[wank]

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Best plan?

Opening lead is the 10♦. If you cover with the jack, east plays the queen.

[inquiry]

wank, on 2013-August-18, 20:49, said:

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Best plan?

Opening lead is the 10♦. If you cover with the jack, east plays the queen.

I'm going to cross to the club ACE and lead the heart Jack, planning on passing it if East plays low. Should east cover with the Queen, I will play the king.

My initial thoughts (it is still early in the hand) is 2♦, 1♣, the threat of establishing a heart (if east has the heart queen) and a buncho cross ruffs. West is hard pressed to make an effective spade lead if he has the ♥A and if East wins the ♥A it sets my king up. You might even be able to deal with a 4=1 trump split offside if West has three diamonds on this line without playing on diamond for a lot tricks when you could.

I don't quite see my way to 10 tricks yet. West has a lot of options when he wins the heart at trick three. If he returns a club, I ruff, and cash my ♥K/T if it is good (trick 3 for instance might be ♥J-Q-K-A, or ♥J-x-x-A), otherwise I ruff a heart in dummy, and ruff a club in my hand. Now I will have to know what happened in hearts, etc.

If West returns another diamond, I fly the diamond king (did it win?). If so, I will continue diamonds.

If West returns spade, I win as cheaply as possible in hand and play a heart.

Alternative plan is to play west for T9(x) of diamonds and a reasonable spade break. I think I like the club to ACE and heart Jack better, but who knows. I might be influenced by the title of the thread.

[gszes]

there's probably something a whole ton better than this but
I would also cover the T with the J and win the A then I would
exit with the spade J. This LOP leaves me with a whole ton
of options (including going down if the spade K is stiff) and
even dia ruffs are not threatening as long as the short dia
holder has 3 spades.

If perchance the opps duck the spade J I intend to lead
another dia intending to finesse the 8 unless lho shows
out and fails to ruff. I will climb with ace and try to finesse
the heart J.

[FrancesHinden]

Your spade pips are wrong. You have the 8765 between the two hands, and the 8 is in dummy.
[this was certainly relevant at my table]

[PhilKing]

I'm interested why people think there is any merit in playing the diamond jack at trick one. Does the lead not have singleton written on it on large enough letters? (Yes, it was actually a doubleton, but that is pretty unlikely imo).

[WellSpyder]

PhilKing, on 2013-August-20, 03:35, said:

I'm interested why people think there is any merit in playing the diamond jack at trick one. Does the lead not have singleton written on it on large enough letters? (Yes, it was actually a doubleton, but that is pretty unlikely imo).

Why do you think there is any merit in NOT playing DJ at T1? 10, J, Q and A leaves a convenient ruffing finesse later against the 9 as a possibility if the suit is 4-1. 10, x, x, A leaves two ruffs needed to set up the suit. 10, K, x, ,x leaves you conveniently in dummy, but means a subsequent diamond ruff is ruffing A rather than a loser.

[PhilKing]

WellSpyder, on 2013-August-20, 04:08, said:

Why do you think there is any merit in NOT playing DJ at T1? 10, J, Q and A leaves a convenient ruffing finesse later against the 9 as a possibility if the suit is 4-1. 10, x, x, A leaves two ruffs needed to set up the suit. 10, K, x, ,x leaves you conveniently in dummy, but means a subsequent diamond ruff is ruffing A rather than a loser.

I can see that, but setting up dummy is correct only on lunar menace world.

I would just play ♦K ♥J. If they ruff your ace later, it's the same as ruffing air as far as I read the likely order of tricks.

[jogs]

PhilKing, on 2013-August-20, 03:35, said:

I'm interested why people think there is any merit in playing the diamond jack at trick one. Does the lead not have singleton written on it on large enough letters? (Yes, it was actually a doubleton, but that is pretty unlikely imo).

You must have seen the actual board. Why would LHO
lead a doubleton diamond? Doesn't the auction scream
for a lead of an unbid suit? Therefore declarer should
play LHO for a singleton diamond. ♦J, ♦Q, ♦A
LHO would ruff air when the second diamond is played.