Saturday, April 28, 2007 3:52
AM
Hand Evaluation – Tactics ( Obvious Switch or Lead )
PITBULLS:
There
are concepts in Bridge called the obvious
switch & the obvious lead. Good players take advantage of the
situation and base some understandings around these concepts. Granovettors site
defines the “obvious
switch” which I feel should be elevated to a hand
evaluation concept .
You must learn how to use the attitude signal.
The obvious lead follows a number of the
same ideas. Some auctions demand a lead.
This is the natural lead in accordance with the bidding ( unbid suit ). You need a very good reason not to
make the obvious lead.
If an opening leader makes a bad
lead i.e. one of their bid suits
that shows length , bells should ring. Why is partner
not making the obvious lead ? Answer
, partner has led a singleton & wants a ruff.
“Bad leads” are the easiest to identify
as stiffs.
In golf ,
you must read the green.
You look at contours , which way the green slopes (
water drainage ) the type of grass and with you are against the grain of the
grass etc. Reading the
dummy is the same thing in Bridge. Since both defenders can see the dummy , we can easily determine the obvious switch. I was playing with a Tormentee and the opponents reached 4♥ .The
dummy came down with ♥AKxx ♠AQJx
♦xxx ♣xx. I
lead a trump , declarer drew all the trump and
finessed the spade . Partner won the spade king but the obvious switch is to
the 3 card diamond suit rather than the club suit. Declarer can ruff out club
losers but would have to pitch diamond losers so attacking the diamonds is more
obvious.
The tormentee
overruled the obvious switch to diamonds &
led a club Why ? I held ♦KJxx & ♣Axxx
of clubs so partner must have a high honour in diamonds ( either
the Ace or King ) for not returning
the obvious diamond. Therefore , I returned a diamond
& disaster we lost our diamond trick as declarer had the ♦AQ.
Choosing the right card to return
comes with the territory of obvious switches.
If you return a small card , you can stand the return
of the suit yourself as you have a high honour. With
the queen or jack it is sometimes better to lie about the low honours and return a higher spot as you can
not stand the suit returned.
The obvious
switch concept was introduced to enrich attitude signals. You “read the
board” so discourage in partners led suit if you want the obvious switch. Makes sense to me. Therefore the attitude signal means way more than
it used to. If you can not stand the obvious switch
, encourage in partners led
suit. Less damage will be done that way. Tormentees
should spend more time reading the green when they are
defending.
Here is an example of a dummy that
must be “read” ♠Kx ♥K87x ♦xx ♣AK10xx . Nancy & partner were
competing in spades ( Nancy overcalled 1♠) but I
bought the contract in 3♦. Her
partner led the spade queen & I ducked . He
continued spades so Nancy was endplayed. She returned
a trump which I won so I ducked a club to Nancy again & she was still endplayed. She exited with a trump so I drew trump and
pitched two hearts on the 4th & 5th clubs. Poor dummy
reading by the defenders. Why did I not cover the spade king
? If I did , Nancy would return a spade and LHO
would be forced to
switch to a heart ( he held the ♥QJ )
so I would go down losing two hearts , two spades and a club. The defender was
oblivious to reading the dummy so
–110 instead of +100 and 5 IMPS were lost. The obvious switch looking at a long club suit that can be
established was the heart queen.
Some
writers are making an issue of the “obvious shift principle” as it applies to signaling. This is nothing new as far as I
am concerned , as I have been signaling that way for
40 years. Another name for this kind of signaling is called “baby sitting” partner. Protecting
partner from making a disasterous
“obvious switch” . Identifying the obvious switch is a
hand evaluation skill from reading the dummy & the situation. If there is
an obvious switch , discard appropriately also to tell
partner not to lead that suit if it would be a disaster from your perspective. Read obvious switches
for discards also.
Here
are a few hands to make my point.
|
♠ |
Q |
J |
x |
|
|
♥ |
x |
x |
x |
x |
|
♦ |
A |
x |
|
|
|
♣ |
K |
J |
10 |
x |
Partner leads the ♦queen against 4♠ Declarer wins
the Ace so do you encourage ? The
obvious switch is hearts
from partners perspective and not clubs.You
do not want a heart switch so you encourage in diamonds . Partner gets in with
the spade king and continues diamonds. You just avoided a disaster by being aware of the “obvious
switch “ suit. .
|
♠ |
K |
x |
|
|
|
|
♥ |
K |
J |
x |
|
|
|
♦ |
Q |
J |
10 |
x |
x |
|
♣ |
x |
x |
x |
|
|
Your
hand
|
♠ |
x |
x |
|
|
|
♥ |
x |
x |
x |
x |
|
♦ |
9 |
8 |
2 |
|
|
♣ |
A |
Q |
9 |
X |
|
♠ |
A |
10 |
9 |
x |
x |
x |
|
♥ |
A |
Q |
|
|
|
|
|
♦ |
K |
x |
x |
|
|
|
|
♣ |
x |
x |
|
|
|
|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
♠ |
Q |
J |
x |
x |
|
♥ |
A |
Q |
9 |
|
|
♦ |
x |
x |
x |
x |
|
♣ |
K |
Q |
|
|
This time partner leads the ♦Queen against their 4♠
contract. You have nice diamonds but you want partner to make the obvious switch to hearts so you discourage
in diamonds. Declarer lets partner hold the diamond but she switches to a small
heart. You now avoid the strip & endplay and defeat the contract
!
|
♠ |
x |
|
|
|
|
|
|
♥ |
J |
x |
x |
|
|
|
|
♦ |
Q |
J |
9 |
|
|
|
|
♣ |
J |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
Your
hand
|
♠ |
A |
x |
|
|
|
♥ |
K |
10 |
x |
x |
|
♦ |
K |
10 |
8 |
2 |
|
♣ |
x |
x |
x |
|
|
♠ |
K |
10 |
9 |
x |
x |
x |
|
♥ |
x |
x |
x |
|
|
|
|
♦ |
A |
x |
|
|
|
|
|
♣ |
A |
x |
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
♠ |
K |
x |
x |
|
|
♥ |
A |
Q |
10 |
|
|
♦ |
Q |
J |
x |
|
|
♣ |
K |
Q |
J |
9 |
Again a 4♠ contract
& partner leads the ♦king. With your hand
you want to discourage any “obvious switch” so you encourage in diamonds. Partner
continues 3 rounds of diamonds. Declarer wins the ♦Queen and leads a
trump. Partner wins the spade Ace and returns the 13th♦ so you beat the contract via an uppercut !
|
♠ |
A |
x |
|
|
|
♥ |
x |
x |
x |
x |
|
♦ |
A |
K |
x |
x |
|
♣ |
x |
x |
x |
|
|
♠ |
J |
x |
|
|
|
♥ |
x |
x |
x |
x |
|
♦ |
x |
x |
x |
|
|
♣ |
x |
x |
x |
x |
|
♠ |
Q |
10 |
x |
x |
x |
x |
|
♥ |
K |
J |
|
|
|
|
|
♦ |
x |
x |
x |
|
|
|
|
♣ |
A |
x |
|
|
|
|
Signaling
should be done with the context of the entire hand not just one suit. The
obvious switch should be considered or even built into signaling. Its that important.
`Granovettors rules for Identifying the Obvious Shift suit (in order of priority)
· Negatives:
· The
Obvious Shift cannot be the suit led.
· The
Obvious Shift is never trumps.
· The
Obvious Shift is never a suit headed by the A-K-Q or four of the top five
honors.
· The
Obvious Shift in a suit contract is never dummy's singleton or void.
· The
Obvious Shift is never a natural suit bid by
declarer.
· Positives:
· The
opening leader's 2nd bid suit
or 1st if he led an off suit is the Obvious Shift.
· If the
opening leader has not bid a suit, the leader's partner's bid suit is the Obvious Shift
· If both
defenders have bid suits and the opening leader starts with an unbid suit, look at the suits and choose one of them by
applying the rules below.
· When the
defense has bid two suits or when the defense has not bid any suits...
· Against a
suit contract, a three-card suit
headed by at most one honor (A, K, Q, J, T) is the Obvious Shift.
· Against notrump, dummy's shortest
suit is the Obvious Shift (even a strong holding such as ace-king
doubleton).
· When there
is no weak three-card suit, the shortest suit is the Obvious Shift. But against
a suit contract, this cannot be a singleton or void.
· When there
are two equal length suits, either of which might be the Obvious Shift, look at
the number of honors. The suit with fewer
honors is the Obvious Shift. If the suits have an equal number of
honors, the lower-ranking suit is
arbitrarily deemed to be the Obvious Shift.