[biggerclub]

Again, if not appropriate for this forum, please move to INT/ADV.

ACBL Regional. MP scoring. FWIW, Serious Newcomers vs. Moderately Bad Client and Pro.

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Client leads J♣. Right or wrong, declarer wins K♣, no break in tempo.

Attacking ♠, of course, but a deceptive 6 or the unblocking Q?

[rhm]

Deception is fine if the card played, say from equals, does not matter.
But when you prefer deception against technique there should be a rationale for preferring the "wrong" card.
What do you expect to gain by playing the six unless RHO holds a singleton ace of spades.
Do you want the defense to duck the ♠A?
The defense will likely continue clubs whichever spade you play.
So what would be the point of playing the six except creating problems for you?
The ♠Q by the way does not unblock anything it only avoids a blockage.

Rainer Herrmann

[dboxley]

The Q of course. I don't see how the 6 could ever be right, maybe there is something I am missing.

[gszes]

If the spade suit breaks 33 or the T drops singleton/doubleton you pick up 4 spade tricks by starting with the Q and continuing the suit. If you start with the 6 what sort of play are you imagining that in any way shape or form is of benefit to you? This last question goes a long way to answering the OP any time one is thinking about applying deception vs brute force.

While playing low the the J (please not the "deceptive" K) wins 4 spades when the T is singe/double look at what happens when the spades break 33. If you continue with the K (smothering your Q) the defense merely wins the A and you can return to dummy in dia and set up your remaining spades but never get back to them. If you play low to the Q the defense ducks and once again you have managed to block the spade suit. Imagination is nice but look at the facts first.

[biggerclub]

gszes, on 2015-November-01, 08:41, said:

If you start with the 6 what sort of play are you imagining that in any way shape or form is of benefit to you?

I did play low to the J, hoping to get client (and LHO) to hop up with her A from ATxx or similar.

What I got was more satisfying.

When Pro grabs his A♠, fires back the Q♣ (showing 3, I presume) with the speed of light. And then client covers my J♦. After I cashed the Q♠ first, obviously. ♠s were 3-3 as a bonus and I lost only the A♠ and 2 tricks in the round suits at the end.

Partner exploded that my play was horrible, but pro expressed some approval. I'm not sure.

Lately I have been a lot more unsure about a lot of bridge questions than I used to be. I hope this is a sign of advancing bridge play and not just advancing age.