[kgr]

AT76
vs
Q92

Best play for 1 loser

thanks
Koen

[Trumpace]

Looks complicated!

Run the Q.
If Covered, with A and lead the 9, hoping to pin the 8 in case of 4-2 split.

If Q loses to K. low to T next.

I am pretty sure there will definitely be a better line that this.

[han]

1 loser, does that mean you have to get 3 tricks in the suit or that the suit is trumps and you can lose at most 1 trick? It makes a difference in case of a 5-1 or 6-0 split.

[TimG]

Jlall, on Sep 18 2007, 09:07 PM, said:

http://squeezingthedummy.blogspot.com Go here. Now. If you want to be cool. All the cool kids are doing it. Don't you want to be like them?

When was the last time you went there? :-)

[lowerline]

kgr, on Sep 18 2007, 06:56 PM, said:

AT76
vs
Q92

Best play for 1 loser

thanks
Koen

Run the Q. If it wins, 2 to A. If it is covered, win the A, 6 to 9. If it looses, run the 9 next. Don't know if this is the correct play, but it feels right.

Steven

[Foxx]

1 loser, or 3 tricks? I'll assume the latter.

First round, low to the Q. If it wins, I'm home as long as KJxx wasn't placed behind the ace.

If the Q loses, lead and run the 9 on the second round. Suppose the 9 is covered, J, A. Go back and lead the last one up, if they follow small....... I'll go by their count signals. I'll presume that the defender who didn't hold the K or J, will virtually always signal honest count with 54, 53, 43, or 8xx.

[ycos]

if run the Q :
u make 17 from 32 posibilities 3 tricks
1 from 32 posibilities 4 tricks
FOR WEST: KJ8XXX,KJ8XX,KJ8,KJXXX,KJXX,KJX,K8XX,K8X,K8,KXXX,KXX,J8XXX,J8X,J8,JXXX,JXX,J(3 TRICKS) AND K8XXX(4 TRICKS)


if u run 6 to 9(if W win with J then run Q):
u make 19 from 32 posibilities 3 tricks

FOR WEST: --,x,xx,xxx,8,8x,8xx,8xxx,j8xxx,kxx,kxxx, k8x,k8xx,k8xxx,kjx,kjxxx,kj8, kj8xx,kj8xxx

[Halo]

All a bit difficult.

I would play from North and finesse the nine.

One reason is that while it might seem that by playing the queen from South,
I can pick up KJ8x or J8xx in West, in practice I dont think I will.

[kgr]

Scoring: IMP

1S-6S

---

West leads ♠6 which I won with ♠Q and played a ♦ to the ♦K; followed by ♠A (East discarding ♦2).
Now I played a small ♣ to the Ace; followed by ♣ to ♣9 (finessing the J) and went -1.
How can I improve this play by simple thinking (I don't think I can work out all combinations at the table)?:
- Play one more ♠ before tackling ♣'s? Maybe opps give me more info then, but I was afraid that I could need an entry back to Dummy.
- Was my play really very bad? I took a succesful finesse on ♣J, but still coudn't make it?
- According to suitplay the best play is small to the 9.

[Elianna]

I think that making 6♠ is quite impossible. I'd feel lucky to not be down two.

edited: Why the hell did W not take the ♦A? I missed that the first time I posted. With him ducking, and the non-heart lead, I guess that it's not being too greedy to try to make. I'd still think that I got away with something to only be down one.

[Trumpace]

kgr, on Sep 19 2007, 04:34 PM, said:

- Was my play really very bad? I took a succesful finesse on ♣J, but still coudn't make it?

It was reasonable (I think, but others may think different), though I don't see the need of playing the ♣A.

Why do you think it was bad? Did partner leave? If so, don't worry too much about it. He probably left because of his own bidding.

[Stephen Tu]

Quote

How can I improve this play by simple thinking (I don't think I can work out all combinations at the table)?:

For suit combos, just know the common ones by heart, and know general principles like maintaining tenaces, when to hook vs. playing for drop, when restricted choice applies, basic safety plays, basic falsecards. Roudinesco's suit combination dictionary has a lot of "Roudi's rules" which are useful to know. For simpler combinations you can compare two lines by just thinking what specific lies of cards one gains on vs. which ones you lose. For complex ones like this, it's probably impossible for most people to calculate at table which is exactly best. But luckily, for combos like these, the difference between one reasonable line & another rarely is more than 2-3% or so; making a mistake on these sort of things is not the sort of thing that separates the winners & losers.

Even if you take suitplay's optimal line, you only get 2 club tricks and go down anyway.

The main thing on this board is to stay out of the horrible slam in the first place! Why is responder leaping to 6S? Why not start with a splinter, respect partner's signoff? Fixing this sort of bidding will get a lot more gain than taking 3 tricks on the suit combo 2% more often than your opponents.