[Walddk]

Meant for beginners/intermediates only. Advanced or better: please use hidden text.

53

AKQJ8

Plenty of entries to dummy. You need all 5 tricks and you start by cashing a top honour. LHO follows with the 10. What now, go for the drop or enter dummy in order to finesse the 8 if you believe that the 10 was a singleton?

Another question. Does it matter which honour you cash first? I know they are all equals to you, but should you try a specific honour rather than another?

Roland

[han]

Spoiler

If you really trust LHO then you should take the finesse next. However, if you think that LHO is capable of playing the ten from 109x or 19xx then you should play for the drop.

As for which honor to play, it depends a bit on the hand. In general you want to give the opponents as little information as possible, so play them ace-king-queen-jack.

[Echognome]

Spoiler

I play small from dummy to the Queen. I want LHO to think I am finessing the K so he will not false card the 9 or 10. I agree that whether I take the finesse or play for the drop depends on my LHO. If I think he is capable of a (routine) false card, then the percentages are clearly for the drop.

[cherdano]

Echognome, on Oct 21 2005, 04:01 PM, said:

Spoiler

I play small from dummy to the Queen.  I want LHO to think I am finessing the K so he will not false card the 9 or 10.  I agree that whether I take the finesse or play for the drop depends on my LHO.  If I think he is capable of a (routine) false card, then the percentages are clearly for the drop.

Spoiler

The problem is that it is always safe for LHO to play 10 from, say, 109x (unless of course there is a chance that he might have to lead the suit, in which case he should never do it, no matter what you play).

[kgr]

And what if your hand is

53

AKQ92

and LHO drops the J on the first trick? LHO is expert/advanced/beginner?

[Walddk]

kgr, on Oct 21 2005, 04:16 PM, said:

And what if your hand is

53

AKQ92

and LHO drops the J on the first trick? LHO is expert/advanced/beginner?

If you mean 5 tricks I simply must go for the drop. Singleton jack doesn't give me 5 tricks no matter what I do.

Roland

[sceptic]

low to A

I doubt I could guess if the 10 is a false card or not, I assume some clues from bidding would be available

but a 5/1 split is lower percentage and if it is split 6/0 with entries to dummy you make 5 anyway as left hand O would have all 6 if he played the 10 any other split and you make 5 tricks anyway

the only split that can hurt you is 5/1 with right hand O having 5

so if left hand O shows up with 5 to the Jack y0ou would have to end play him for the 5th trick

[kgr]

Walddk, on Oct 21 2005, 04:23 PM, said:

kgr, on Oct 21 2005, 04:16 PM, said:

And what if your hand is

53

AKQ92

and LHO drops the J on the first trick? LHO is expert/advanced/beginner?

If you mean 5 tricks I simply must go for the drop. Singleton jack doesn't give me 5 tricks no matter what I do.

Roland

Hmm...right.
This proves that knowing percentages is not the most important...you also need to think.
...Can I know apply again for the BIL?


Your hand is:
532

AKQ9

And LHO drops x and J under AK. Do you play Q next or finesse?
Does it make a difference if LHO knows that you have a 5-card or not?
I'm not sure about the answer. I think 4-2 or 3-3 probabilities do not differ a lot. I would play Q against top players and finesse against others.
Thinking while I write: ...or is this restricted choice? No, probably not. With Jxx LHO can still falsecard with the J. But Hey!, If he does that then our finesse will work. So, the falsecard will only be effective with JTx. And then LHO plays the J from the remaining JT. So it is restricted choice anyway and also against experts I will finesse the 3th trick.
=> This was interesting for me (hope I finally came to the correct conclusion).

EDITED: gave declarer AKQ9 iso AKQ98

[MickyB]

If you remove declarer's 8-spot, then yes, you did

[Echognome]

cherdano, on Oct 21 2005, 03:12 PM, said:

Spoiler

The problem is that it is always safe for LHO to play 10 from, say, 109x (unless of course there is a chance that he might have to lead the suit, in which case he should never do it, no matter what you play).

Spoiler

From 109x, the 10 or 9 is a routine falsecard. However, some might not know that when you play the Q. I was just trying to think of a reasoning for playing a particular honour.

[kgr]

MickyB, on Oct 21 2005, 04:44 PM, said:

If you remove declarer's 8-spot, then yes, you did 

right I changed it.