[Chamaco]

Hi all,
yesterday I was browsing through the "Suit combination flashcards" by Alan Truscott, and this rather common suit combo drew my attention.

AJxx
K9xx

I got right the solution of how to play it for 3 tricks (given here in hidden text):

Spoiler

this is a standard safety play, and follows the general principle "keep intact the lower tenace". Here the lower tenace is K9, so I cash Ace and lead to the 9, if east shows out I can still lead to the unsupported J, if west shows out, the Ten has been successfully finessed.

Instead, my choice in the play for 4 tricks was not the one illustrated by Truscott.
My choice was (hidden text):

Spoiler

cash K (caters for stiff honor) and lead to J.

Instead, Truscott just says (hidden text):

Spoiler

lead to J right away, cashing K first would be a mistake,

but does not elaborate further on why my choice is a mistake.
Anyone cares to explain pls ?

Thanks !!

Mauro

[Gerben42]

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Here is your stiff honor combination.
If you cash the King, the Queen drops. Look what happens now (hidden for security reasons):

Spoiler

The T87 will make a trick eventually.
If the stiff honor is on the other side leading low towards the Jack will also catch it

[ochinko]

[quote name='Gerben42' date='Apr 7 2005, 03:41 AM']

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Petko

P.S. Hidden text seems to make sense only for the first post, so I skipped it.

[Gerben42]

This reminds me of a similar suit combination I did wrong at the time in a national junior championship. At the time my opponent, who already was a great player then, told me how it worked. Last year he played in the Olympiad final...

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For 3 tricks play the same way as the suit combination where you have the 9 to guard against the singleton 9 or 10.