Monday, September 11, 2006 11:56 PM

Hand Evaluation - Top of Sequences ( Splitting Honours )

PITBULLS:
 
 Honours in Bridge were not designed for signaling or discarding. Experts , ever since the 1920’s do not use honour cards for signals ( High/lo scheme). When an honour is discarded it is either a “wake-up” signal or the top of a sequence. If you are going to discard an honour , this shows the top of a sequence. If you have KQJ10 , you discard the king. If your have QJ109 you discard the queen & with J1098 you discard the J. This defensive treatment is standard & stems from honour sequences in general. This understanding helps partner count declarers tricks or HCP’s so tells her exactly what your situation is in that particular suit. Same with suit preference signals – do not use an honour. An honour shows a top of sequence so if you want to signal the higher ranking suit use the 10 or your highest spot card. 
 
Here are some examples I found from the Internet :
 
“ This case and the next convey valuable information to partner.
 
 x
xxx QJ109x
 AKxx
 
West leads a low card to the 9 and ace. When declarer later ruffs
one, East follows with the Q. That card signals only that East has
the J10 but not the K. 
 
Likewise:
 
 xx
xxx QJ109x
 AKx
 
Against NT West leads this suit to the 9, which holds. If East
continues the suit, he leads the Q.
 
Second-hand top-of-sequence ( splitting honours ) 
 
 xx
xx QJ109x
 AKxx
 
Declarer leads this suit from dummy , East follows with the Q. If
declarer wins with the ace, West will know that the K is behind it;
if with the K, East (at least) will know about the ace. To be safe,
this second-hand top-of-sequence play requires a (sufficiently)
strong holding in the suit.
 
A top-of-sequence play or discard  helps partner to count declarer's tricks,
which is very important; and it may show him that he can safely lead
this suit, safely discard from it, or safely unblock in it. “
 
 My partner & I were defending a doubled part score. I held J109x of clubs , partner had bid clubs. There was AQx of clubs on the board and in case declarer had a singleton club , I discarded the club jack when declarer drew the last trump. Sure enough , declarer had a singleton club so played a club to the Ace & one back. This would be a standard deceptive play with a doubleton honour as declarer is quite sure about the location of the club King. Anyway, because of my discard of the club jack from a top of a sequence , BJ knows that I must have the ten so he safely ducks and the contract is defeated. Anticipate & help partner out when you can. 
 
 Chris Buchanan playing with major bid diamonds. When declarer led a diamond towards the Ace , Chris split his honours with the queen. His partner  now is aware that declarer has the ♦K by following this standard defensive signaling. If you have bid the suit , the odds increase that you can signal in this manner to show partner your holding in this suit.
 
 A tormentee confused this procedure . She thought that even if declarer led from his hand you are to win the higher of the two touching honours. This , of course , makes no sense because the purpose of winning the lower honour first is to tell partner that you hold that card. If you have KQ & win the trick with King , you deny the queen. Splitting your honours is a different style. Splitting with the highest automatically shows declarers holding in that suit.