Hand of the day #145
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff “An umbrella is of no avail against a Scotch...
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
One question that many readers ask me is how to signal as a defender. The simple answer is that when one defender leads a suit, it is simplest and best to signal attitude, and if attitude is known, to signal count, unless (and this is a big caveat) the number of tricks the defenders can take in the suit is already defined by bridge logic.
Opening Lead: ♠4
In that last case, suit preference is the most useful signal one can send; and by suit preference I mean the size of the irrelevant spot cards played by the defense indicates their liking or disliking for the higher or lower suit. An example may make this plainer.
When West leads the ♠4 against 3NT, East wins with the ace and returns his remaining spade, correctly believing that his partner has a five-card spade suit. South will play the ♠J on the second trick, and West must win the ♠Q. What next? We have come to the critical play: West must return the ♠8 to clear the suit.
The point is that while establishing his spades, West should indicate to his partner that he has an entry card in the heart suit by returning the highest possible spade (a suit-preference signal showing an entry in a high-ranking suit). As you can see, when East gains the lead with the ♦K, if he leads a club instead of a heart, declarer will make his contract.
Bid with the Aces
Answer: Cue-bid 4♣
If you play the Principle of Fast Arrival (not everybody does), North’s sequence implies some interest in higher things. With no slam interest, he would have jumped to four hearts. That being so, this hand is slam-suitable, and the way to show it is to cue-bid four clubs. This suggests the club ace and a maximum hand.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
4c or 3s (you have k that it's control!) to play cue bid?