June 2020 - 52

Intermediate Players

Mike's Bridge Lesson
BY MIKE LAWRENCE

michaelslawrence.com

Signaling on defense
There are many aspects of defense.
Attitude, count and suit preference
signals are all part of defense. In some
ways, these overlap.
Here's a situation that has many
variations. I will show two variations
to make a point.
Dlr: South ♠ K 10
Vul: None ♥ K 8 3
♦J432
♣A764
♠QJ43
♠9876
♥A62
♥954
♦976
♦ A 10 8
♣ J 10 8
♣532
♠A52
♥ Q J 10 7
♦KQ5
♣KQ9
West

North

East

Pass

3NT

All Pass

South
1NT

West leads the ♠Q. Declarer might
well consider ducking this trick, as
he does not fear any shift, but say the
queen is taken by the king in dummy.
South attacks hearts and West wins
the third round. You can see that South
has 11 tricks if the defenders switch
suits. South has nine tricks if West
continues spades. How should East
signal to say he likes spades?
The answer is that he should play the
9 at trick one. With the dummy having
the K-10 doubleton, East knows that
his spade sequence is just what West
needs to set up the spade suit. If East
plays any spade other than the 9, West

52 Bridge Bulletin June 2020

may not get the full message. The 9 is
a powerful signal that can't be ignored.
West should know to lead another
spade.
Say West started with Q-J-4 or
Q-J-4-3. He should know it is safe
and necessary to lead the jack now,
unblocking for East.
You can see West's club holding offers a possible switch if West is afraid
to lead another spade.
Here's a variation on third hand's
9-8-7-6 of a suit that is important, but
seldom found at the table:
Dlr: South ♠ A 7 4 3
Vul: None ♥ K 5
♦K83
♣J732
♠ J 10
♠Q9862
♥QJ43
♥9876
♦A642
♦95
♣986
♣AK
♠K5
♥ A 10 2
♦ Q J 10 7
♣ Q 10 5 4
West

North

East

Pass
Pass

1♠
2NT

Pass
All Pass

South
1♣
1NT

Things are a little different in this
layout. Let's see how the message of the
defenders changes.
West leads the ♥Q. You may quibble
that you don't like this lead, but it's
good enough that no one is going to
rant about it.
In this layout North wins the king, as

on the first deal. How should East play
now? He has the same holding that he
had before, the 9-8-7-6.
Oddly, he should play the 9 here too.
West will get in with his ♦A and will
consider whether to continue hearts or
switch. West will remember East's ♥9
and should conclude that South has the
A-10-2.
How does West come to that conclusion? Here's what West knows. If East
had the ♥A, he would have played it. If
East had the ♥10 9 8 3, he would have
played the 10, not the 9. When signaling, always make the clearest signal
possible. Because East can afford
the 10 when he has the 10-9-8-3, he
should play the 10.
West, knowing that South has the
♥A 10 remaining, will switch suits.
The spade suit looks like a good choice.
West leads the ♠J. This will set 2NT
one trick. South gets two spades, two
hearts and three diamonds, but runs
out of time to set up a club trick.
What's required here is that West
understand the reason why East's play
of the ♥9 is correct.
Postmortem: Here's one last inclusion in this discussion. It's a reminder
not to overthink.
♠QJ53

♠42
♠ A K 10

♠9876

West leads the queen against a
notrump contract. East mustn't play
the 9. If East plays the nine, West
would reasonably think that East has
the king. It's a possible holding.
◾
http://www.michaelslawrence.com
June 2020

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