January 2025 - 51

Newer Players
BY LARRY COHEN
larrycohen.com
L
ast year, we covered opening
leads (playing first to the trick)
and then moved on to playing
third to the trick and then second to
the trick. We start the new year playing
second, third or fourth to the trick
with our attention on " signals. " These
describe something in our hand to
help our partner with the defense.
Signals also help declarer, so if we
have a partner who doesn't watch but
an opponent who does, then we might
think twice about spilling the beans.
There are lots of signals for the
defense. Some concepts are quite
advanced (such as " Smith " or " obvious
switch " ). The three basic signals are
Attitude, Count and Suit Preference.
The latter can also be quite complex
and will be only briefly touched upon
in this series. Count is also on the
" advanced " side. It is a way to tell partner
how many cards (an odd or even
number of cards) we hold in a suit.
I consider this also to be advanced.
Count signals are useful only if partner
can take advantage of that information
to not only know your count
in that particular suit, but to put it
together to work out the entire distribution
of a deal. This takes many
years of experience and practice. For
new players, it is too much to focus on.
The brain can do only so many things
in so little time. So, while I will mention
Suit Preference and Count next
month, let's talk this month about the
signal that is by far the most important.
I'd consider the Attitude signal to
be 90% of the battle when it comes to
giving partner information.
Attitude is well named, as we will
be telling partner whether we like or
don't like a suit.
Last September, we devoted the
entire month to the situation where
Defensive Basics
The attitude signal
partner led to a trick and his card (or
dummy's) was winning the trick. In
that situation, third hand signals attitude.
A high card shows " like, " and a
low card shows " dislike. " The 2 says
thumbs down. The 10 says thumbs up.
Middle cards can sometimes be hard
to read but can usually be interpreted
from the context (if the 2, 3, 4 and 5
are all in view between your hand and
dummy, then partner's 6 is low).
Just as a review, these were some
basic situations (your partner led the
underlined card and dummy played
the underlined card). Your signal is
underlined and was explained:
A
Partner
10
B
Partner
K
C
Partner
A
Dummy
7 4 3
You
J 8 2
In A, when dummy won the ace,
you didn't waste your king or queen
(reminder that if dummy had played
low, you would have played the
queen). You played the 6 - and hoped
your partner read it as encouraging.
In B, you knew partner had the K-Q
and declarer had the ace. You wouldn't
play third-hand high (wasting your
jack), but you played third-hand signal.
Why is the 8 underlined? Because
you showed that you liked the lead.
Whether or not declarer takes the ace,
you want partner to think you have
Dummy
9 7 6
You
J 8 2
Dummy
A 8 7
You
K Q 6 2
the jack for later in the defense. If your
holding was 10-8-2, you'd have signaled
dislike with the 2. In C, partner
has the A-K (maybe the queen, too),
but you had no reason to like this suit.
You didn't want to encourage partner
to continue the suit, in case declarer
started with Q-x-x.
Aside from playing to a suit partner
has led, there is one other major
time to give a signal. The first time
in a deal that you discard (show out
of a suit), the card you play will be an
attitude signal. If you discard a high
club, it means you like clubs. If you
discard a low diamond, it means you
dislike diamonds. For example:
You have dK Q 10 7 2. Declarer
draws trumps (spades), and on the
third round you have no more spades
to play. If you discard the d7 it
means you like diamonds. If instead
your diamonds were dJ 9 8 7 2, your
discard of the d2 would mean you
don't like diamonds.
The general rule on discarding
is to never signal with a potential
trick. So, with cK Q 10 (only three
of them), it would be dangerous
to throw the c10 away. Also, with
cK Q 10 8 2, you wouldn't want to
part with the 10 as a signal. Even the
8 could be costly in this layout:
Dummy
c J 9
c 4 3
c A 7 6 5
Eventually, declarer might take a
second trick in clubs.
If the opponents are in a suit contract,
surely you can spare a heart
discard from hK Q 9 8 7 (the 9).
Sometimes, though, against notrump
you want to cling to all of your
January 2025 | Bridge Bulletin |
51

c K Q 10 8 2
http://www.larrycohen.com
January 2025

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2025
