HSP: Same But Different

"When I'm your partner, the secret to this game is to Help Stupid Partner." -- Steve B.

Two problems this time. You are on defense in third seat.

South deals N-S Vul	♠ K 5 3 ♥ J 10 3 ♦ A J 8 5 ♣ A 4 2
	N W E S	♠ A J 10 8 2 ♥ Q 7 2 ♦ 3 ♣ 10 9 7 6

West	North	You	South
			2 ♦
2 ♥	3 ♦	3 ♥	Pass
Pass	4 ♦	All pass

Partner leads the ♥ K; declarer plays the ♥ 3. Your play?

ANSWER: Play the ♥ 7 -- encouraging -- to tell partner that you have the ♥ Q. Partner's lead is obviously from the ♥ AK. If you did not have the queen, you would play your lowest heart to tell partner that. You would not want partner to continue hearts unless she has the queen. Note that if declarer started with the doubleton queen of hearts, continuing hearts would give declarer a heart trick.

THE PRINCIPLE: When signalling, your first priority should be attitude in the suit. In a practiced partnership, there are other signalling practices that you might wish to adopt. But in the absence of more detailed agreements, your first priority should be attitude.

Part Two: Same hand, same auction, same opening lead

	♠ K 5 3 ♥ J 10 5 3 ♦ A J 8 5 ♣ A 4
	N W E S	♠ A J 10 8 2 ♥ Q 7 2 ♦ 3 ♣ 10 9 7 6

Partner leads the ♥ K; declarer plays the ♥ 3. Your play?

ANSWER: Play the ♥ 7 -- not encouraging, not to show the queen. You are showing suit-preference for spades.

What's going on here? You have the exact same holding as above, same lead, how can the same ♥ 7 not be encouraging this time? Because after declarer plays, partner will know that you have the queen and that you know she knows that. No need to tell her something that she already knows!

• you both know that partner has at least five hearts for her overcall
• you both know that your raise showed at least three hearts
• with four hearts in dummy, you both know that declarer has at most one heart.

THE PRINCIPLE: When continuing the suit is impossible or not likely to be successful, the defense is in a suit-preference situation. A high card indicates preference for a higher-ranking suit, a low card shows preference for a lower-ranking suit.

Dummy's four-card heart suit makes it clear to both defenders that declarer will be out of hearts; thus the defense is in a suit-preference situation. Partner can account for every card in the heart suit and will know whether your card is high or low.

Note that if partner decides to continue hearts, she should lead low to your queen. If she instead leads the ace, declarer can ruff that and then ruff out your queen in order to set up dummy's jack.

South Deals N-S Vul	♠ K 5 3 ♥ J 10 5 3 ♦ A J 8 5 ♣ A 4
♠ Q 7 4 ♥ A K 9 8 4 ♦ 7 2 ♣ K J 3	N W E S	♠ A J 10 8 2 ♥ Q 7 2 ♦ 3 ♣ 10 9 7 6
	♠ 9 6 ♥ 6 ♦ K Q 10 9 6 4 ♣ Q 8 5 2

BONUS MINUTE: Sometimes it will be best for the defense to force a ruff in order to shorten declarer's trump holding. It's not clear from your hand whether that is the case here, or whether partner should switch to a spade per your preference. Playing the ♥ 7 leaves partner the option of continuing hearts. If you were absolutely certain that partner should switch to spades, you could play the ♥ Q. That would make it impossible for partner to continue hearts safely without giving declarer a heart trick, and make it obvious that you are demanding a spade lead. But I don't see any reason for such pyrotechnics in this hand.

-- Ray
Better Bridge in 5 Minutes. Guaranteed! (or the next one is free)