[goingoren]

comments on the bidding would be appreciated as well but mostly i am curious about my play on the first trick.


west dealt and the bidding goes

I am south


WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
1♠ DOUBLE PASS 2♣
PASS 2♥ 2♠ PASS
PASS 3♣ PASS 3♥
3♠ DOUBLE ALL PASS


Partner leads the 4c, dummy shows

Q73 ♠
T52♥
J62 ♣
QJT5 ♦

and I hold



J8♠
QJ73 ♥
42 ♦
KT953 ♣

Declarer calls for the 6c

Do you play the K or T?

[gwnn]

club 4 led.

---

The K only wins if partner underled the ace of clubs, which he shouldn't do. Don't play the K, but the 9 (lowest of equals). You will keep dummy's J from being good when partner has Qxx.

About the bidding, you should have bid your hearts first (majors are most important). It's something that many people don't know but bidding something like
1♠-x-p-2♥
2♠-p-p-3♣ promises a 4-card heart suit and at least as long clubs (usually 4♥+5♣ but it could be 4-4 or 4-6). The point is that if you have a 5-card major and partner doubles for takeout, you will just bid and rebid that major until the cows come home, no need to look for alternative strains. So looking for alternative strains then shows a 4-card initial major response.

Partner has almost certainly misbid his hand, too. X then 2♥ traditionally shows a strong trick-taking monster (think 8-9 tricks or 18+ points). As it is, he doesn't seem to have immense shape here (2533? or is he 2443? knowing your lead agreements would help here) nor does he have immense amounts of points (something like 13-15?).

[manudude03]

Assuming partner will never underlead the ace here, declarer must have that card, so you should play the 9 (not the T, that denies the 9).

Also, I know you didn't ask, but you will find a lot of people here suggesting to bid 2H rather than 2C on the basis that majors score more. Partner has also shown something around 18+ when he bid 2H. I would have bid 4H at first opportunity thereafter.

[alok c]

I think it's a misbid by partner but still to have a legitimate call he should have CA.play CK & switch HQ.

[billw55]

goingoren, on 2015-June-10, 02:05, said:

Do you play the K or T?

manudude03, on 2015-June-10, 02:21, said:

not the T, that denies the 9

An important point. Third hand (almost) always plays the lowest of equals. Playing the ten is definitely wrong.

In this case the nine is correct. The goal is to maintain your king over dummy's jack. Aces and kings are best used to capture lower honor cars if possible.

[wank]

honours are meant for killing opps' honours. if you throw your king under declarer's ace (except at expert levels of play we assume partner won't underlead an ace against a suit*) it can't be used to kill dummy's jack. the jack will therefore be a trick for declarer (by leading towards it through partner's queen or by right if declarer has ace and queen).


*bad players sometimes underlead aces against suits but they're doing it for totally the wrong reasons.

[1eyedjack]

Given the forum, it might be beneficial to explain *why* we prefer the 9 to the 10 in this situation (ignoring the merits of the King for now).

If you play the 10, having systemically agreed (in error) that the 10 is the right card from 10-9 combination as well as from 10-x combination, and declarer's only higher card is the Ace then when he beats the 10 with the Ace partner has no information from which to deduce the location of the 9.

If on the other hand you play the 9 from 10-9 (or from 9-x) and declarer beats the 9 with the Ace then partner can reasonably confidently place you with the 10, as with a broken holding declarer would normally be expected to win as cheaply as possible and would prefer to win with the 10 rather than Ace if holding both those cards.

This is just one of several possible holdings having the potential to convey better information to partner. Often there is no certainty, but just reducing the number of possibilities and unknown variables can only improve your overall chances.

[goingoren]

I did end up playing the K, fearing that I might lose my club trick if I dawdled but at least I considered the T before hand. Declarer, not surprisingly, rose with the ace. Le sigh.

[billw55]

goingoren, on 2015-June-10, 07:55, said:

I did end up playing the K, fearing that I might lose my club trick if I dawdled but at least I considered the T before hand. Declarer, not surprisingly, rose with the ace. Le sigh.

Not meaning to beat a dead horse but .. you should not consider the ten. The nine is correct. This is important.