Help Stupid Partner, Episode 3

You are sitting East, vulnerable against not, and pick up

  ♠ A 10 3    ♥ 4 3   ♦ 7 6 3 2    ♣ A K 6 5

South, on your left, is the dealer and starts the auction.

South	West	North	East (you)
1 ♥ 3 ♥	Pass All Pass	2 ♥	Pass

Partner leads the ♣9, and you get a look at dummy.

North
♠ J 7 6 ♥ K 6 2 ♦ K 10 8 ♣ 10 8 7 3
	East (you)
	♠ A 10 3 ♥ 4 3 ♦ 7 6 3 2 ♣ A K 6 5

Partner’s ♣9 goes to your ♣K, as declarer follows with the ♣2.

You play the ♣A, declarer the ♣4, and partner shows out with the ♦4. Now what?

ANSWER: Give partner a ruff by leading the six of clubs – not the five! The ♣6 suggests to partner that she should return a spade.

THE PRINCIPLE: When giving partner a ruff, the card you lead indicates suit preference with respect to the other two non-trump suits. A higher card suggests the higher-ranking suit (spades, in this case), a lower card suggests the lower-ranking suit (diamonds here).

In this hand, you now know declarer has a fourth club. You are indicating to partner how to get back to your hand so you can give her another club ruff. By playing the ♣6, the higher of the two clubs you hold, you suggest to partner to lead the higher-ranking suit. She’ll lead a spade to your ace, and you’ll lead another club for her to ruff. Two club tricks, a club ruff, the ace of spades, another club ruff; the defense takes the first five tricks for down one.

Will partner really notice the difference between the ♣6 and the ♣5? Yes, she will. Having led her singleton club, and hitting the jackpot with your ♣A and ♣K, partner has been watching the club spots very carefully. She saw the ♣2 and ♣4 and ♣J from declarer’s hand, and the ♣3 and ♣7 from dummy. When you play the ♣6, she will realize the ♣5 has not been played and must still be in your hand. She’ll then know to return the higher-ranking spade suit.

Note that even in cases where partner won’t get any more ruffs, you have the opportunity to signal to partner how best to proceed with defense on the rest of the hand; take advantage of that opportunity!

The complete hand:

	North
	♠ J 7 6 ♥ K 6 2 ♦ K 10 8 ♣ 10 8 7 3
West		East (you)
♠ Q 8 5 4 2 ♥ J 7 5 ♦ Q 9 5 4 ♣ 9		♠ A 10 3 ♥ 4 3 ♦ 7 6 3 2 ♣ A K 6 5
	South
	♠ K 9 ♥ A Q 10 9 8 ♦ A J ♣ Q J 4 2

If you play the ♣5 at trick three, partner will dutifully return the lower-ranking suit (diamonds). Declarer will win, draw trump, and take the rest of the tricks except for the ♠A – making three. Not so good for the defense.

My friend Steve liked to say, "When I'm your partner, the secret to this game is Help Stupid Partner." Not that partner is stupid, not by any means. Though she can't read your mind, she can certainly read your signals.