Friday, May 20, 2005 10:31 PM

The Wakeup Signal

PITBULLS:

          Sometimes partner needs to be hit over the head to draw her attention to something very unusual in a hand. Sometimes it is to ruff , sometimes it is to get partner to switch or otherwise follow your defense. You use a violent signal or a double to “wake up” partner that something unusual is required. The following is brief explanation of the concept by Richard Pavlicek.

The Wakeup Signal

At a suit contract, a non-systemic or unusual lead  , double or play (excluding normal suit preference situations) indicates the ability to ruff something or a special defense required. This concept is not a suit preference signal in that partner must determine which suit might be ruffed or other defense. Examples would be:

1.     Underleading an ace on the opening lead. (When underleading an ace it is best to lead a false spot card so that partner is less likely to misplay thinking declarer has the ace or make it suit preference for the suit you are to ruff.)

2.     non-systemic lead such as the queen from K-Q or the jack from K-J-10.

3.     blatant, wasteful or illogical signal such as dropping the king from K-J-x-x when you are marked for length in the suit

4.     When a singleton shows upon the board or when there is known count , middle encourages , high card is suit preference for higher suit and low card suit preference for lower suit

5.     Smith echoes wake partner up to the fact that her lead was appreciated. Low card in the suit that declarer is attacking means we liked the lead. A high card means there is a suit preference coming.

6.     Trump echos mean suit preference is coming. Some play that means I can ruff something.

7.     A double to wake up partner that a ruff is needed or something other unusual play is required

 

The above list is not all encompassing in the field of “wake up” signals.

           The double can be effectively used as a “wake up” signal. A lead directing double of a slam is just that and could mean that I want to ruff something. A double of 3NT means I have a long suit somewhere so find it .

          Here are some other examples of “wake up signals” from recent play. Tom Gandolfo and I were on our way to 6 and Lana Blackett doubled my 5 Blackwood response. Anita Lambert had a void in clubs and when we arrived at 6 she lead the diamond 10 . The KQJ of diamonds was on the board and Lana immediately switched to a club which Anita ruffed and Tom & I lost 17 IMPS. No other defenders in the room defeated 6 ! . Tom asked Lana why she switched to a club. Her answer was that did not know what else to do ! It should be elementary to beat this contract with a “wake up signal double” by Anita. The double should alert partner there is an unusual defense required. Anita doubles & leads her deuce of diamonds. Lana wins her Ace of diamonds and returns a club. This would make sense.

          Stan Cabay came up with another example of a “wake up” signal in defending 3NT. His hand was

 Q10 Jxxxx Qx AQ9x and he lead 4th best heart. The dummy hit with ♠ xxx Kx  1098xxxx ♣ x  and Lisa held

♠ xxx xxxx A  ♣J1087x   Stan lead 4th best heart and declarer wins the heart king and plays the heart queen under it. Declarer leads a diamond and Lisa wins the diamond Ace and Stan throws the queen under it . Do they have a 7-4 diamond fit or is Stan applying a “wake up” signal ? The diamond queen should mean one thing at that is the diamonds are ready to roll. Counting tricks this means 6 diamonds for declarer , 2 hearts and just one spade would bring the contract home. The diamond queen if interpreted as a “wake up” signal should mean that a desperate switch is required to beat the contract. Accordingly the club jack is played and +200 instead of –690 !

          I was playing with a tormentee and I held Kxx xxxx x KQJ10x . We bid competitively and pushed the opponents up to 4with the following board AQx Qx Kxxxx xxx . Declarer had opened a heart and partner led the club Ace. I wanted a spade switch so I threw the club King under her Ace . The spades looked like they were going away on declarers 5 card heart suit if we do not get the spade trick before a trump is knocked out. Partner continues the club 9 so I carefully play under it keeping her on lead so that I get the spade switch. No dice , she continues clubs and declarer ruffs , knocks out partners Ace of trump and we lose –130 instead of +100 and 6 IMPS.

          I hold Axx xxxx J109x xx  and partner opens 3 with my RHO doubling. With this many diamonds they are in danger of making a slam so I bid 3 as a lead director. Sure enough they eventually get to 6♣ vul and my partner has x xx AKQxxxxx xx   . This is a classic “wake up” signal double. You have the stiff spade and not the opponents so you double to wake partner up to that fact. You double and lead the spade and you win 12 IMPS instead of losing 17 for a 30 IMP swing ! What if they made the slam doubled ? Nobody else in the Calcutta field was in it so the double makes maybe a 1 IMP difference.

          Llyoda opened 3♣ and I overcalled 3 and BJ bid 4. Lloyda’s partner held Ax Kxx xxxxxxx K so what should she do ? Again the classic wakeup signal double. If you can tell partner by doubling that your King is singleton she will overtake and give you a ruff. You get one club , a club ruff , a spade and a heart for +200 instead of –620. Again a lot of IMPS. She did not double so Lloyda ducked the Club Ace and could not get in so I sluffed my club on a spade and made +620.