[jillybean]

Hi,
What is the best play here at trick 4.
Cash an ace or is there a better line?
ty
jillybean

Dealer: West Vul: All Scoring: IMP

♠ A9632 ♥ T32 ♦ J8 ♣ A32

West North East South

 Pass  Pass  1♥    Pass
 1NT   Dbl   2♥    2♠
 2NT   Pass  4♥    Pass
 Pass  Pass  

DJ DQ DA D3
DK D7 D8 D2
D6 D9 H2 D4

[OSH]

Are we south?
I think the next thing to do is to look at dummy

[jillybean]

Oh yes, good point
I will see if I can fix this up later

[jillybean]

here it is for those who do look at dummy

I'm always worried if I DONT play the ACE, I'll loose it, conversely all beginners are told “never lead away from an Ace”
old habits hard to break

Scoring: IMP

---

West North East South

 Pass  Pass  1♥    Pass
 1NT   Dbl   2♥    2♠
 2NT   Pass  4♥    Pass
 Pass  Pass  

DJ DQ DA D3
DK D7 D8 D2
D6 D9 H2 D4

[luke warm]

i'd probably lead the ♣A.. i expect declarer to be void in spades, and i don't expect partner to have 6 clubs

i underled an ace yesterday, and arend stepped up with his king like a trooper.. course he was probably muttering and gnashing his teeth

[cherdano]

Declarer has exactly 4 diamonds (as an aside he should have played the ten on trick 3 as a matter of principle -- since we know he has that card, but don't know whether he has the 9), and probably 7 hearts. That means he is 1-1 or 2-0 in the black suits. In the 1st case, we always get both aces, and in the second case always one (if we lead into his void, setting up dummies king, it doesn't matter -- there is no entry to the king).
The only way to get an additional trick would be if partner has ♥Kx -- we should not put dummy on lead so declarer cannot take the heart finesse.

Arend

[han]

"Never lead away from an ace" is a good guideline for a beginning player, but an ambituous player like you should try to make the next step Jillybean. Good players often lead away from an ace in the middle of the hand, if you don't it get's much easier for declarer. Try to figure out what declarer has, and see what play gives you a chance for the most tricks possible.

Assuming that partner is to be trusted you can count him/her for 4-1-3-5 or 4-0-2-6 shape, or possibly 4-2-3-4 shape. So declarer has 0-8-4-1, 0-9-4-0 or 0-7-4-2 shape. The first two shapes are irrelevant. With the first they will always make it, and with the second they will always go down (unless you start underleading an ace). You could play a trump. Declarer will pull trump, and if partner shows up with 2 of them then you can duck the club ace, hoping that declarer has J10 of clubs and plays you for the queen. However, since partner is a passed hand, declarer knows that you have to have the club ace (partner has shown up with AK of , so they would never guess wrong.

So after all this thinking, you can cash your club ace and concede, there is no way that you are going to get another trick (notice that partner can never have the king of hearts).

[Fluffy]

I would probably return a low ♣, but it can be a huge mistake.