Phil, on 2012-March-14, 11:52, said:
I has considered this too, but its matchpoints and playing the spade first definitely leaves things 'less awkward' when you are playing for the max, but I'm in and out of the forums this morning and haven't given the alternate line a whole lot of thought.
If the spade jack loses to the king and they come back a heart and duck we are in pretty bad shape having not developed clubs at all. I don't know what "playing for the max" means but I think the spade finesse loses at least half the time. I mean, yes, we can make 4 with Kxx of clubs on AND 5-2 hearts. However, we will often make 5 on that if we play a diamond up and play a club, seems like the max to me. AFAIK we don't always have to lose a spade when the spade finesse is off, we can pitch it on the DQ (even legitimately so if RHO has KJx of clubs).
We also really have no clue what to do if the SJ holds. Probably RHO has the king now, but it's not a lock, and we're still not in great shape. It seems like if we're going to play a spade, a spade to the queen would be better to avoid this. It also avoids the SJ getting covered, and then them running spades easily when clubs go badly (true, LHO can get in and play the SK but it will be harder).
I dunno, just seems like a strange play. It is not really playing for the max, it is really playing safe in a way because you are avoiding your diamond entry getting shut out before clubs are set up. Something like diamond to the king, C9 CJ CQ CK could be quite ugly but it doesn't seem that likely.