Saturday, November 19, 2005 3:53 PM

The Trump Echo

PITBULLS:

In the early days of Bridge , playing the opponents trump suit in an unusual order meant you wanted to ruff something. Eventually this fell out of favour due to lack of frequency and better uses defined for that particular signal. When the opponents open 4 of a major or 5 of a minor or obtain the auction by virtue of a long solid trump suit , you may as well have a meaning assigned to the order you play their trump suit. In low level partials you probably need your trump spots so signaling is not a consideration.

Playing their trump suit in the normal up the line order means that you have nothing to say. With 3 trump and two trump you have the option of signaling information to partner. They open 4♥ and partner leads a club and they win. Declarer immediately draws trump and you hold the 10 3 of their trump . Giving count in trump is silly as who cares so assign a meaning depending on the context of the particular hand. if it can be interpreted as suit preference then it is suit preference. Partner is playing the trump suit out of order for a reason. The 10 of trump played first means I have the higher ranking of the two suits in dummy.

With 3 trumps is when you can get really creative. Playing the middle card just means a signal is coming so be on your toes. The last card of the 3 trump is the signal. You play the 7 , then the 9 and finally the 3 of the suit. The 3 is the suit preference for the lower of the remaining suits. This method of signaling assumes they really own their trump suit. If trump spots can grow up to be tricks all bets are off.

Granovettors discuss the “obvious shift principle” when signaling. Say the opponents are in 5♣ and the board comes down with Qxxx KQJ10 xxx xx . Partner leads a diamond and declarer wins and starts drawing trump. Suit preference is not applicable here as the heart suit is the theme of this hand. Switch the meaning of the trump echo to show count in that “key” suit. If you play their trump in the normal up the line order you have an odd number of hearts and if you trump echo you have an even number. Partner had Axxx and now knows not to duck as declarer only has a singleton.

Define a use for a trump echo in situations where the opponents “own their trump suit” it can not hurt and might be critical for the defense. Discuss with partner.