Card combinations

xxxx opposite KQT98x

Difficulty: Medium

Playing for 5 tricks.

Best line makes it
89.0%
Entries, this line
1
to dummy, on the deal below
Entries, worst case
2
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 J and East A7. 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:7 S:Q W:J south
2 south S:6 W:— N:3 E:A east
3 north N:4 E:— S:8 W:— south yes
4 south S:9 W:— N:5 E:— south
5 south S:T W:— N:— E:— south
6 south S:K W:— N:— E:— south

More 10-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.