[Flame]

There is a mistake i see alot from inters and even some advances so im sure beginers makes it too.
Playing a suit like
When declarering dummy has
432
and in hand they got
AJ10987
They like to play to the 7 instead of the J, this is like showing off, and this is a bad play.
There are many many examples like this, and nearly always the best as a declarer is to play your equal cards from top.
When you play a small card you are helping the diffence.
For better understanding this and special cases where it might be better not to play the top read in flase carding by mike lawrence, but trust me you will be ok if you just play the top of equals.

[Flame]

I was asked to explain how it will help the diffence to play a lower card.
Ill give some examples from the book mentioned before
xxx
----
AQJ10
you lead to the west win with the K, east know you have the QJ because west would put J or Q if he had them, but if you play the Q and west win with the K, east dont know where are the J and 10. west know a little more too when u play the 10.

A42 ==== 653

===KQJ10987
if u lead the 7 both opponents will learn the quality and lengh of this suit. If you lead the king, and later play the Q and J, either opponent may hope or suspect his partner has the 10.

K42
----
QJ3
If you play the J and east wins , west know you have the Q, if you play the Q, they dont know where is the J . (this is a classic example where ppl would think its clever or funny or something else to play the J , and have the glory of someone who made a sucessfull finnese)

[sceptic]

Guilty as charged your honour I do that a lot

[mikestar]

This is an excellent tip and most exceptions are obvious. In Flame's example of

A42 ==== KQJ10987

the 7 is correct if and only if you want the enemy to know how good your suit is. This might be the case if passive defensive will kill you and your best chance is to induce the opponents to take desperate chances in a very active defense.

Though less common than the normal case where concealing your strength is the best move, it isn't rare, and it isn't that hard to spot.

[bearmum]

Flame, on Oct 2 2004, 11:46 AM, said:

QUOTE edited

There is a mistake i see alot from inters and even some advances so im sure beginers makes it too.

There are many many examples like this, and nearly always the best as a declarer is to play your equal cards from top.

I agree that as DECLARER you need to play TOP of equal cards ( like J in the example shown)

BUT IF you are defending and partner leads a suit in which ( for example you have QJTxx and dummy plays a low card -------- play the LOWEST from touching cards

[Flame]

bearmum, on Oct 2 2004, 08:45 AM, said:

Flame, on Oct 2 2004, 11:46 AM, said:

QUOTE edited

There is a mistake i see alot from inters and even some advances so im sure beginers makes it too.

There are many many examples like this, and nearly always the best as a declarer is to play your equal cards from top.

I agree that as DECLARER you need to play TOP of equal cards ( like J in the example shown)

BUT IF you are defending and partner leads a suit in which ( for example you have QJTxx and dummy plays a low card -------- play the LOWEST from touching cards

As a diffender the normal play with third hand is the lower or equal honors, but when tou are second hand and spliting your honor you should play the top one (although i like to play K from AK because partner know alot more this way)
There is a nice excpetion to this lower honor in third hand, which i read not long ago but im too sinail to remember it exactly, i think when having QJ10 (and maybe 3 equal honors) its better to play the middle oen and not the lowest one, this makes life abit eaiser for partner. but i advice beginers and inters to ignore this till you be an expert .