MinorKid, on Mar 16 2010, 04:19 PM, said:
What if partner actually holds ♦Kxx ♥Kxxx(x) ?
It's still better to play in
♥. Give partner
♣xxx. You'll be able to discard 3 losers in partner's hand on your long
♦s (so all his
♣ losers will be gone), while you won't have any discards in your hand when partner holds only 4
♥s, and only 1 discard if he has 5 of them (so you still have 1-2
♣ losers).
A common situation is if you have the choice between a 4-4 fit and a 5-3 fit. In most cases (not all!) the 4-4 fit will play better, because you have some discards with your second fit. Even if you have a 4-4 and a 5-4 fit it may pay off to play in the 4-4 fit, because you still have 1 discard on the 5-4 fit.
This is a general principle: if you have 2 equal fits, always try to avoid playing in the fit that would provide most discards. In this case,
♦ can provide 3 discards,
♥ can provide maximum 1 discard, so avoid playing in
♦.
There's one exception: if one your fits is huge you should still play in it, because of a possible ruff. If partner has 4
♥ and 5
♦, you definitely want to play in
♦. It's dangerous to play in
♥ because opps might have a
♦ ruff to start with.
"It may be rude to leave to go to the bathroom, but it's downright stupid to sit there and piss yourself" - blackshoe
1♦ (-) 1♥ (1♠)
?