Suit Combinations

Before reading this post make sure you know what a finesse is. Click here and here if you don't.

Try playing along at home. Deal out the cards and play it out yourself! That is the best way to learn.

I need to take 2 tricks in this suit. How do I do it?

Dummy:
♠A32

Declarer:
♠Q54

Hmmm. I have 1 trick for sure. The A♠. If only that Q♠ was the K♠! But it isn't and I need to score a trick with the Q♠. That's my only shot for taking 2 tricks.

Try dealing out the cards and figuring this out yourself. Give one opponent three cards and the other opponent three cards. Either one can have the King. Then play the suit out so that you get two tricks. If it doesn't work when you give the King to one opponent, give it to the other opponent. If at any point you play your Q♠ and the next player to play has the K♠ they will cover your Q♠ with their K♠.

When you have figured it out read further.

How about I try finessing the Q♠? Finesses are good.

I'm going to give the K♠ to my RHO.

	Dummy ♠A32
LHO ♠J96		RHO ♠KT8
	Declarer ♠Q54

So I play the Q♠ from my hand and then when my LHO plays low I play low. But now my RHO wins my Q♠ with their K♠. That didn't work.

Since that didn't work, I'm going to give the K♠ to my LHO.

	Dummy ♠A32
LHO ♠KT8		RHO ♠J96
	Declarer ♠Q54

So I play the Q♠ from my hand and then my LHO plays the K♠. I now have to win the A♠. Hmmm. That didn't work either.

But I gave the K♠ to both opponents and neither time did I win a trick with my Q♠. That means that it doesn't matter who has the K♠. I will never win a trick with the Q♠!

That can't be right. Hmmmm. Maybe the problem is not which opponent has the K♠ but whether or not I should start by playing my Q♠ first. Maybe that's the problem.

Okay, I know from finessing I need to have the K♠ sitting underneath the A♠. That means that the K♠ needs to be with my LHO. So let's try that.

	Dummy ♠A32
LHO ♠KT8		RHO ♠J96
	Declarer ♠Q54

Instead of playing the Q♠ I will play a low ♠ from my hand towards the A♠ in Dummy. That won. Now I play a low ♠ towards the Q♠ in my hand. That lost since I have the K♠ to my LHO.

I'm trying this again. I WILL conquer this suit combination!!! This time I will give the K♠ to my RHO.

	Dummy ♠A32
LHO ♠J96		RHO ♠KT8
	Declarer ♠Q54

I will play a low ♠ from my hand towards the A♠ in Dummy. That won. Now I play a low ♠ towards the Q♠ in my hand. Oh, oh. I can see that my RHO has a problem right now. Since they have the K♠ they are in big trouble! What will they do? If they play a low ♠ I will win my Q♠. If they play their K♠ I will play a low ♠ and then will win my Q♠ later on! It doesn't matter what they decide to do I will win two tricks! I figured it out!

The solution is to start by cashing the A♠ in Dummy and then play a low card towards the Q♠ in my hand and hope that my RHO holds the K♠.

This is a little confusing though. I do remember from before with the finesse I wanted the high cards sitting underneath my high cards. So if the Ace was in Dummy I needed the King to be with my LHO. Then when they played their King I could win their King with my Ace. Now this seems reversed. I want the King to be sitting after the Ace. So if the Ace is in Dummy I want the King to be with my RHO. Not quite sure why. There must be some sort of reason...

While looking at this post on finesses I noticed one thing. I had better cards in my hand. This time I had the Q54 and last time I had the QJT. Maybe that makes a difference.

Let's investigate.

So I have this holding:

	Dummy ♠A32
LHO ♠K54		RHO ♠876
	Declarer ♠QJT

In this situation when I lead the Q♠ from my hand and LHO covers with the K♠ my Jack and Ten are good. It really helps me to have the King sitting underneath my Ace because now I can promote my Jack and Ten if LHO holds the King. Promoting means just what you think it does. Once the Queen, King and Ace are gone the Jack gets to be the boss. It will now be the highest card out there. The Ten will be the next best card.

	Dummy ♠A32
LHO ♠KJT		RHO ♠876
	Declarer ♠Q54

In this situation when I lead the Q♠ from my hand and LHO covers with the K♠ this does not help me at all. It does NOT promote any of my other high cards because I have no other high cards.

So in this situation I can't hope for the King to be sitting overtop of my Queen. That does me no good at all. I need the Queen to be sitting in a place where they play AFTER the opponent with the King. So my opponent has to decide to play (or not to play) their King first. That way if they decide to play their King I play low and my Queen becomes good. If they decide not to play their King I play my Queen and win.

Maybe the best way to think about how to play the suit is to think of what will happen if you play your high card (in both these cases the Queen) and the next player to play covers that card with a higher one (in both these cases the King.)

If helps you if they cover your honour with their honour then play the suit that way. If it does NOT help you at all when they cover you'd better play the suit the other way.

Summary:
When you have this holding:

Dummy:
♠A32

Declarer:
♠Q54

and need to take 2 tricks in this suit start by playing the Ace and then a low card towards the Queen.