Count, Attitude and No Signals!
It is crucial to be able to defend well these days. Most modern bridge
players use light opening bids and extremely aggressive preempts. There is
no doubt that this takes a toll on their opposition. Sometimes there is no
legitimate way to recover from these weapons and your side is shut out of
the bidding, while they go quietly for 50-a-trick. When you are finally
able to nail them with a penalty double, you absolutely must be able to
take every trick in order to get back losses or build up a cushion for the
times when their disruption works. And when the Meckwells of this world bid
22-point games, you must be able to defend accurately and set their
contracts; otherwise you will never win.
Is Bridge a Difficult Game? A bridge teacher we knew used to tell his students: "There are only three things wrong with your game: bidding, play and defense." Needless to say, he wasn't the most popular teacher (though he might have been the most honest). Of the three parts of bridge, defense is considered by most people the most difficult. But does this make sense? On declarer play, you are on your own against two opponents. In the bidding you are dealing with a limited code and only 13 cards. But on defense, you have a partner to help - good old partner. Even without partner, you have the exposed dummy to help you. Then there's declarer, who is often on your side as well, if you pay attention to what he is doing.
Bridge Without Signals
If you are shaking your head, saying, these authors just don't know my
partner, let us assure you that even without a helpful partner, most
defensive problems can be solved by you alone, through logic. For almost
two years, we played bridge without using any defensive signaling. Our
theory at the time was that signals gave declarer extra help, while all
along the hand could be defeated on our own. At that time, we were playing
a great deal of rubber bridge, where very little help is available anyway.
We were able to figure out a defense by placing declarer with various hands
that would give us a chance to defeat him, and then choose the most
probable.
Though we got by with this at the rubber bridge table, we did not succeed as well in the long run. It is exhausting to work out every single defense by yourself. It was one thing to play an evening duplicate or a session of rubber bridge this way, but it was overwhelming when we set out to play 10 days at the Nationals.
Count Signals
Let's examine the most simple signals, and see how they help. We'll begin
with count, and, for the purposes of this book, we'll stick to standard
carding, high-low an even number or encouraging, low-high an odd number or
discouraging. (If you play upside-down, it will not affect the ideas
expressed here.)
Many players use count signals and swear by them. Giving count as your primary signal has certain merit, not the least of which is that you can never make a wrong signal! We know some professionals who train their students to give count on every play - this way the student does not have to think too deeply and the pro receives some useful information that he can . . . well . . . count on.
If you can't trust your partner to know whether he likes your lead, you may prefer to stick with count (in which case, you might as well return this book to the store).
Count is very useful in certain cash-out situations, but there are many situations where count doesn't help much. After our investigatory years into the art of defense, we decided to use count in only four specific situations:
1. At the six-level, after the lead of the king.
North
S A T 5
H Q J T 8
D A 4
C K Q T 2
West East
S K 4 3 2 S Q 8 7 6
H A K 7 5 H 9 4 3 2
D J 3 D Q T 9 8
C 7 6 5 C 3
South
S J 9
H 6
D K 7 6 5 2
C A J 9 8 4
Playing in six clubs, South receives the HK lead. If East gives count, by
playing his second highest heart, the H4, he tells his partner he has an
even number of hearts and West has no problem switching to a safe trump.*
*Note that East must not signal count with the ambiguous H3. This is the card he would play from H9-4-3; and from West's point of view, declarer might hold the SQ-J doubleton, which would allow him to discard his other heart loser should West fail to cash both tricks now.
2. Against notrump after the lead of an ace (from A-K-J-10-x).
North
S 9 7 3
H A 6 2
D K J T
C T 8 6 5
West East
S A K J T 2 S 8 6
H J T 8 H 9 7 5 3
D 8 7 6 D 4 3 2
C 7 4 C K Q J 9
South
S Q 5 4
H K Q 4
D A Q 9 5
C A 3 2
Against three notrump, West leads the SA, a special lead that asks partner
to drop an honor if he has one or otherwise give count. East follows with
the 8 to show an even number. West shifts and, fortunately for the defense,
declarer has only eight tricks. Here the count signal is vital, but it is a
special situation, which may come up at the bridge table only a few times
in your life.
3. When helping partner to hold up an ace or king. This is the most common and easiest of count situations. Declarer attacks a long suit in dummy, where entries are sparse. For example:
dummy
D K J T 6
West East
D 5 4 2 D A 8 3
declarer
D Q 9 7
Declarer leads a diamond and West signals with the D2 to show an odd number
of diamonds. East holds off until the third round.
2. In cash-out situations, when the defense presumes to know where the highcards are.
This deal was played in Biarritz, France, by the winners of the Olympiad Mixed Pairs, George Mittelman and Dianna Gordon of Canada.
South dealer
North-South vulnerable
North
S A K 6 4
H Q 8
D 8 4
C Q J 7 6 5
West East
S J 8 7 S 9 5 2
H K J 4 2 H A T 7 5 3
D J 6 2 D K Q
C K 9 3 C A 8 4
South
S Q T 3
H 9 6
D A T 9 7 5 3
C T 2
Mittelman Gordon
South West North East
pass pass 1 NT double
3 D (all pass)
Mittelman went down one, and East-West scored 9 matchpoints. Down two would
have meant 331 matchpoints. A trump was led. Declarer won and immediately
led a heart, an attempt to make East-West think he was trying for a ruff.*
East won, cashed the DK, and led a heart to West, who tried to cash a
third heart. South ruffed and led four rounds of spades, discarding a club
loser.
*Actually, if declarer ran his four spades, pitching a club, the defense would have no chance for six tricks.
What went wrong? After winning the HA and cashing the DK, East had to tell West how many hearts he held. If he returns the H5, West cannot know if East started with four or five hearts, because the H3 could be in the South hand.
East should return the H7, his second highest, so that West can be sure of the count. East may cash the CA first if he wants, but his double of one notrump clearly marked him with the two aces. Therefore the only relevant signal is count.
This deal illustrates the necessity for giving a clear count signal when partner already knows the high-card position. But, again, this situation is quite rare.
Attitude Signals
Most of your trick-one defensive situations will require an opinion from
partner whether to continue the suit that was led. Therefore, with few
exceptions, we give attitude signals when following suit to partner's lead
or when discarding. This fit in well during our rubber bridge days, because
almost every rubber-bridge player uses attitude signals. By simple attitude
we mean an attitude signal pertaining only to the suit led. For example:
(a)
S J x x
H K x x
S A led S Q 8 2
H x x x
(b)
S J x x
H K x x
S A led S Q 8 2
H A Q J
(c)
S J x x
H K x x
S A led S 10 8 2
H x x x
(d)
S J x x
H K x x
S A led S 10 8 2
H A Q J
West leads the SA (ace from ace-king) against a three-club contract.
Playing simple attitude, East plays the 8 from Q-8-2 and the 2 from 10-8-2.
He likes spades or doesn't like spades.
But suppose East wants partner to shift to hearts? On diagram (b) East really should play the S2. And on diagram (c) the S8 is the best signal, to stop partner from making a disastrous shift!
As you can see, simple attitude is not a good enough signal. How often have you received a discouraging signal from partner, but still had no idea how to continue? At these times you must place declarer with various advantageous holdings and choose the most probable. This can be exhausting and is by no means foolproof.
North
S 5 4 3 2
H A K 6
D A Q 5
C 8 6 2
West East
S A K 8 S 9 7 6
H J 2 H Q 4
D K J T 9 D 8 4 3 2
C Q T 9 3 C K J 5 4
South
S Q J T
H T 9 8 7 5 3
D 7 6
C A 7
On this deal from a pair event, West led the SK against South's three-heart
contract. East signaled low and West shifted to the DJ. Not a single West
player found the club shift, and who could blame him? The club loser went
away on dummy's fourth spade. There is a way to find the club shift,
however. And if you could always find that shift on this type of hand, you
could gain quite a number of matchpoints.
The solution to this defensive problem is to integrate attitude signals with the "Obvious Shift Principle." Simply put, in most situations, a discouraging signal to partner's lead shows two things: a) you don't like partner's suit; and b) if partner so desires, you can stand for him to make the "obvious" shift - the side suit that appears to be best for the defense to attack.
Thus, on this hand, East plays low on the spade lead, discouraging a spade continuation and inviting a club shift.
The Obvious Shift Principle is not a difficult concept, but it requires thought by both defenders. You don't have to change any of your signaling methods, which you are comfortable with and used for many years. You merely have to add it to your repertoire.
Of course, the Obvious Shift Principle will not always work perfectly. No signaling system will always work. For example, in the last hand, if dummy's minors were reverse, diamonds would be the "obvious shift," and you would not be able to signal for a club shift. However, as you will soon see, this signaling method will often lead to huge gains and rarely cause a loss.
The following hand is from Hugh Kelsey's "Advanced Play At Bridge."* The chapter is called "Camouflage" and Mr. Kelsey gives some tips on making the defense tough for the opponents.
North
S Q 10 7 4 2
H 6 3
D A 5
C K J 10 4
South
S K 8 6 5 3
H A Q 10 5
D J
C 7 5 2
South North
1 S 4 S
"West leads the D6 against your four-spade contract and East drops the D8
under dummy's ace. How should you continue?"
Kelsey says that if the HK and CQ are poorly placed, you are in trouble. His solution is to deceive West.
"There is a chance that West will have the bare SA, in which case, if you take away his easy exit in diamonds before putting him in, he may have an awkward guess to make. At trick two you should ruff dummy's second diamond and then lead the SK."
North
S Q T 7 4 2
H 6 3
D A 5
C K J T 4
West East
S A S J 9
H K J 8 4 H 9 7 2
D Q T 7 6 4 3 D K 9 8 2
C 9 6 C A Q 8 3
South
S K 8 6 5 3
H A Q T 5
D J
C 7 5 2
"The hand cropped up in a Gold Cup match in 1964 and Kenneth Konstam earned
a game swing for his team by giving an opponent the chance to go wrong. The
West player had an unenviable decision to make when in with the SA. From
his point of view, either a heart or a club return could be right,
depending on his partner's holding in the suits. Eventually he led a heart
and the hand was over.
"Deceptive technique often involves no more than playing on the ignorance and the fears of your opponents. If you force them to guess, they will guess wrong half of the time."
An analysis of this deal demonstrates much of what this book is about. A light opening bid has made life difficult for East-West. It is imperative that they defeat the four-spade contract.
We'll look at the hand from the vantage point of the popular signaling methods, count and simple attitude; then we'll look at how you might defend if you were playing no signals.
Meanwhile, South ruffs the second diamond and plays his SK. West wins his ace, but has received no help at all and must solve this problem in the same way that the signal-less player will (see below).
It will be necessary to play South for a light opening bid, otherwise breaking the contract will be hopeless. There are two possible high-card holdings to place with East in order to defeat this contract:
(a) The HA and CQ. West shifts to a heart, East returns a heart, West gets out with a third heart, and declarer misguesses the CQ.
(b) The CA-Q. West shifts to a club. East will win his club honors and declarer will eventually take a losing finesse in hearts. West has probably been "in the tank" for several minutes already. On the one hand, playing partner for the CA-Q is better, because that is a sure down one. On the other hand, if South holds the CA, and you destroy partner's CQ, he will not be a happy partner, and you will feel pretty sick yourself for the rest of the session. Though West should probably opt for the club shift, most players will shift to hearts. They would rather die a thousand deaths than lead into dummy's K-J-10-4 suit, and instead will comfort themselves by saying it's anti-percentage for partner to hold two honors in clubs, as Kenneth Konstam's opponent did.
Imagine the extra torture this hand would offer at matchpoints! There one has to take into consideration the possibility of overtricks as well. Even if you defended this hand correctly at the table, you probably spent at least five minutes working at it. You pick up the next hand feeling pretty good about things, but also somewhat tired.