[Laocoon166]

I really can't be hassled with learning suit combination tables - life is just too short, and besides often there will be some consideration on the deal which means that the "book" answer is not suitable.

I'd much prefer to be able to work some of them out at the table, or at least have some intelligent thought about them. However with some I don't know where to start.

Let's take the combo that prompted this thread. I had AQxx opposite J987 in the trump suit. (As it happens the J987 was the closed hand). On the face of it it doesn't look like a difficult one.

I understand that you need to pick strategies and compare them regardless of what the opponents do. But here several come to mind.

What's the thought process if you don't already know it? Is it possible/worth it to get good enough at this that you can begin to do it quickly at the table?

Thanks.

[SteveMoe]

Above all else, determine how many tricks you must have form the given combination. Most forget this most important step. There are many situations where the best play for 4 tricks is not the best play for 3 tricks, etc.

Pay attention to those all important spot cards. Get out of the habit of using x's when 8's can be much more important than 4's.

Study suit split tables like tools found at Richard Pavlicek's site. http://www.rpbridge....cgi-bin/xcc1.pl

Get a copy of Suit Play for your computer and use it to learn the more complicated positions.

Learn the split probabilities and the role of winning and losing cases. Learn how to estimate the number of winning cases for the different alternative plays you can make. Slightly less accurate than a full statistical calculation, but this shorthand can be applied at the table.

There are a number of good books on suit combinations that can equip you.