Card combinations

7 opposite KJ9xxx

Difficulty: Medium

Playing for 1 trick.

Best line makes it
99.25%
Entries, this line
4
to dummy, on the deal below
Entries, worst case
5
the most it can need

Play it yourself

The line below is one playthrough against one deal. To ask what a different card would have been worth — or what happens when the king sits the other way — take the same cards to the explorer, where you play all four hands and every card you could choose is priced. Nothing there is recorded.

The line

Played against West — and East AQT8xx. Not the likeliest lie — the one that defeats the most careless play, which is the one worth showing.

Lead Cards Won by Entry
1 north N:7 E:5 S:K W:— south
2 south S:J W:— N:— E:Q east
3 south S:9 W:— N:— E:T east yes
4 south S:2 W:— N:— E:6 east yes
5 south S:3 W:— N:— E:8 east yes
6 south S:4 W:— N:— E:A east yes

The same cards, a different target

A different number of tricks is a different problem, with its own best line.

More 7-card combinations · Browse the catalogue

Odds are the share of lies on which this line guarantees the target against best defence — the card that hurts you most, whether or not it is the card a book would play. An entry is counted each time the lead has to change hands, in either direction. The first lead is free from either hand — you broach the suit from wherever you are.