[barmar]

VixTD, on 2014-April-08, 07:58, said:

Specifically mentioning the diamond that's out suggests he's planning on taking it with the higher diamond spot, which implies he is going to throw the spade.

He has two higher diamonds in each hand. Since there's only one low diamond out, he only need one of them to pick it up, so he can obviously afford to discard a diamond. The way he made the claim sounds to me like he's effectively saying "I'll draw the last trump, lead a diamond to dummy to take your diamond, and then the spade to take your lower spade spot."

If he's going to throw the spade, the opponent's spade is irrelevant.

[VixTD]

barmar, on 2014-April-08, 09:50, said:

The way he made the claim sounds to me like he's effectively saying "I'll draw the last trump, lead a diamond to dummy to take your diamond, and then the spade to take your lower spade spot."

If he's going to throw the spade, the opponent's spade is irrelevant.

I don't think he's making a statement of how he intends to play the cards, he's stating that there are many ways of playing the cards to make the rest of the tricks. This often happens when declarer ends up with more winners in different suits in both hands than there are tricks remaining; he will quite often claim saying "they're all winners" rather than state which winners he's going to take and which he's going to discard.

[mfa1010]

In Denmark we have regulations (based on 70E2) that a declarer is deemed to always cash a suit from the top (when he thinks it is good), and ruff in with his lowest trump (when he thinks there is no danger of an overruff).

So this case would be clear: the rest for declarer.

Had declarer had ♦942 with the ♦7 outstanding to his right, he would also have got the rest. First he would have been deemed to ruff low, and then he would be deemed to run his suit from the top.

[Vampyr]

VixTD, on 2014-April-07, 11:06, said:

Is it not generally accepted that a player who thinks their cards are all winners will play them in any order?

Is it? If so it shouldn't be, because in fact they will do this:

campboy, on 2014-April-08, 08:34, said:

On the other hand when there is a choice of cards in the same suit and the player believes it doesn't matter, it is easier to predict what will be chosen (normally the highest card when cashing tricks, and the lowest when ruffing or discarding).

[VixTD]

Vampyr, on 2014-April-14, 16:55, said:

Is it? If so it shouldn't be, because in fact they will do this:

I think it's more accurate to say they will often do this. I've seen people ruff high in this sort of situation.

mfa1010, on 2014-April-14, 11:55, said:

Had declarer had ♦942 with the ♦7 outstanding to his right, he would also have got the rest. First he would have been deemed to ruff low, and then he would be deemed to run his suit from the top.

Our TD guide in England states:

Quote

Top down? Suppose declarer claims three tricks with AK5 opposite 42, forgetting the jack has not gone. It would be normal to give them three tricks since it might be considered not ‘normal’ to play the 5 first. However, with 754 opposite void it may be considered ‘careless’ to lose a trick to a singleton six. [WB8.70.5]