How to Play this Suit?

You are playing in a contract of 4♠. The Opponents did not bid at all.

How do you play the trump suit?

Dummy:
♠A865

Declarer:
♠KJ94

You can even assume the trumps are breaking nicely. No Dangerous Opponents or any other complicated stuff. How do you play the suit?

Show Answer

You should start with the Ace of ♠ -- or a low ♠ to the Ace -- and then play a low ♠ from Dummy towards your King and Jack of ♠. If your RHO plays a low ♠, try playing the Jack of ♠. It will win if RHO has the Queen.

Here are the four hands

	Dummy ♠A865
LHO ♠732		RHO ♠QT
	Declarer ♠KJ94

If you play the suit that way when you play a low ♠ towards your Jack your RHO plays the Queen of ♠. You can now play your King of ♠ and your Jack of ♠ is a winner!

The problem with starting from your hand with the Jack of ♠ and then playing a low card from Dummy if LHO plays low is that IF your LHO covers your Jack of ♠ with their Queen of ♠ this does NOT HELP you at all. You do not have the crucial T♠ which you need in order to start with the J♠.

When playing a high card to finesse ask yourself -- if the next person to play, plays a higher card than the one I'm holding does this help me? If the answer is "Yes!" then play the high card. If the answer is "No, that does not help me at all..." then do NOT play the high card.