RedDuke wrote: ↑Fri Jan 04, 2019 5:30 am
It is sometimes amazing how seemingly weak hands can make effective loners. Most people would never call a loner if they are holding only two trumps, let alone being three suited. I think I might try hands like this more often after a lesson I learned in a game online last night.
I was sitting in first seat holding:
Upcard was the

. Score was 2-0 in our favor so even though I didn't have the loner stopped, I didn't donate either partly because it wouldn't be the end of the world if the dealer made a successful lone and because with me holding two aces plus the left, I'd have a good chance to stop most lones (unless dealer had four trumps or something like that).
Good non-donate IMO for the all the reasons you listed. I would only donate with this specific hand up 9-6 or 9-7. Having 2 aces is key and even just having the left removes a lot of loner combos out of the dealer's hand (we don't have to worry about seat 2 going alone since you already have him stopped).
RedDuke wrote: ↑Fri Jan 04, 2019 5:30 am
Ultimately though, everybody passed. This put me into an interesting position as I seriously started thinking about trying the above hand alone in next. With the opponents turning down a red bower, odds are that any strength they had would be in a black suit. Even then, I'm holding both the Ace-Jack of spades, so unless one of them is loaded with clubs, they might not have any real power there either. With the Jack-Diamonds turned down, I'm also now holding the top two trumps in next.
I think it's an interesting spot too becuz it opens up the question: "With the top two trump + an off suited ace, how low can we go when it comes to going alone?"
RedDuke wrote: ↑Fri Jan 04, 2019 5:30 am
For reasons that I'm not sure of (maybe habit and/or conservative play), I did call hearts but didn't go alone. I led the right, partner showed void, so I led the Ace on the second lead. Then lead the Ace-Spades, which also walked as everybody was void in trumps at that point. Ultimately, I wound up taking all five tricks (I was stunned that the queen walked). Gotta take a bigger chance with hands like that, because it was pretty unlikely that I'd have been euchred.
Assuming a neutral score, I wouldn't beat yourself up too much over this one. If just calling here is a mistake I doubt it is a very big one. If you were down 9-6 then yeah you totally messed up and hopefully you have nightmares about this hand FOREVER
To get an idea of where I stand in this spot (assuming neutral score with the Jd turned down), I think you MUST go alone if you had:
Needing only the Ac buried helps a lot as you still have to avoid anyone having a guarded king or queen in spades.
And I think you MUST go alone if you had:
Not having that gap in spades with your suited Ace really helps your prospects. It's one less thing to worry about. With your original hand you have nearly 3 hurdles to get by: hoping no one has a guarded King or Queen in spades and hoping both the Ac and Kc are buried. I do think your hand is a loner albeit a very marginal one. The power of your hand is the fact that you will go set so infrequently it almost feels like a freeroll so why not go for it! But this still begs the question how low can we go here? Should we pull the trigger at a neutral score with this hand?:
I'm certainly going for it with this configuration:
And I'm absolutely going for it with this one too:
Edit:
Don't forget about those coveted 2 trump 4 suited loner hands!!
In your spot, gotta go for it if you have this hand imo:
As said before, you'll barely ever get euchred and you basically only need 2 cards to be buried.