[sathyab]

---

T1: ♠9, 8, K, 2
T2: ♠5, 3, J, A

It looks like West started with ♠J9 doubleton. You could lead a ♥ to K and if it holds, you have one more entry to dummy to lead toward Q again. If you catch Ax with East, you can't make ten tricks, either he gets a ruff, or the other entry to dummy gets knocked out before you can unblock the ♥s. But if he has A(x)x, there appear to be choices.

[mikeh]

J9 is an ugly lead, so LHO has problems and probably the club Q, else he would have found some other lead. Unfortunately, I don't have the timing to get my club ruffing finesse going in most cases.

I would lead a heart to my K.

Assuming that holds, and no J appeared, I would cross in clubs, and lead another heart....presumably RHO rises either perforce or to block the suit, and returns a spade. I now cross in hearts, and power out the club for my 9 tricks. I will not play RHO for Axx in hearts..not even if he tanks on the second round...

As to what I do if LHO wins the first heart, it depends on what the defence does next....they almost have to play a diamond now and RHO a spade back...now I can cash the heart and drive out the Jack with the club K still on the table as an entry.

As to what I'll do if LHO ducks the 1st heart and wins the second...which should be fairly easy for him to do....if we held a diamond honour, we'd not be leading hearts, so we have to have KQ of hearts.....again, it depends....on a bad day, they can cross in diamonds and lead a trump...our hearts are not yet established and we lose a spade, 2 hearts, a diamond and a club....but that would be a bad day

[Fluffy]

I can't see any alternative to a heart from dummy now, so that's what I do

[Phil]

Fluffy, on 2011-October-05, 14:09, said:

I can't see any alternative to a heart from dummy now, so that's what I do

Probably a good idea to have a plan whether or not it wins or loses. If the continuation creates problems, then perhaps this isn't the best thing to do.

I'm not implying the ♥K isn't best, but its not like there are a dozen permutations to worry about on this hand either.

[kgr]

This is more a question:
It seems like LHO had lead problem. Doesn't this make it more likely that LHO has ♥A?
How bad is it to play?:
- ♥ to ♥K
- cross to ♠T
- run ♥T

[mikeh]

kgr, on 2011-October-06, 14:00, said:

This is more a question:
It seems like LHO had lead problem. Doesn't this make it more likely that LHO has ♥A?
How bad is it to play?:
- ♥ to ♥K
- cross to ♠T
- run ♥T

I think that's a good suggestion. But it may be even better to lead a low heart to the Q, not the K.

Firstly, LHO will usually be more reluctant to duck on the first round with the Ace in case his partner has the K...maybe he shouldn't be more reluctant, but many players will be unable to duck smoothly or at all. And the second payoff from this is that RHO will know you have KQ and will be less likely to duck smoothly on the second round with Axx.....obviously, if both duck smoothly, you are back to guessing, but I think you may have decreased the need to guess while perhaps, against most opps, increasing your chances of guessing correctly.

This form of play: of leading to a lower honour rather than the top of sequence, is counter to the innate practice we all learn about playing the higher one to perhaps conceal the lower one but there are times to go against that habit. I think this is one such, tho I missed it when I first posted.

[kgr]

mikeh, on 2011-October-06, 14:33, said:

I think that's a good suggestion. But it may be even better to lead a low heart to the Q, not the K.

Firstly, LHO will usually be more reluctant to duck on the first round with the Ace in case his partner has the K...maybe he shouldn't be more reluctant, but many players will be unable to duck smoothly or at all. And the second payoff from this is that RHO will know you have KQ and will be less likely to duck smoothly on the second round with Axx.....obviously, if both duck smoothly, you are back to guessing, but I think you may have decreased the need to guess while perhaps, against most opps, increasing your chances of guessing correctly.

This form of play: of leading to a lower honour rather than the top of sequence, is counter to the innate practice we all learn about playing the higher one to perhaps conceal the lower one but there are times to go against that habit. I think this is one such, tho I missed it when I first posted.

yes, interesting post!

[kgr]

mikeh, on 2011-October-06, 14:33, said:

I think that's a good suggestion. But it may be even better to lead a low heart to the Q, not the K.

Firstly, LHO will usually be more reluctant to duck on the first round with the Ace in case his partner has the K...maybe he shouldn't be more reluctant, but many players will be unable to duck smoothly or at all. And the second payoff from this is that RHO will know you have KQ and will be less likely to duck smoothly on the second round with Axx.....obviously, if both duck smoothly, you are back to guessing, but I think you may have decreased the need to guess while perhaps, against most opps, increasing your chances of guessing correctly.

This form of play: of leading to a lower honour rather than the top of sequence, is counter to the innate practice we all learn about playing the higher one to perhaps conceal the lower one but there are times to go against that habit. I think this is one such, tho I missed it when I first posted.

Thinking more about this:
Some levels of LHO might rather play the Ace over the K then over the Q.
When you play the K they might think you had KJx. When you play the Q they might think you have KQ and possibly the Ten also, and you'll have a problem if they duck.

[barryallen]

kgr, on 2011-October-06, 14:00, said:

This is more a question:
It seems like LHO had lead problem. Doesn't this make it more likely that LHO has ♥A?
How bad is it to play?:
- ♥ to ♥K
- cross to ♠T
- run ♥T

If you lead towards the ♥ honours at trick 3 and it holds, I would go with the odds and rely upon a 3-2 ♥ break by continuing with a top ♥ at trick 4. Expecting to lose 2♥ tricks, 1♠ and 1♦.

If the first ♥ trick loses, your options will depend upon what the opposition return but there are many opportunities from a ruffing finesse in ♣, a combination strip squeeze against West given to the odd lead or the ♥ just coming home.