[TWO4BRIDGE]

You are in 6D.
You haven't lost a trick yet.
EDIT: Trumps have not been led yet.
Your lead now from your hand:

♠ ----
♥ x x
♦ J 7 6
♣ A J 5 3

♠ ---
♥ ---
♦ K Q 9 8 4 3
♣ K Q 9

This post has been edited by TWO4BRIDGE: 2012-April-21, 10:08

[TWO4BRIDGE]

Here are the full hands for both:

Dummy
♠ K Q 8
♥ 9 5 4
♦ J 7 6
♣ A J 5 3

Declarer
♠ A
♥ A J 10
♦ K Q 9 8 4 3
♣ K Q 9

The ♥ K was led... taken w/A
The ♠ A was cleared and Declarer went to the board w/♣ to discard his 2 losing ♥ on the ♠ K Q .... before touching trumps.... side-stepping the initial danger of a ♥ loser.

But the secondary danger was either opponent holding A 10 x x in trumps .

Now, a low ♦ was led to the K ( safety play ) ... which won ... BUT LHO showed OUT ! ! !

And now Declarer could NOT reach the board to take the marked finesse against RHO ...
... because, in his haste to discard the ♥ losers, he first went to the board with a low ♣ to the ACE ... duhhh

[ A low ♣ to the J would have been "exercising care" for the trump safety play ( or ♣ K overtaken by the A ) ] .

[S2000magic]

TWO4BRIDGE, on 2012-April-21, 06:36, said:

You are in 6D.
You haven't lost a trick yet.
EDIT: Trumps have not been led yet.
Your lead now from your hand:

♠ ----
♥ x x
♦ J 7 6
♣ A J 5 3

♠ ---
♥ ---
♦ K Q 9 8 4 3
♣ K Q 9

According to your second post, we've already played a round of clubs, so the remaining clubs in this diagram are incorrect.

[TWO4BRIDGE]

S2000magic, on 2012-April-22, 11:03, said:

According to your second post, we've already played a round of clubs, so the remaining clubs in this diagram are incorrect.

The first one I posted is a "different" problem. [ I should have mentioned that in the 2nd post ] .

In the first post, the safety play is to just lead the K ( or Q ) of Diam... and you can finesse either way next
( since you have the entry to the board if needed ).

In the second problem, Declarer overlooked needing the possible 2nd entry to dummy.

[S2000magic]

TWO4BRIDGE, on 2012-April-22, 15:06, said:

The first one I posted is a "different" problem. [ I should have mentioned that in the 2nd post ] .

In the first post, the safety play is to just lead the K ( or Q ) of Diam... and you can finesse either way next
( since you have the entry to the board if needed ).

In the second problem, Declarer overlooked needing the possible 2nd entry to dummy.

The scales fall from my eyes.

[ahydra]

I've been playing 8 years and I'd probably miss this at the table. -.- Instructive hand!

ahydra

[Stephen Tu]

Even if one isn't able to look ahead at the need for a 2nd dummy entry if trumps are 4-0, playing club to the J instead of club to the ace for flexibility in entries should just be a force of habit, you do it automatically to maintain transport. Maintaining communication between hands as a default maneuver when it doesn't cost anything is just a good habit to have.

On this combo, there's never really any good reason to play low to the ace, except for possibly throwing off the opponent's trick counting, figuring out whether you have club losers, which doesn't matter on this hand since your play is straightforward and won't depend on a defender making a mistake later when in.