Answer Number 1: Chris Topher Chung.
There are so many, it’s hard to know how to reply to this. The most important points I can share are that it’s more important to figure out what’s going on in the whole hand, since this drastically affects what you do in a suit. The other point is that you will never ever be able to memorize all of these, so learning how to figure them out (or come up with a reasonable guess) within time constraints at the table is important.
Some common and basic ones…
ATxxx opp QJxxx – finesse. With 10 cards outstanding, finesse against the K
AJxxx opp Q98xx – Run the Q.
AJ98 opp KTxxx – Try to drop the Q. Go ahead and lead the J or T first, maybe you buy a cover! (Edit: Added spots. Thanks Will!)
ATxx opp KQ9xx – start with the K, picks up any Jxxx
Axxx opp KQ9xx – start with the A, picks up the only JTxx you can get
AQTxx opp Kxx – Start with the A, then the K. You could start with K and then A, but it requires burning an extra entry if the suit breaks badly.
AKJTx opp xxx – cash the A, then finesse, picks up a stiff Q
AKJTxx opp xx – finesse immediately, you lose to stiff Q, but Qxxx is more likely
Axxx opp QJx – low to the Q, low to the J. Before you ever lead an honor for a finesse, imagine what will happen if it gets covered. If you don’t like what you see, don’t do it!
AQxx opp Jxxx – Finesse the Q, then cash the A. See point above!
AQxxx opp xxxx
For 5 tricks: Finesse the Q
For 4 tricks: cash the A, then lead up to the Q
AJxx opp K9xx – probably one of the most well known safety plays
For 4 tricks: Finesse the J immediately. DO NOT CASH THE K FIRST!
For 3 tricks: Cash the A, then lead up to the K9, planning to insert the 9. This is 100% for 3 tricks, try it!
Hopefully this list is enough to get you started!
Okay, bonus combo
AQT9xx opp x – low to the Q. If they’re 3-3, Q or T is a pure guess. If they’re 4-2, low to the Q picks up Kx onside, Kxxx onside, and all doubleton jacks, whereas the T doesn’t really do anything better and loses to Kxxx onside (if the T fetches the K from Kx, you still have to lose to the J!).
Answer Number 2: Mike Develin, Generalist quant
The one I always see intermediate players get wrong is the restricted choice position. You have ATxxx in dummy opposite K9xx in your hand (or AKxxx opposite T9xx). Suppose you lead small to the ace and see the queen or jack drop on your right; you should now finesse instead of playing the K on the second round of the suit. This is right by a 2 to 1 margin. (Obviously it’s a guess which honor to play first — but basically, if you see one drop, finesse the other one.)
IMO, the most interesting ones are those where you need to limit your losers.
For instance: A9xx facing KJxx, lose no more than 1 trick and win at least 3.
Correct play is to cash the king, then lead up to A9 finessing or up to the jack. This solves all combinations. Then you have hands like KJ98xxx facing x, win at least 5 tricks.
Consider the 3-2 and 4-1 combinations and note the results. Interesting!
Answer Number 4: Foster Geng
One simple suit combination that I see people get wrong often is:
ATx opp Qxx – lead low toward the queen (finesse the king), if that loses, you can come back and finesse the J by leading up to AT
Even with ATxx opp Qxx or ATxxx opp Qxx, leading up to Q first is often the right play (mathematically it may be close) because you may want to preserve entries with the Ace…
