[gwnn]

Declarer played the 9 of trumps first round of trumps and I had A863. I read somewhere when I was small that when I have the next lower spot in trumps than declarer's card, he is almost surely trying to sneak a trick through, like when he is trying to avoid a defensive ruff. How accurate is this? Also in the same book (from Kelsey, 150 winning bridge tips? or what it was called) it says that as declarer vs complete idiots you're supposed to play the bottom of sequence and vs partial idiots or better you should play 2nd from sequence in trumps (in this case KQJT9x or KQJT9x).

[kfay]

LOL, your opp must have read the same book!!!

j/k, gwnn

[NickRW]

gwnn, on Jul 1 2010, 03:09 PM, said:

Declarer played the 9 of trumps first round of trumps and I had A863. I read somewhere when I was small that when I have the next lower spot in trumps than declarer's card, he is almost surely trying to sneak a trick through, like when he is trying to avoid a defensive ruff. How accurate is this? Also in the same book (from Kelsey, 150 winning bridge tips? or what it was called) it says that as declarer vs complete idiots you're supposed to play the bottom of sequence and vs partial idiots or better you should play 2nd from sequence in trumps (in this case KQJT9x or KQJT9x).

Not sure about having the next lowest spot particularly, but a 9, when declarer almost certainly has a lower card, is always something to be suspicious about.

I'd have thought that against good players - or even average players you play against a lot - picking a card at random from the sequence was as good advice as any for declarer.

[hanp]

If you want LHO to duck the ace and you have KQJxxx, you can play the queen or the jack but not the king.

[pooltuna]

hanp, on Jul 1 2010, 01:23 PM, said:

If you want LHO to duck the ace and you have KQJxxx, you can play the queen or the jack but not the king.

you have to exploit the fear of his partner having to play the K under the Ace.

[billw55]

For ducking to lose a possible ruff, partner needs to have two trumps, right? Meaning ops are in a seven card fit. There might be clues about this possibility in the auction.