Card combinations

xx opposite QJT7xxx

Difficulty: Hard

Playing for 5 tricks.

Best line makes it
95.22%
Entries, this line
3
to dummy, on the deal below
Entries, worst case
3
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 AK98. 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:2 E:8 S:T W:— south
2 north N:3 E:9 S:J W:— south yes
3 south S:4 W:— N:— E:K east
4 south S:5 W:— N:— E:A east yes
5 south S:6 W:— N:— E:— south yes
6 south S:7 W:— N:— E:— south
7 south S:Q W:— N:— E:— south

More 9-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.