Wednesday, March 16, 2005 11:44 PM

Hand Evaluation – Signals ( Suit Preference )

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 so 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 & with this diamond holding on the board , count or attitude should not be relevant . You must show partner where your Ace is located 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 , the diamond 3 if you have the club Ace & the middle diamond if you do not care. Partner can guess wrong ( which I did of course ) so we lost our Ace which would have beat the contract.

If you cannot 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 , the board came down with AJ10x with Leslie holding 853 . Playing the 8 is not going to help our cause 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 & leads a low diamond. I go up with by King from Kxx & 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 , 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 , the lower to the lower ranking suit. 1♥-x-3♥-4♠ so partner leads the heart King . The board hits with ♠AKxx ♥x ♦Kxxx ♣AJ10x , 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 so 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 & react accordingly. They are in a 6NT slam , 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 so you play the 9 , the deuce & 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 as a wake up call, play it as suit preference . I had KQJ10xx of an Axxxx suit . Declarer in 4♥ played the Ace & I played the King . Declarer played small so I played the queen which he ruffed & partner showed out. I am not just playing games. The high club honours showed partner I liked his spade lead so I wanted them returned if he got in. I could have just played the clubs normally.

Susan & I were defending 3NT on an auction of 1♦-3♥ (me ) – 3NT –P . Susan led the ♥10 & the board hit with ♠AKxx ♥x ♦QJ109x ♣K10x . I held ♠QJx ♥AJ98xxx ♦x ♣xx so I let declarer win the 1^st ♥ trick. Declarer led the ♦K & Susan ducked. Susan ducked diamonds until the 3^rd round to see what I discarded. I discarded the ♥9 followed by the ♥2 so by throwing hearts away I am telling partner not to continue hearts. This is a “known count” situation so suit preference should apply. If I had no suit preference , I would just discard middle hearts. I discarded a very high heart spot first so it should mean that I have spades. Knowing this , Susan can count tricks & realize that they do not have 9 tricks. She has time to shift to a club to beat the vul game.

If you can not tell from the situation , you have to go by default understandings. The default is attitude in our led suit , count in their led suit. The 2^nd round of the suit is count in our suit & 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.