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Passing Messages.

That’s what defenders do with each other, in a legal way, of course. It can be important when you have very little in the way of high-card points, too. Let’s see why.

 

You are silent during the auction and look like you will not have too much to do during the defence. 1was 4+ with 2NT showing 12-14 balanced. Your partner leads 5 (2^nd and 4^th leads) and dummy’s K takes the first trick with declarer playing 2.

Next comes a club to the king and your partner’s ace with your partner switching to 10. Declarer plays A from dummy.

Which cards have you played to the first three tricks?

Needless to say that at least one of the cards you played to the first three tricks was critical to the defence and had you not got the message across to your partner allowed an unmakeable contract to slither home. Let’s take a look at all four hands:

 

South is due three spade tricks, three heart tricks and four club tricks, all fine if they can take them but in doing so, they have to lose the lead to West with both of their black aces. Meanwhile, the defence can easily take three diamond tricks and those two aces.

Yet, without being able to discard, it is up to East to get that message across to their partner…and they need to do so in a hurry!

West should do a piece of point counting when they see dummy. They know that their partner has an honour somewhere (maybe jacks and a queen) because dummy has only 11 hcp and declarer a weak no-trump. Added to the 12 they have, that means even if South has a maximum 14, East will have 3. West is not fighting the battle single-handed.

West could imagine their partner has not many spades. In such a situation, it would be normal for the weak hand in a partnership to give count. So, whether one plays natural or reverse count, East should indicate their doubleton. Indeed, our East did that with 4.

East also gave count when declarer called for a small club from dummy and played their king. East played 8 indicating an odd number. West could see little point in ducking. So, they won and the message about the spade suit (in addition to their own weak suit) must have got through since they switched to the 10. Maybe their partner had some honours in that suit.

Declarer won the A and played a low spade to J and West’s ace. Yet, which heart had East played to the previous round? It was a lowish one, 3, and whatever East meant by that card, the message did not get through since when in with the A, West continued a second round of hearts…and the relieved declarer could claim an overtrick.

Perhaps East was giving count or perhaps a low card meant “switch to the lower suit, partner” but it seems in either case, the message was the wrong one or did not get through. West had to be looking for tricks away from spades and if they were trying the heart suit, they were going to be very disappointed. That is the message East should have conveyed… 8 if you play reverse and 2 if you play natural signals.

West may have felt somewhat uneasy leading away from the K but significantly, South had shown no interest in dummy’s five-card suit, as you can see, for good cause.   

South had kept 10 hidden from the defenders but if South had four club tricks and three in hearts, then they only needed two spade tricks to come to 9. It was time for desperate action. West’s best switch is J catering for South’s singleton, if that is what they held, being 10, or even if South held a small doubleton diamond. If the defence could only take two diamond tricks, then the game would most likely make. So, with the right information from their partner, West should have defeated this game.

The above signals are, of course, only one way of getting the messages across. Hopefully, if yours are different, they would have worked too. 

Well, wrong signal!

Who was to blame for this not happening? There was one player giving and the other interpreting the message. Message not received. Over and overtrick!

On Jan’s Day : After the Olympics

After the Olympics and Paralympics, it seems appropriate to reflect on Bridge at the Olympiad. That is where today’s problem comes from. A defensive problem for you:

 

3 promised an opening hand with 6+ diamonds. Your partner leads A with declarer contributing 7. Next comes 4 with declarer playing K from dummy and 9 from their own hand. What now?

Richard Solomon

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