Wednesday, March 16, 2005 11:44 PM

Signalling TIPS

PITBULLS:

Signaling is the ultimate in “depending on context” in Bridge . In the English language , a word even though spelled the same has an entirely different meaning depending on the context in which it is used. In Bridge , signals can be attitude , count or suit preference depending on the situation. Take this auction from tonight playing with a tormentee . The opponents end up in 5♠ after using Blackwood and I lead the diamond Ace . The board comes down with Kx KJ10xx KQJxx K so you have 1063 of diamonds so do you count , attitude or suit preference ? At the 5 level , count or attitude should not be relevant . You must show partner where your Ace is or you will lose it on the diamonds ( they bid 5♥ showing two Aces ) . You play the diamond 10 if you have the heart Ace and diamond 3 if you have the club Ace and the middle diamond if you do not care. Partner can guess wrong ( which I did of course ) and we lost our Ace which would have beat the contract.

If you can not contribute anything to partner’s cause when he switches to a suit do not play “ 3^rd hand high” automatically . Leslie had a hand tonight that shows this nicely. I lead the diamond deuce and the board came down with AJ10x and Leslie had 853 . Playing the 8 is not going to help our cause any when declarer plays small to the diamond. Leslie played the 3 which shows three in our standard system of count. Declarer now makes a mistake and leads a low diamond. I go up with by King from Kxx and block the suit ! Leslie showing me 3 diamonds means declarer had Qxx originally !

If you have overcalled , pre-empted , made a limit bid or a systemic Bergen bid where partner has a good idea how many cards you have in your suit anyway it is a “known count” situation. This “known count” principle also applies when this is stiff on the board also . In all these scenarios play a middle card as encouraging or don’t care . The higher card suggests a switch to the higher ranking suit and the lower to the lower ranking suit. 1♥-x-3♥-4♠ and partner leads the heart King . The board hits with AKxx x Kxxx AJ10x and you have xxx J983 xxx KQx . You play the heart 3 . This is not upside down count as partner knows you have 4 from your bid. It is not attitude to pump the board as you would play the 8 to continue hearts. Partner switches to a club and you end up beating the hand as you get two clubs in before diamonds are setup for a pitch.

Suit preference comes in when count or attitude should not matter. You have to be the judge of that and react accordingly. They are in a 6NT slam and you have 92 of their suit . Smith echos to say you like partners lead should not apply at the 6 level . You play upside down count and you play the 9 and the deuce and then show out. Did you suddenly forget upside down signals ? No you are giving suit preference as you are playing your cards in an awkward order. You are telling partner you can guard the higher ranking of the other two suits. Partner does not need count or attitude when declarer is running his suit so suit preference is the only signal that can make sense. When declarer is running their suit is an opportune time to give information by signaling . Watch her spot cards !!

If you play an unnecessarily high card , play it as suit preference . I had KQJ10xx of an Axxxx suit and declarer in 4♥ played the Ace and I played the King . Declarer played small and I played the queen which he ruffed and partner showed out. I am not just playing games. The high club honours showed partner I liked his spade lead and I wanted them returned if he got in. I could have just played the clubs normally.

If you can not tell from the situation , you have to go by default understandings. The default is attitude in our led suit and count in their led suit. The 2^nd round of the suit is count in our suit and suit preference in their suit. 3^rd round is even defined by expert partnerships. Anyway use your judgment in signaling situations as cards can turn to suit preference signals when needed.