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  The importance of Signals.

They can only be a guide but at times a really useful guide. Sometimes, though, to get the right answer, you have to ask the right question and, arguably, our West on the deal below did not do that, to their cost.

 

Opposite a passed partner, initially you elect to pass fearful that partner may just have long spades. However, it soon appears you partner must be short in hearts. So, you show the minors (4NT) and partner chooses clubs. South accepts the push to 5. You lead A on which your partner plays 3 (low encouraging/ and or reverse count) and declarer 4. And now?

There was one way to beat the opponents’ 5 contract and three ways to let it make after your initial high club lead. If declarer held the A, then switching to a spade was not going to be successful unless partner’s one trump (you knew that they had no more) was the ace.

That’s one choice, the spade switch. Of course, if your partner did hold the A, then you were likely to be beating the contract.

A trump switch seemed to have no merit. What about a diamond? In fact, if your partner held A, it looked like you could take the first three tricks in the minors. So, a diamond switch followed by a second club would be the way to go. Either switch to the diamond or take a second club first….to ensure partner has no plan of giving you a first round spade ruff.

So, taking control at trick 2, you “cash” the second club trick but South thwarts that plan rather cruelly. They ruff, draw trumps and concede a trick to the A. Ouch! Opportunity lost. How did you know?

 

 

It must have struck East that the defence were not going to win the first trick. Had their partner’s 4NT call shown 5 clubs, then that suit offered no hope. They followed with 2 trying to give count in the suit (normally, the ace asked for attitude) and had that been interpreted as count, then it was reasonable for West to look elsewhere for tricks. It would seem unreasonable that East had 4 clubs and South 3. East had to hold 6 clubs.

This deal shows the importance of count. Many play “ace for attitude and king for count”. Holding only four clubs, West thought the need for attitude was more important than the count of the suit. They were wrong. East did not know what was right but they may have suspected that their partner held a singleton spade.

They might have saved the day by throwing 10 (maybe Q as they knew it would not matter to play this card). This "wake-up call" suggests that a switch to the higher unplayed suit could be worthwhile. West should then appreciate that continuing clubs would not be a good idea.

More Signalling

You can see that South’s final bid was risky. They guessed that, vulnerable, their partner would have something more than a string of hearts for their leap to game. However, they might have elected to defend 5 which was the correct decision.

Not just count but logic would tell South that after their high heart start, that a switch was required. Spades could only produce one trick for the defence. Therefore, the diamond suit was crucial. If North held Qx, then cashing A would make the play quite easy for East. Rather conveniently, if North gave reverse count on the high heart lead, they could also suggest the switch at the same time. Once more, there would be no further success for the defence in the suit led. North was free to offer a suit preference signal on the opening lead. A and a diamond ruff would earn the defence a plus score. It would be unreasonable to start off with A and beat the contract by two tricks with two diamond ruffs!

Great defence the other way too if West led J against 4 though how would East know that it was right for their partner to underlead AK rather than AK (assuming West has AK of one minor suit) to score a second spade ruff. Pure luck if they chose right and got that defence right. Bidding 4NT turned out to be a sensible move by West.

So, signalling needs at times to adapt to the conditions. The “conditions” against 5 meant that count would be vitally important at trick 1 though there was also the case for a strong suit preference signal overriding the count. Against 5, North had the opportunity for a suit preference signal, too. They did not know their partner held A though with South opening the bidding, there was a reasonable chance that they did.

  

Would you have been giving and getting the right signals in each situation?

A Straight Choice

A simple bidding situation. Would you double or pass? There seem to be no other options.

 

 

Richard Solomon

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