HSP: Useful Losers

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

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

West	North	You	South
	1 ♦	Pass	1 NT
Pass	2 NT	Pass	3 NT
All pass

Continuing from the previous post... Partner led the ♥ 5 against 3 NT. You played the ♥ A and returned your original fourth-best ♥ 2 to partner's jack. Partner then cashed the ♥ K (dropping declarer's queen) and the ♥ 9.

After four heart tricks for your side, partner exits with the ♠ 8. What do you play?

ANSWER: Play the ♠ 10, and then the ♠ 9, and the ♠ 5, and the ♠ 2, to tell partner you have a useful diamond holding. Following suit with unnecessary high cards, even though they are losers, signals to partner that you have something in the other higher-ranking suit. Playing your spades from the bottom up would indicate a useful holding in the lower-ranking suit. Playing your spades from the middle would suggest that you have nothing else useful in your hand.

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

Notice that when declarer plays the third and fourth rounds of spades, partner will have a discarding problem. If you have a club honor, she can safely discard two clubs, baring the queen in order to protect diamonds. If you have diamonds guarded, she can discard diamonds in order to protect the club queen. But from her hand she can't tell which is right; you need to tell partner your story.

THE PRINCIPLE: On defense, every card you play should tell a story for partner. And partner should be looking for the story. It might be an exciting story. It might be a boring story. Sometimes it will be a pointless story, or a story of no consequence. But always strive to tell a story for partner; even your losers have a story to tell.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: I took this hand from Bobby Wolff's newspaper column and online blog Bridge With The Aces. Bobby in turn took the hand from Mike Lawrence's book Tips on Cardplay.

BONUS MINUTE: When partner played the ♥ K and then the ♥ 9, you could have played the ♥ 6 and then the ♥ 4 to suggest something useful in a higher-ranking suit. Partner already knows the count in hearts. Since you are probably not interested in dummy's solid spades, your high-low would thus suggest the other higher-ranking suit, diamonds.

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

How Many Fingers Am I Holding Up?

North Deals None Vul	♠ A K Q J ♥ 8 3 ♦ A K 7 3 ♣ J 5 4
	N W E S	♠ 10 9 5 2 ♥ A 6 4 2 ♦ Q 10 2 ♣ 8 7

West	North	You	South
	1 ♦	Pass	1 NT
Pass	2 NT	Pass	3 NT
All pass

Partner led the ♥ 5 against 3 NT. Against notrump, you and your partner lead fourth-best from length, and high from three small ("top of nothing"). After noticing that North bid her hand well to show exactly 18-19 balanced HCP, you play the ♥ A and declarer plays the ♥ 7.

Of course you will return a heart. You already knew that. Since the ♥ 5 is the lowest outstanding heart, it was clearly a fourth-best lead. Returning partner's suit is almost automatic, unless there is a glaring reason to do something else.

But... which heart?

ANSWER: Lead the ♥ 2 to show that you originally held four hearts.

THE PRINCIPLE: If partner led from length against notrump, when returning her suit you should return
- the highest remaining card from an original three-card holding
- the original fourth-best card from an original holding of four or more
This is the standard way to handle partner's suit at notrump. It is also known as "present count", as in you presently have a doubleton (lead high) or three (lead low). Partner can then figure out how many cards declarer has, and whether to cash out the suit or try to get back to your hand for another lead through declarer. Note that there are exceptions to "original fourth-best" if you have a useful honor holding and need to instead lead a "pusher" through declarer.

A couple of follow-up questions, and we're done for this time...

Partner already knew that declarer didn't start with four hearts. How?
ANSWER: Declarer bid 1 NT in response to 1 ♦, denying a four-card major. Yes, you already knew that too.

After your lead, partner will know that declarer started with exactly three hearts. How?
ANSWER: Your ♥ 2 is original fourth-best. There are no lower hearts than the deuce, so you held exactly four hearts. Dummy had two hearts to begin with, partner led from a four-card suit... well, you can do the arithmetic and so can partner.

And no, you can't hold up fingers to tell partner how many! We're not finished with this hand, stay tuned...

-- Ray

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