[kereru67]

Hi,

My partner led the QD against a 1NT contract. (Bidding was simply 1NT passed out). Dummy showed three low cards. I had K98 so naturally I was happy with the lead, since I assume she has QJT. I overtook with the K, which was allowed to hold, then returned the 9. Declarer played low, my partner overtook with the T, thought for a moment, then made a poor switch to a suit where declarer was strong.

In fact she'd started with QJT7. Her problem was she knew declarer had the ace, but didn't know where the 8 was, so she thought she might be giving away a trick if she led another diamond.

Would it have been correct to play the 9 rather than the K, intending to overtake the J on trick 2? In that case, from her point of view declarer might have started with AK8x and I might have played the 9 from 9x, so J doesn't look so good.

Opinions on the correct card to play for both players?

[1eyedjack]

Seems to me that partner (leader) should have made a plan about what to do at trick 3 before deciding whether or not to overtake the 9. If for whatever reason, right or wrong, the plan is to switch, then better not to overtake. I would have played K9.

That said, you can never be 100% confident that her play was wrong without seeing dummy and the rest of her hand.

[Codo]

With three cards, I always had signalled according to my agreements. the 9 playing standard, the eight playing udca.

[fromageGB]

Surely the problem is that partner should have not overtaken the 9? If you have another one to lead, then fine, and if not you lead something else. I can't see how not overtaking loses.

[barmar]

Normally, you only overtake this opening lead if you have a doubleton. With Kxx, you should give an encouraging signal, partner should continue with a low card to your K, and then you return the suit. So I think your partner was correct to be worried about who had the 8.

But FromageGB is right, why did she overtake the 9? I suspect she just played too quickly, and didn't think about the problem of the 8 until it was too late.

[VMars]

Partner had no reason to overtake the 9. As Barmar said, it was likely that partner played too quickly, and didn't think about what to do if it was K9 tight (that she wouldn't want to continue from her hand anyway, so no point in overtaking).

Overtaking the Q with the K from K98 also isn't necessary, unless you think that partner won't be able to read your signal. Especially if partner is someone who will lead the Q from QJxx, and partner doesn't have any outside entries (if you overtake, and play the 9 through, declarer can cover with the T, and either win a trick when partner holds up, or else cut you off from partner's hand, which will interfere with timing, and may also cost a contract).

[kereru67]

Thanks all,

1NT made easily on the actual deal, south didn't even need to hold up the diamonds. I'm just interested in the theoretical question of how best to play K98 in this situation. I agree I should wait until round 2 to overtake, and she shouldn't overtake the return. No point overtaking unless you're going to continue the suit.

[1eyedjack]

Yes, I tend to give an attitude signal at trick 1 only if there are fewer than 3 cards in dummy, which is not the case here, and giving the count signal tends to deny holding an honour (through failure to overtake). But if the honour leads might not be robust then that certainly argues for a different approach.

[JLOGIC]

How on earth do we know partner should not have overtaken the 9 and shifted? It is certainly possible that that is the right defense on some hand if partner needs to be in to shift and/or we don't have enough entries to set up a 3rd winner in the suit, we do not know the full hand. You should not play king then 9 with K98 because partner will think you have K9 and thus might misdefend, just signal and unblock the king next time.

A simple example is partner had 1 side ace and nothing else other than something like T9x in a side suit. There is no chance of establishing a 3rd trick in the suit led with only 1 more entry, so partner overtakes and shifts to the T of his T9x in a side suit through dummies honor to try and set up partners suit. This is a normal bridge situation that occurs all the time when they hold up enough to cut off your suit, you shift to something else.