Card combinations

K opposite JT98x

Difficulty: Trivial

Playing for 4 tricks.

Best line makes it
0.97%
Entries, this line
1
to dummy, on the deal below
Entries, worst case
3
the most it can need

Nothing to decide

No card a layout rewards loses odds here. The figure is the break, or the one line that reaches the target, and every other card throws a trick away outright. This is a page to look up, and the doors never pose it as a problem.

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 Q and East A7xxxx. 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:K E:3 S:2 W:Q north
2 south S:8 W:— N:— E:4 south yes
3 south S:9 W:— N:— E:5 south
4 south S:T W:— N:— E:6 south
5 south S:J W:— N:— E:A east

The same cards, a different target

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

More 6-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.