Suit Combination Quiz I (Intermediate level)

Suit Combination Quiz (Source: Bulletins)

1)  How do you play this suit for five winners?

 AQ7642  (Dummy)
 83             (Your hand)

2) How do you play this suit for 1 winner.

 Q743
 J652

Suit Combinations Answers

1)  How do you play this suit for five winners?

 AQ7642  (Dummy)
 83              (Your hand)

ANSWER: Lead low from dummy! Then finesse with the Queen on the second round.

The idea here is to try and put pressure on your RHO. You must always lose one trick with this combination (even if the finesse works), so you might as well try to lose that trick immediately by leading a low one from dummy. If East has Kx, he may err by rising with the King and we would lose one trick instead of two (which we would have had if we took a first round finesse. Sometimes East might be nervous and even rise with the King with Kxx!

2) How do you play this suit for 1 winner.

 Q743
 J652

ANSWER: Duck one round completely.

If the suit breaks 3-2, then it doesn’t matter what you do. If the suit breaks 4-1, to guard against a singleton honour, you should duck the first round completely. On the second round, remember to lead towards an honour (doesn’t matter which).