01:00 AM, said:

The A/Q = attitude K=count/unblock style is more recent, growing in popularity among good players

Everything is relative, but "recent" is perhaps not the appropriate word since Garozzo wrote about this method in 1965!

Roland

[neilkaz]

With the void in dummy, I don't see why you want to over take the Q and perhaps set up a stopper trick for declarer.

[blackshoe]

Stephen Tu, on Aug 18 2006, 06:00 PM, said:

Standard carding, in the U.S. at least vs. notrump, is A asks unblock/count, K asks attitude. The A/Q = attitude K=count/unblock style is more recent, growing in popularity among good players, and I also prefer it, but it is not "standard" & shouldn't be assumed without discussion.

No, no no. In the US, for any given player, "standard" is what that player plays, regardless what anyone else plays, what experts say, or what's written in books. Anyone who suggests what that player plays is not standard is just wrong.