[sceptic]

Scoring: IMP

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West North East South

 -     -     -     Pass
 1NT   Pass  2♥    Pass
 2♠    Pass  3♣    Pass
 3NT   Pass  Pass  Pass
 

P leads K diamonds I play 6

can some one tell me the correct play here please

TY

[sceptic]

ok sorry did not explain well,

my p led KD it held I played the 6 and then she switched

the arguement that ensued is I should unblock with the J, I played Hi, my opinion is I should have played 7

[Stephen Tu]

The 6 cannot be the right card. When you signal high to encourage a continuation, you always signal with the highest card you can afford, so that it is easier for partner to read it. Clearly the 7 and the 6 are the same in trick taking value, so if you can afford the 6 you can certainly afford the 7. In fact the 6 should deny holding the 7, if encouraging, high card denies the one immediately above it.

Now, can you afford the J? No, since partner may hold some KQTx, you need the J as an entry for the rest of the suit. Can you afford the 9? This is tougher to decide quickly, in most cases it's probably doesn't matter, there is only the off chance partner has KQT exactly and declarer has A8xx, it makes overtaking the T safe. That or AKT if you lead K from both holdings.

The 7 should be able to get the job done for partner since the only holdings consistent with the play where you don't have the J or A are singleton 7 and doubleton 79.

BTW, in the bidding West is insane to bid 3nt, with a double fit for partner and fast values in the other suits, which screams for suit play. 3nt is almost certainly not the right contract and he will miss many good slams bidding this way. The time to bid 3nt is with a misfit for partner and the other suits well stopped, KQTx and the like, not Ax.

[Walddk]

One thing to add here. If your partner claims that you should have unblocked the jack, she is also saying that you have a specific agreement, i.e. that you must unblock an honour (A, Q or J) when a king is led against a NT contract.

Did you have that agreement? If yes, you failed to unblock the jack. If no, you must encourage as clearly as possible. Playing standard signals that would be the 7 with your holding, because the 9 could cost a trick as others have pointed out.

6 or 7, doesn't matter to you, but it matters to partner in certain instances. But then again, it matters little if she thinks you have denied the jack when you didn't unblock it. She was afraid of continuing diamonds into declarer's AJ tenace, also known as the Bath Coup.

Since you are from England, Wayne, you would know where Bath is located. Right, in the county of Somerset.

Roland

[sceptic]

Roland I know Bath well, I just hope someone can teach my grandkids where it is

[the hog]

With KQT of Ds, partner should lead the Q asking for an unblock of the J.
This is where Combine leads resolve ambiguity - lead the middle from 3 touching honours.

[Stephen Tu]

Normally it is recommended that you have KQT9x, not just KQTxx, before you lead the Q asking for an unblock. Otherwise you may find the suit distributed something like:

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and not be able to establish the suit immediately if partner unblocks as requested.

[Walddk]

The_Hog, on Sep 2 2005, 02:51 AM, said:

With KQT of Ds, partner should lead the Q asking for an unblock of the J.
This is where Combine leads resolve ambiguity - lead the middle from 3 touching honours.

Not sure what is normal for you, Hog, but if you play Garozzo, A and Q are the cards that ask for attitude, K for unblock or count. Either is fine with me, you just need an agreement.

In this case sceptic's partner seemed to have an agreement with herself, and that's not quite enough.

Roland

[the hog]

Walddk, on Sep 2 2005, 01:02 PM, said:

The_Hog, on Sep 2 2005, 02:51 AM, said:

With KQT of Ds, partner should lead the Q asking for an unblock of the J.
This is where Combine leads resolve ambiguity - lead the middle from 3 touching honours.

Not sure what is normal for you, Hog, but if you play Garozzo, A and Q are the cards that ask for attitude, K for unblock or count. Either is fine with me, you just need an agreement.

In this case sceptic's partner seemed to have an agreement with herself, and that's not quite enough.

Roland

Agree with what you say.

Normal for us are combine leads -
top from 2 touching honours,
the middle from 3 eg KQT we lead the Q
top from 3 or 4 small
low from xx
3rds and 5ths

I know this is not "normal' for most.

[han]

More important then what to lead here is the general rule:

Signal as clearly as you can safely do.

Playing standard signals you should never play the 6 as an encouraging signal when you have the 7.

[mr1303]

Actually, the county Bath is in is open to debate. According to the EBU, Bath Bridge Club is a member of the Avon Contract Bridge Association. However, Avon isn't really considered to be a county any longer, since when Bristol decided it wanted to be Bristol rather than part of Avon, there wasn't much left.

Mark (who lives in Bristol)

[FrancesHinden]

Within England, leading the King against NT to ask for unblock is pretty much standard (so much so that I don't recall playing anyone who didn't play that way). If you can't unblock, traditionally you give count (to enable partner to pick up declarer's doubleton queen or jack).

So if I were playing with a pick-up English partner, I would have played the Jack at trick 1. You still have the 9, so the suit is unlikely to be blocked (if partner has KQ10 exactly it will be blocked. But you can't get it right if partner has KQ10 AND if partner has KQ10x).

If I were playing with an American partner, where Ace or Queen for unblock is more common, I would encourage. The general rule when encouraging is the play the highest non-honour card you can afford. Well, the highest card you can afford is the NINE. You have J9xxx - the suit can't be blocked while you keep the Jack, whatever partner's holding.

[Fluffy]

In span we play a K lead asks for count or unblock, that means you should had droped ♦J on first trick. But its a matter of agreements I guess.