[jillybean]

When partner leads a Q against a suit contract and dummy comes down with xx ALWAYS play the Ace if you have it

Corrected

[aguahombre]

edited out, after post was corrected.

[jillybean]

..

[Zelandakh]

nvm

[TWO4BRIDGE]

One situation where you may not want to play the Ace is to get to partner's hand later ( he has shown the J ) for a lead switch thru dummy .

[jillybean]

 TWO4BRIDGE, on 2011-August-23, 07:34, said:

One situation where you may not want to play the Ace is to get to partner's hand later ( he has shown the J ) for a lead switch thru dummy .

Yes, that was what I was thinking holding Axxx I ducked the lead, only to have declarer win with his stiff K.

[Zelandakh]

The most common time to duck this is typically when you expect partner to have led from Qx doubleton. There is almost no rule in bridge which has an ALWAYS in it (outside of the Laws).

[han]

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If you take the ace, declarer can later finesse in hearts for an extra trick. You also break up communication with partner.

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If you take the ace, partner's jack can be ruffed out and the 10 will be high.

[jillybean]

Why would partner be leading from Qx, QJx against a suit contract?
Wouldn't it be more lkely that he is leading from length, headed by the Q?

[paulg]

 jillybean, on 2011-September-04, 00:59, said:

Why would partner be leading from Qx, QJx against a suit contract?
Wouldn't it be more lkely that he is leading from length, headed by the Q?

Unless you've bid the suit or partner can infer that you have the suit, then leading from Qx is pretty rare.

Leading from QJx would look a pretty good lead to me on a large number of hands. It combines aggression with a degree of safety.

Now I add the proviso that it clearly depends on your hand, the auction, the final contract, day of the month, etc. And, of course, there will be obvious exceptions.

[Phil]

Han's examples demonstrate good reasons to duck, but they are focusing on a single suit.

Its easy to come up with a full hand and show why its correct to duck to keep communications with your partner. Maybe declarer needs to ruff this suit in dummy, but we need a trump shift from partner's side. Maybe we want to ruff something ourselves, but if we pop Ace early, we lose partner's entry.

[1eyedjack]

It may be critical to play the Ace because declarer's King is singleton.
Or it may be critical to play the Ace because it is your last opportunity to take it.
Or (v suit) the lead may be a singleton expecting a ruff (but contrast doubleton when probably better to duck)
Or it may be critical to switch to different suit at trick 2 and either partner will not appreciate it or the lead must come from your side
Or partner may assume that you have not got the Ace, and choose not to lead the suit again when regaining the lead. With proper signalling and deductions from bidding and play this should be the least concern.

On the other hand it may be certain from the bidding that declarer's King is not singleton (ie he opened 1N, although these days perhaps that is no guarantee).
If you have Axx and declarer has Kxx it may be better to duck the Ace at trick 1 in order to induce declarer to win his King early and preserve communications, whereas had you won trick 1 and continued the suit, declarer can safely duck until the third round.
Of course, if in the process of ducking you give an attitude (encouraging) signal then while partner knows the position so does declarer who may feel safe in ducking trick 1 anyway, for the same effect. But it sometimes helps to give the oppo a chance to go wrong. It is sort of akin to playing Q from AQx as third hand against NT, but rather less likely to make a difference here.

I suppose that if partner always expects you to play the Ace if you have it, then lacking that card you are free to give a count signal, which may be of value to partner.

And as Han has exemplified, it is not uncommon to lead an honour from Hx doubleton, usually in the hope of securing a third round ruff. The bidding will often indicate who of the unseen hands has the balance of length in the suit.

I suppose it only goes to show that there is only one inviolable rule in bridge: Never say never, and never say always. Avoid rules of thumb but if you must use them: generally better to duck if partner is expected to have shortage and you or declarer length, better to win if the other way round.