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)