Saturday, September 13, 2003 1:39 AM

Hand Evaluation - Spot Watching

PITBULLS:

Most experts in this day & age play upside count & attitude. The main advantage of this scheme is not to waste spot cards to signal. Otherwise all the concepts are the same. Signals are multi purpose as they can show count , attitude or suit preference depending on the circumstances. Signals occur in five primary situations with variations depending on whether the suit as been bid, a singleton is on the board , you want a ruff , the level of the contract etc .

Lets go through the 5 situations in turn .

1) When partner leads a high honour – you indicate attitude . Some experts have added a neat twist . Against a suit contract , If they have the AK of a suit & they want count they deliberately lead the King . This is normally done at high level contracts when you want to cash out. The Ace lead you would normally give attitude. This is reversed in NT contracts. Do not forget that A from AK only apply on opening lead. During the hand , play the King so partner knows what is going on.

2) Partner leads a suit ( 4^th best or otherwise ) won by the board . You indicate attitude unless in NT playing Smith echos , you show count. Attitude is shown later via the Smith Echo.

3) Discards – Most experts play odd-even first discard only . Odd means you like the suit & even says you do not. If even , you can add suit preference by a low or high even card discarded. The biggest advantage of this scheme is declarer can not false card to confuse you. Your card is either odd or even. You do not need to determine whether the card is relatively large or small. Declarer can not change that thru deception.

4) Suit Preference – for ruffing purposes & switch purposes – high card means higher ranking suit & low means lower ranking. Known length ( Gartaganis signals ) where middle encourages & Hi & Lo suit preference. Look for creative ways to show suit preference. If your signal can not logically be attitude or count , it is suit preference.

5) Following suit – Count is given if it may be helpful to partner rather than declarer. The order of your cards when you are following suit can signal partner when count is not important . Playing them in an unusual order can mean suit preference or as in Smith echos indicate whether you liked partners opening lead or not.

What is attitude ? It can mean a number of things. It can mean I want a ruff , it can mean you have hit length in that suit in NT contracts , it can mean you have honour cards in that suit. Attitude can also mean you can not stand the obvious switch. When you have determined by the bidding or the way declarer is playing the hand, count is not important, you should switch to attitude or suit preference. Partner knowing that you have honour cards in that suit will help her in suit switches. For example, you have already shown your HCP in the auction by making a NT bid , declarer leads a club to the AJxx on the dummy just as an entry . You have the KQ83 of clubs. Play the 3 (upside down attitude) to show partner that you have points there . Placing cards that way will avoid disastrous switches. Knowing when count is not important ( depending on context ) & partner is on the same wave length as you are , is the key.

Deception is also an art form . Knowing when to deceive is a skill . Deception & false carding is single handed – you vrs declarer. Do not bludgeon partner !

Discards showing that you like the suit , also means that will be the suit you are going to save for squeeze purposes . Way too many pseudo squeezes occur because both partners are saving the same suit . An attitude discard means I am holding onto that suit for squeeze purposes partner , so you hold onto another !

Giving correct count is important in squeeze defense. If partner leads an honour card against 6NT ( for example ) the rules change. You do not give attitude but count due to the level of the contract. For squeeze purposes , it is more important to know what suit to hold onto then to show partner you liked her lead.

The “art form” of signaling is to know when to show attitude , count or suit preference . I had a hand at the Red Deer tournament where Vish & I were defending 4♥ . I could over ruff the board in spades but Vish did not know that . Declarer led a side suit which I held KQJ10xx & the board Axxxx . He cashed the Ace of that suit, everyone followed low . The next club I played the King , declarer ruffed & Vish over ruffed. Why did I play the King when any card would have sufficed ? Back came a spade ( higher ranking suit ) & I over ruffed the board.

Signals can be over done . They should always take a back seat to counting tricks , counting HCPs & distribution. The basics of defense ( applying patterns ) should be your guide & signals for confirmation purposes. One partner does not dominate the other in defense & the other just a puppet to follow signals . Both partners should be thinking on defense by applying patterns & counting HCP’s !!