Card Combination 12.09.24

[@ChrisHasney]

Nicely fully and patiently explained. Your patience extends to the comments as well.

[@thebridgeteachers]

Thank you for watching.

[@David.M.]

Excellent analysis. I need to remeber to try the technique that offers the best odds, even if it fails. Thanks

[@thebridgeteachers]

You're welcome! Thanks for watching.

[@jaspersyswerda2064]

From east's perspective it was best to play low instead of the K in the first spade round, right? Then declarer would have had to play east for both the K and the T and finesse to the 9 or play low to the Ace and hope the K falls. In any case, rhe options are quite limited and you definitely need some chance to make this hand

[@thebridgeteachers]

This is both a great question and observation! By covering the first spade with the king, east promotes their partner's ten, but simultaneously makes it possible for us to finesse. If east waits, not covering the first honor, now declarer has to decide what to do. If declarer decides to play a low spade to the ace, the king falls to the ace without promoting the ten. But if declarer goes wrong and leads the second high honor from north, now declarer cannot finesse the ten and partner gets a trick. Generally, when the opposing side has two honors, we want to cover the second honor for just this reason (so the other side cannot finesse our partner). Because the king is doubleton, declarer can actually succeed regardless of which choice east makes, so the question is... which one makes it harder for declarer to succeed?

[@rickthompson33]

You say west bid 2D showing exactly 3 diamonds but they have 4 diamonds. What should they have bid?

[@thebridgeteachers]

If the partnership is playing level of the fit, then 3d would be the correct bid with west's hand. They have a 9-card fit in diamonds and should therefore bid to take 9 tricks. 3d is actually a good contract for them. Assuming they get the diamonds right, they are making 3d which is far better than letting 2h make.

[@guyredares]

mirror hands

[@thebridgeteachers]

Yes! Mirror hands remove a lot of our options.