[jh51]

ArtK78, on Jan 28 2010, 03:24 PM, said:

1) Never put down an 8 card suit in the dummy (this can be a problem when both partners have an 8 card suit - I guess they have to defend).

My partner recently violated this rule, and I was glad she did. Her suit was a minor headed by the Jack, and we had 9 or 10 tricks in the other suits playing NT.

Never say never. Most statements containing always or never are false.

[jjbrr]

I find this thread both interesting and educational.

[junyi_zhu]

jdonn, on Jan 28 2010, 09:28 PM, said:

Jlall, on Jan 28 2010, 04:26 PM, said:

Saying that you cannot understand how one would allow partner to play 3N when they have 8 solid of a minor is pretty funny also...

Yeah it would make more sense to criticize the guy who is 5-6 in the majors than the guy with 8 solid diamonds lol.

Well, the situation for 8 solid minor suit to play in 3NT as the best contract is indeed very rare, you need one card in that suit from partner, all suits stopped. Very often, when these requirements all meet, 5m can also have a reasonable play. However, when the situation for 3nt is a very bad contract happens, it can be very wrong when partner holds no diamonds. it only needs partner to hold Axxxx AKxx - Kxxx to make 6D, and when CA is off, 3NT would go down 5 when 6D is cold. Still in the bidding, few systems can really explore all the distributions and honors, so general speaking, to play in 3NT is a decision that can succeed in a few times when partner holds slow stoppers in side suits and at least one card in D, but fails when partner can't guard one suit or holds no D. And there is often no enough space to explore the 3NT possibility when bidding is under 3NT.

[aguahombre]

ArtK78, on Jan 28 2010, 01:39 PM, said:

jdonn, on Jan 28 2010, 03:28 PM, said:

Art your focus is outstanding lol.

My comment was about the hand that was posted. The hand also had no direct relationship to the original question posed in this thread. Obviously, 3NT is making or going down depending on the location of the ♣A (assuming declarer plays the ♣Q at trick one, which seems clear). And, just as obviously, 3NT is a hideous contract. I was just having some fun with it.

actually it had everything to do with the thread, and I already admitted "stumbled into"...as did our wc opps at the other table. Of course the bidding at both tables sucked....and of course you are wrong about popping the queen at trick one.

the "coded" problem was that of the defenders, and ML thought long and hard, then popped with the ace, realizing what had happened when I dropped the king.

[Codo]

Back to the issue:

Coded leads give normally more informations then standard leads. This helps declarer and partner.

Same is true if you lead random or 4. best. The later gives more information to declarer too, but nobody would like random leads.

If you are capable to handle different leads depending on the length of a suit you have already shown, Andys (Gnasher) idea is great. But I would mess this up, so I have to stick to standard or coded but not both.

[Vilgan]

I used to play coded 9s/10s. I found it to be only be decent against declarers who don't bother to check if its coded. As a declarer I also found myself LOVING IT when other people played coded 9s/10s.

I'd say its a decent policy at lower levels when people don't look, but detrimental against better declarers who will always ask/check if its coded.

[ArtK78]

aguahombre, on Jan 28 2010, 06:46 PM, said:

actually it had everything to do with the thread, and I already admitted "stumbled into"...as did our wc opps at the other table. Of course the bidding at both tables sucked....and of course you are wrong about popping the queen at trick one.

Maybe instead of putting a line at the bottom of the thread that you are changing the declarer's club holding from Kx to KJ you might consider changing the hand diagram?

[jmc]

I know some experts that play coded 10s and 9s only during the middle of a hand not on opening lead. This seems like a decent idea to me.

jmc

[aguahombre]

ArtK78, on Jan 29 2010, 06:21 AM, said:

aguahombre, on Jan 28 2010, 06:46 PM, said:

actually it had everything to do with the thread, and I already admitted "stumbled into"...as did our wc opps at the other table.  Of course the bidding at both tables sucked....and of course you are wrong about popping the queen at trick one.

Maybe instead of putting a line at the bottom of the thread that you are changing the declarer's club holding from Kx to KJ you might consider changing the hand diagram?

if you could be so kind as to email me how......I looked for a way to do it, but am either blind or stupid or both.

[blackshoe]

There should be an "edit" button on the upper right of your post, between "report" and "quote"

[FrancesHinden]

This thread seems to imply that there are only two options: coded 9s/10s or "standard". There are quite a lot of other options, some of which the Eastern Europeans like to play.

What to me is clear is that your opening leads against suit contracts should be completely different to those against NT; and possibly the level of the contract matters as well.

You should also have different agreements if partner has bid the suit, depending on how partner has bid the suit, and if you have raised or not raised during the auction. For example, against a suit contract I usually lead the 'standard' 10 from K109 or Q109 to length, but if I have shown length in the suit and partner has raised, I lead strict 3rd & 5th (9 from K109xxx, the lowest from K109xx) because count can be vital.

Defensive carding in general seems to be something that is very regionalised round the world.

Quote

I thought that the use of odd/even first discards was nearly universal among experts. At least, that is my experience.

In England, odd/even is virtually unknown amongst the good players and reasonably common among bad players. In Italy, absolutely everyone plays it (to the extent that if you ask an Italian what discards they play that's what the answer "standard" or "normal" means).

[kfay]

jmc, on Jan 29 2010, 11:34 AM, said:

I know some experts that play coded 10s and 9s only during the middle of a hand not on opening lead. This seems like a decent idea to me.

jmc

Yeah one of my partners and I do this... but I always forget

[aguahombre]

Interesting. We switch to sort of standard after opening lead for two reasons: we know more about the hand and it is easier to work out. And it is more consistent with smother play carding.