There are many types of discards most of which are intended to convey information to your partner, because for a good defense against opponent's contract all partnership need agreements to show COUNT, ATTITUDE and SUIT-PREFERENCE when serving or discarding cards in other suit.
On the other hand all Declarers must understand the meaning of opponents signalling to have some advantage when opponents change information. So any advanced players should study and have knowledge of the mostly popular system discard. This is the purpose of this topic.
COUNT, in bridge language, is a signalling to inform partner if we have odd (1 3 5 ...) or even (2 4 6 ...) mumber of cards in the current suit.
ATTITUDE is a signalling for encourage or discourage to continue playing current suit, so I like this suit means continue playing it or I don't like means changing to other suit or up to you to continue because I don't have honor or any interest in ruffing.
SUIT PREFERENCE is a system discard to inform partner in what suit we have honors. This information can be done during our first discard or when we are giving a ruff to partner.
Thus many orientations to partner can be done having a system discard / agreement when a player serve or discard the cards.
HIGH-LOW this is the most famous and old signalling, it is known as Standard Signal. It uses the convention that serving a high card in the current suit encourages the continuation in the play of this suit. We encourage when we have high cards in this suit or, in suit contract, when we have dubleton and so intension of ruffing this suit in third round. High Low also can be use to give inform the COUNT. There are 13 cards in a suit so the sum of the cards in your hand with the cards in dummy more the information of the bidding and the signal odd or even from partner allows defender to infere declarer's number of cards to have a better defense.
What is a high card?
In general the 6, 7, 8, 9, ... are high spot cards and the 2, 3, 4 e 5 are low spot cards, but there are occasions where we may have 789 and then the 7 is now a low card. Of course all is relative, so if partner leads an Ace and we serve the 7, dummy shows 2, 3, 4 and declarer serves the 6 then partner with AKJ5 will notice that our 7 is a low card and will stop playing this suit for not upgrade declarer's Queen to become a top card in this suit.
=================================================
LETS RESUME SOME OF THE MOST USED CONVENTION FOR SIGNALLING
STANDARD SIGNALS system discards (STD)
This systen discard uses the high-low to show a EVEN (2 4 ..) number of cards and of course uses low first then high to show an ODD (1 3 5 ...) number of cards. To encourage partner continuation in a suit it uses a high spot card and to discourage partner it uses a low spot card.
When Declarerr is playing a suit where you have dubleton if you want to inform that to your partner you should first serve your higher card and then, of course, your lower card. But if you have 4 cards like J952 and declarer plays this suit you should serve first the second lower card here the "5" then the "2" to show 4 cards (or dubleton) but if you have 952 then you should serve first the "2" then the "5" to show tripleton (3 cards) or quintuple (5 cards).
Of course when we have Qx we can't play the Queen to show dubleton because our priority is to keep higher cards because they may win the tricks. The play of Q, if not singleton, must show J.
Sometimes the information of dubleton is vital for partner's decison on discard. If partner has J10xx, dummy has xxx and you 73 after Declarer plays AKQ in this suit partner should keep his Jack only if you play first the 7 then the 3.
Using Attitude Signals with STD:
High card encourage - Low card discourage
Playing a suit contract if partner leads the ace he may have AK... then if dummy has 3 low cards partner wants to know if we have the Q or have a dubleton. So if you have Q93 you should serve first the "9" to show interest in continuation but if we have J103 then you should serve the "3" to deny interest in continuation and wait for the moment you make a trick to play the Jack. This is the way Attitude Signals works, a low spot card stop the suit's continuation.
Supposing a contract in suit where trump is Diamonds
a) dummy  Q93 West East AK82
107 declarer J654
|
b) dummy 983 West East AK52
Q107declarer J64 |
c)
dummyQJ432
West East AK65
1087declarer 9 |
In (a) West leads A
and East serves the 10
to show interest in ruffing the third round of Spades.
So after the
K East serves
the 7 showing
his dubleton.
In the third round of Spades West may suggest the return in Hearts or in
Clubs depending on if he plays a high spot card (8)
or a low spot card (2) West will make an indication of his
suit-preference giving the ruff.
-------------------------------------
In (b) West leads the A
and East serves the 10
to show interest in this suit continuation because he has the Queen that
may win the third round in Spades. West doesn't know if this is a
signal for dubleton or for Queen, he just obey partner's signal for
continuation in this suit.
-------------------------------------
In (c) West leads A,
East serves the 7,
Declarer serves the 9.
Now West looks at his cards and dummy cards to conclude that low seven is
third (or singleton). In this case he must consider shifting to other suit
but if he doesn't see other any way to defeat (unless making 3 tricks in
Spades) he may continue in this suit despites the low probability of
success.
Note: The lead of Ace without King is not recommended and so when done
it is a desperate attempt to find where partnership can make tricks.
Attiude Signal in defense against their NT
contract
In fact Attitude Signals are a priority signal over the Count Signal
mainly when defending against their NT contract.
Let's suppose that opponents are playing 3nt and partner leads
K,
so he may probably have
KQ10xx.
If you play STD and have
A85
or
J85
in this suit you should not make a count signal but should make an
attitude signal informing partner that you have an honour playing a high
card like your
8
or a low card in case you have no honor. But for this specific lead you
should serve
A
or
J
because the
8
isn't a clear signalization of honor for your partner you could have
only 98, so this lead demands the play of your top card in this suit.
In case you are those economical players with high cards and just play an
attitude signal with
8
there is a risk that partner having KQ10xx shift to another suit
supposing Declarer with AJx. Of course if you has Ax or Jx you have no
choise than play your high honor.
When this lead is made with only 4 cards KQ10x if Declarer has A97x or
J97x the economical player having A85 may work making just an attitude
signal with his 8. These crucial decisions must be supported by the
bidding to count declarer's possible distribution or by dummy cards. But leads with K in 4
card suit like KQ10x are not recommended because leading with K if
partner has Ax or Jx may produce a trick for declarer.
Curiously many players with KQ10x(x) use to lead with Q to show the
possession of the 10 and having KQ98(x) leads the K to denies the 10 but
showing the possession of the 98. You can ask opponent about their
convention against NT, when lead is K, before you make your decision.
When the Leader has KQJ9 and leads the K against NT, dummy shows xxx, if
partner with A82 just make an attitude signal with the 8 the Leader must
continue with the jack to show 4+ cards because the continuation with
the Q shows only 3 cards and partner will understand that declarer has
J10xx and to avoid to kill the Q with his ace will play low supposing that
his partner leads for 4 cards in his hand.
Note: Considering that Attitude is the priority signal when partner
leads Responder must signal first Attitude and only after count. So
Responder in his second discard (in this suit) must signal showing his
present count (if he was 5 cards and now has only 4 his present count is
4) playing a high card if he is now even or playing a low card if he is
now odd.
In suit contract Count is very important
to give ruff
Let's see this interesting example in defense against a contract of 3
|
A3J286542AK83 |
bidding: S W N E pass 1
pass 3*all pass *10-11 hcp lead A
After North leads the
|
||
|
Q85AK654A61076 |
N W E S |
KJ310743K9QJ54 |
|
|
109873Q2QJ1092 |
Then your
North plays the
8 and dummy serves
the
J and South ruffs with
the
2 with Declarer
serving the 6.
Now South have to play and he notice that the 3
is missing. If North has the 3
why he plays the 8?
The convention for suit-preference when giving a ruff to partner is to
play a high card to receive return in the higher ranking suit (excluding
trump and the current suit) and play low card to receive return in the
lower ranking suit. So North asks to South a return in Spades.
Then South plays the 3
and North makes his A
to play Clubs again. South ruffs the
Q with Q
and when Declarer overruffes with his K
this upgrades partner's J2
to be a trick and contract down 1!
Playing STD and showing suit-preference to other suit:
|
AKQ84872J43J3 |
bidding:
W N E
S 1
1
2
23
all pass Lead: A
After North makes |
||
|
975AKJ65653AQ |
N W E S |
J3Q104K982K982 |
|
|
106295AQ10107654 |
|
AKQ84872J43J3 |
bidding:
W N E S 1
1
2
all passLead: A
After North makes |
||
|
975AKJ65653AQ |
N W E S |
J32Q104K982K982 |
|
|
10695AQ10107654 |
What are the most recommended leads playing STD?
Basiclly STD leads are made in the 4th higher card:
with K10532 the 4th card here is the "3";
with K1032 the 4th card is the "2";
with K104 the lead is the 3th card here the "4".
But when we have no honor in the suit the lead is made in second higher:
with 97632 the lead is the "7"
with 8653 the lead is the "6"
with 862 it is better not lead in this suit
When there are sequence then lead is made in the top of sequence:
with J109xx the lead is the "J"
with 98762 the lead is the "9"
with QJ32 the lead is the "2"
with QJ432 the lead is the "3"
with QJ92 the lead may be Q or 2 depending on what bidding showed
with QJ932 the lead may be Q or 3 depending on the bidding
with QJ10x(x) the lead is Q
with KQ32 the lead is "2"
with KQ432 the lead is "3"
Specials leads against NT not only specific to STD leads:
with KQ10xx the lead is the "K" (promising Q10)
with AKJ10 or AKJxx the lead is the "A" (promising KJ)
Journalist leads against NT: the 10 promisses honor and jack denies
with J108xx the lead is the "J"
with KJ10xx the lead is the "10"
with A109xx the lead is the "10"
with AQ1053 the lead is the "5"
with AQ1093 the lead is the "10"
with AQ109x the lead could also be the Q supposing Jx in dummy
with AK1053 the lead is the "5"
with AK1093 the lead is the "10"
Ace for attitude, king for count
There are some partnership that having Ace and King (AK) sometimes
leads the A and sometimes the K. They lead the Ace asking for attitude
signal and they lead the King asking for count.
Leading against NT contract when the leader has 5+ cards (AKJxx) he tries to avoid giving a Queen second.
So if dummy has 3 low cards and partner shows odd length then Queen is second.
The same apply if partner has 4 cards like 9653 and dummy and Declarer
have also 2 cards. Now serving the "9" this could be interpreted as 4
cards in STD.
But this may be good when Declarer opening shows strong hand and you have to defend
against 3nt having only AKJxx supposing partner has blank hand.
To avoid ambigous information for a normal defense against NT Ace's
leads shows AKJxx
asking also for count or for the discard of the Queen.
King's leads denies Ace and shows KQ10xx (or KQJxx) asking for partner
discard the jack or cover with the ace.
Playing against suit contract King's lead is not so ambiguous
specially when the leader opens 2 weak or in a major and was supported by
partner. In this case the lead of King may be also interpreted as asking
for Count and also give oportunit to discovery where partner may have honors. So
in some specific situations attitude is not more the relevant
information so first priority is count then suit-preference.
Having a new partner you should ask his opinion about these leads.
Leading with the King having AK second
Against suit contract in
some ocasions we lead
the King and after play the Ace to show dubleton and to ask partner a
indication of his entry. We want to ruff in 3rd round of this
suit. So after playing Ace partner plays low or high as an indication
of entry excluding current suit and trump suit.
So if the contract is 4
and you leads
K
partner first signals should be attitude
and having
J32 9542 A982 92
he plays
2 but
after you play the A
partner understanding that you have AK second plays the 9 to
show his entry in Diamonds.
=================================================
UPSIDE DOWN COUNT ATTITUDE (UDCA) system discard
This method of signals is reverse to STD. So when Declarer is playing a
suit if you have 3 cards (863) you
play first the middle card (6) and after the low card (3) to show odd;
if you have 2 cards (94) or 4 cards
(7652) you play the low card first
to show even; and in case you have 5 cards then you play first the
second low card 97432 here the "3"
and after the low "2". For sure partner will know how many cards you
have in this suit.
As ATTITUDE you play low to encourage the continuation and play high to
discourage the continuation. Of course partner must look for all cards
in this suit to know, for example, if a 7 is a low or high.
Using UDCA the leads are normally made in the 3rd higher with 4 cards
and in 5th card higher with 5 cards. So with K10532
you lead the "2" and with K1052 you lead
the "5".
Be careful, when opponents are showing suit-preference. Some UDCA partnership discard low
asking for the higher ranking suit and discard high asking for lower
ranking suit. So they may invert all - you don't lose anything in asking
for their method of suit-preference.
Examples from the use of Attitude Signals with
UDCA:
|
a) dummy Q93 West East AK82
107 declarer J654
|
b) dummy 983 West East AK52
Q107declarer J64 |
c)
dummyQJ432
West East AK65
1087declarer 9 |
In (a) West leads A
and East serves 7
to show his dubleton. Declarer plays 5
(false card); West suppose now that East may have 3 cardst so the
continuation in this suit may release a winer Q
and then West may shift to another suit. In case West didn't have other option
he continues with
K and when East
serves the
10 he knows
partner has doubleton. Then West continues Clubs
giving partner's ruff and also playing a suit-preference card for East
return.
In (b) West leads A
and East serves the 7
his low card to show interest in continuation. Declarer serves the 6
(false card). West didn't see the 4
so he supposes partner may have J74 and stops the continuation shifting to
another suit. Of course if partner has QJ7 he should play the Queen to
show his Jack and then West plays low Club because QJ also may be
doubleton.
In (c) West leads A
and East plays the 8
and Declarer the 9.
Now West looking for his cards and dummy cards to conclude that 8
may be 3 cards, or doubleton or singleton. In this case he must change
for another suit but if he didn't see another way to defeat unless
making 3 tricks in Spades he may continue in this suit hoping for
partner's singleton despites the low probability.
What are
most recommeded leads playing UDCA?
Basiclly UDCA leads are made in 3rd with even and low with odd cards:
with K10532 the 5th card here is the "2";
with K1032 the 3th card is the "3";
with K104 the lead is the 3rd card here the "4".
But when we have no honor in the suit the lead is made in second higher:
with 97632 the lead is the "7"
with 8653 the lead is the "6"
with 862 the lead in this suit should be avoided
When there are sequences then lead is made in the top of sequence:
with J109xx the lead is the "J"
with 98762 the lead is the "9"
Special leads against NT contract not specific to UDCA:
with KQ10xx the lead is the "K" (promising Q10)
with AKJ10 or AKJxx the lead is the "A" (promising KJ)
Journalist leads against NT: the 10 promisse honor and jack denies
with J108xx the lead is the "J"
with KJ10xx the lead is the "10"
with A109xx the lead is the "10"
with AQ1053 the lead is the "5"
with AQ1093 the lead is the "10"
with AQ109x the lead could also be the Q thinking in Jx in dummy
with AK1053 the lead is the "5"
with AK1093 the lead is the "10"
Example of using UDCA system discard with count and suit-preference:
|
Q8AK3KJ109KJ109 |
bidding: S W N E 2
x 34
all pass
lead
K
N-S Vul |
||
|
AK764210763287 |
N W E S |
109394AQ576532 |
Team match - N-S and
E-W play UDCA West leads K asking
for count and East
shows odd playing 10; West plays K
and East now shows suit-preference to Diamonds serving 9;West plays 2
dummy serves low and East makes Q
and plays A
for down 1. Without a suit-preference signal West may play trump and then N-S make 4 . |
|
J5QJ8652874AQ |
In the reflex table E-W bid 4
doubled and North lead K
asking for count and South serves 2
showing even. North plays A
and South serves 5
showing suit-preference to Clubs. North plays 9
and South makes A
and return Q
coverd by K. Then
North play J that
is ruffed by J and
West makes A. But
now Q is upgraded
for down 5.
Note: some partnership use a reverse suit-preference signal playing low
to show interest in the higher ranking suit and playing high to show
interest in the lower ranking suit.
=================================================
LAVINTHAL system discard
This is a simple and very eficient
method to show SUIT-PREFERENCE and in Europe where it is very popular
they call it as McKenny. It was
Willian McKenny, an american bridge columnist died in 1950, that helped
in the popularization of this method to signalize suit-preference, but
it was during 1933-1934 that Hy Lavinthal (1894-1972) invented this system
discard published only in 1963 in his book "Defense Tricks" where he
explained his theory of defense.
This method can be applied in many situations in a bridge play but it is
more used during the first discard excluding the discard suit and the
current suit:
- if it is a high spot card discarded it asks for the higher ranking of
remainders suits as the suit-preference,
- if it is a low spot card discarded it asks for the lower ranking of
remainders suits as the suit-preference,
as we can see in the next table:
| Declarer
playing
|
my first discard | suit-preference | choosed between |
| if Clubs low | Diamonds |
|
|
| if Clubs high | Hearts |
|
|
| if Diamonds low | Clubs |
|
|
| if Diamonds high | Hearts |
|
|
| if Hearts low | Clubs |
|
|
| if Hearts high | Diamonds |
|
|
|
Declarer playing |
my first discard | suit-preference | choosed between |
| if Clubs low | Diamonds |
|
|
| if Clubs high | Spades |
|
|
| if Diamonds low | Clubs |
|
|
| if Diamonds high | Spades |
|
|
| if Spades low | Clubs |
|
|
| if Spades high | Diamonds |
|
|
|
Declarer plauing |
my first discard | suit-preference | choosed between |
| if Clubs low | Hearts |
|
|
| if Clubs high | Spades |
|
|
| if Hearts low | Clubs |
|
|
| if Hearts high | Spades |
|
|
| if Spades low | Clubs |
|
|
| if Spades high | Hearts |
|
|
|
Declarer playing
|
my first discard | suit-preference | choosed between |
| if Diamonds low | Hearts |
|
|
| if Diamonds hith | Spades |
|
|
| if Hearts low | Diamonds |
|
|
| if Hearts high | Spades |
|
|
| if Spades low | Diamonds |
|
|
| if Spades high | Hearts |
|
Playing STD with Lavinthal gives
flexibility to make suit-preference signal helping to preserve important
card in critical suit.
Example: East-West playing STD with Lavinthal
NORTH
Bidding:
962
NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST
32 pass
pass 2
pass
Q1065
2
pass 2
pass
Q1075
2ST pass 4
all pass
Lead Q
WEST
EAST
lead Q 10743 South
makes A
and plays K
for 10
and 3
and
9 now EAST must discard and he is interested in
KJ92 EAST
may discard 5
or 10
to show
interest.
J974
Here 10
seems more safe card to be discarded.
SOUTH
trick3 - Declarer plays K,
West A
and East 7
AKJ
trick4 - West obeying partner plays 3
to 10 J A
AK87654
trick5 - Declarer plays 8
to J 5 4
A8
trick6 - West plays 4
to 5 9 8
K
trick7 - East plays 3
to A 8 2
and after playing all Hearts and K
Declarer loses J
for down 1 after this efficient defense
The 10
discard will exclude Spades (discard suit) and Hearts (Declarer suit
current) so for the remains minors suit a high card means Diamonds;
In case of 5
discard this excludes Clubs and Hearts and so it remains Spades and
Diamonds and a low spot card means Diamonds.
Revolving
- another way to use Lavinthal is considering the suits in a circle then
after Spades follow Clubs, after Clubs follow Diamonds, after Diamonds
follow Hearts and after Hearts follow Spades. Thus a high spot card in a suit
makes indication for the upper suit of discard card and a low spot card in a
suit makes indication for lowdown suit.
Using Revolving a discard in Hearts if with high spot card means
Spades and if with low spot card means Diamonds;
a discard in Spades if with high spot card means Clubs and if with low
spot card means Hearts;
a discard in Clubs if with high spot card means Diamonds and if with low
spot card means Spades;
a discard in Diamonds if with high spot card means Hearts and if with
low spot card means Clubs.
In the example we must exclude Hearts so a discard of low Spades means
Diamonds (jumping the suit exclude - Hearts) or a high card in Clubs
means suit-preference to Diamonds.
In this case the 3
is the better discard.
Important: if you are the Declarer when opponent makes the first discard
you should ask him how is opponent convention for discard and if they
say Lavinthal you should be informed about which variation they are
using (McKenny or Revolving).
Lavinthal method has a problem when you have nothing to indicate because
in tesis the first discard is indication of suit-preference.
So in this case the player should use his middle card 5 or 6 to discard
or make a suit-preference to an absurd suit. Then partner will
understand that there is no good indication.
Of course the Lavinthal method needs to be use as a complement of STD or
UDCA because it does not inform Count or Attitude.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a)
NORTH
AQx
Bidding:
Q10x
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
AJ9
1
1ST 2
2
K10xx
pass pass pass
E-W STD
WEST EAST
saída K
x The lead of K
probably with AKxxx allows West
J862
asks where East has honors. In this case East plays
Q10xx J to
show interest in Diamonds and also shows
9xxx
4 cards. The play of 2
would show 3 cards in
but not necessarily Clubs interest and the play of 8
would shows 4 cards in Hearts but not suit-preference for Diamonds.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
b)
NORTH Bidding:
Kxxxx WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
Q10x
1
Jxx
double 1
2
3
xx
pass 3
all pass
WEST EAST
saída K
xxx The K,
of course with AKxx asks for a counting in
J10642
Hearts because West wants to know if East has 4 or
xx
5 cards in Hearts for planning to play the A.
Thus
Axx
East must play 2,
so here there is no application to show suit-preference in Clubs.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
c)
NORTH
AQxx
Bidding:
x
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
AJ9x
2 double
3
4
K10xx
all pass
WEST
EAST
saída A
x
West leads A
maybe with AKxxxx and that allows
Q92
East to make a suit-preference to Clubs playing 2.
Qxx
If East plays Q
of course this is a suit-preference to
AQJxx Diamonds
and the play of 9
would be to continue
playing Hearts in case East has 4 cards in
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
d)
NORTH Bidding:
AQx South WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
x 1
pass 1
pass * 4th suit forcing
AQ109x 2
pass 2*
pass ** 2 Aces with Queen
K10xx 3
pass 4nt pass
5**
pass 6
all pass
WEST
EAST
saída A
Jxxx After
the lead of A
East must ask for continuation i
KJ952 in Hearts to preserve his Jxxx in trump suit, but
x
can't play K
because that asks for Diamonds, so he
Qxx
must play the 9
as an attitude signalization.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
e)
NORTH Bidding:
9xx WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
xxx pass pass 1
1
xx
2
2
pass 3
AKQJx pass
4
pass pass
double all pass
WEST
EAST
saída 3
xx After the lead of Clubs it is clear
that West has
KQ952
singleton Clubs and has a trump stopper, thus it is
AK
fundamental to East to shows where is his entry.
10852
East must show his entry playing the 2
as
suit-preference for Diamonds denying A.
If West has A
then after Declarer play trump. He makes A
and shift to Diamonds and East making the
K plays
little Clubs for ruff. After the continuation in Diamonds East plays
again Clubs for another ruff for down 2.
Note: when you inform partner about your suit-preference this may change
Declarer's plan to play and sometimes you may be throw-in by a advanced
Declarer, so you must be careful, think twice before giving this information to
partner and of course to Declarer.
=================================================
ODD-EVEN (O/E) aka Roman system discard
This method made by the italian champions in the years 60 it is an
improvement in the Lavinthal method and can be used together with STD
or UDCA because it applies for ATTITUDE and SUIT PREFERENCE but not for
COUNT (to show even or odd number of cards). So in your first discard
o/e is a good option for partnership.
In the first discard o/e makes indication of his suit preference:
- an odd card discard shows SUIT PREFERENCE for this suit, so if you
discard Clubs 9, 7, 5 or 3 you are saying to your partner that you have
honors in Clubs;
- an even card discard says to your partner that you don't want this
suit;
- and in complement if you discard a high even card in this suit this
means you want the high side suit excluding this suit and trump suit, so
if the trump is Spades and you discard high Clubs then this means
between the remanining suit Hearts and Diamonds you want Hearts not
Diamonds;
- and if you discard a low even card in this suit this means you want
the lower side suit excluding this suit and trump suit, so if trump is
Spades and you discard low Clubs this shows Diamonds interest, not
Hearts.
ODD-EVEN discard must be played at the first discarding oportunity as an
ACBL rule for those play bridge under ACBL events in U.S.
Dodds discard, used in England, is just
a change from even to encourage and odd to discourage (UDCA in
attitude). So playing against european partnerships ask their system
discard in detail if they tell you just O/E.
Example of effectiveness using O/E system discard:
|
J83K28654KQJ |
bidding: S W N E 1nt pass 3nt all pass lead 4
|
||
|
A1074273Q99876 |
N W E S |
6AQJ10410732532 |
After west leads 4
Declarer makes 9
and plays 5
to dummy Jack but West makes A
and East must discard now: If East is playing just STD he must call for Hearts playing 10
and partner will shift to , East makes only 3 tricks because Declarer has 9xxx.But playing O/E he discards 10
to call for Hearts and after partner 7
N-S goes down two (1 Spades + 5 Hearts)! |
|
KQ959865AKJA104 |
Note: the 10
discard deny interest in Diamonds and of course in Spades asking for
between Hearts and Clubs the higher ranking suit (Hearts).
=================================================
SMITH ECHO
This interesting signal apply only against opponent NT contract to show
if defender likes or doesn't like the lead made by himself or by
partner. So when Declarer plays another suit each player may show to his
partner if he should continue the lead suit by playing a high card or
asks to shift to another suit by playing a low card.
Example:
the partner of opening leader using Smith Echo deny interesse in
continue playing a low card in Declarer's developing suit.
|
94KQ7AJ4KJ982 |
bidding: S
W N E 1
pass1 pass
2
pass3nt all pass Lead: 6 |
||
|
A107621092653A4 |
N W E S |
J83A439842765 |
South wins the J
with K
and plays
Q
for West's A
and East
serves the 3. West doesn't know who has Spades Queen but playing Smith Echo East served low Clubs so he doesn't like partners lead - this means he does not have the Q
or 4 cards. West must find an entry in East's hand and the only
possible solution is A
with partner! |
|
KQ5J865KQ10Q103 |
Example: Opening leader using Smith Echo shows his partner not to continue in lead suit by playing a low card.
|
KQ4872105AJ972 |
bidding: S
W N
E 1nt pass 3nt pass pass pas Lead: 6 |
||
|
62K1064AQ92863 |
N W E S |
J983J93J864K5 |
South wins the J
with Q
and plays Q
for West 3
and East's K.
East notices that West serves the 3
saying he didn't like his suit (Smith Echo)So East concludes that Diamonds is the only shift suit possible to defeat and if Declarer has the Kxx
he must play the J
to defeat this contract! |
|
A1075AQ5K73Q104 |
=================================================
DISTRIBUTION SIGNAL
The use of signals during Declarer's playing trump is usually to play
high-low to show 3 cards and interest in ruffing another suit, but
the danish theoric bridge player Helge Vinje in his book "Defensive Play
in Bridge" published in 1979, proposed another meaning for
signalling trump.
Vinje suggests signalling trump to show our type of suit distribution as
an informe that could help deduce partner's and Declarer's distribution of
cards.
In the 39 possible distributions of the suits in any bridge hand there
are two groups: 3 suits with odd number of cards and 1 suit with even
number of card (4333 5431 5521 7321 7510 ...) or there are 3 suits with
even number of cards and 1 suit with odd number of cards (4441 4432 5422
6421 7222 8320...).
So we can classify these distributions in 8 sub-groups:
EVEN-SPADES (ES) => 1 Spades suit with even cards and 3 suits odd
EVEN-HEARTS (EH) => 1 Hearts suit with even cards and 3 suits odd
EVEN-DIAMONDS (ED) => 1 Diamonds suit with even cards and 3 odd
EVEN-CLUBS (EC) => 1 Clubs suit with even cards and 3 suits odd
ODD-SPADES (OS) => 1 Spades suit with odd cards and 3 suits even
ODD-HEARTS (OH) => 1 Hearts suit with odd cards and 3 suits even
ODD-DIAMONDS (OD) => 1 Diamonds suit with odd cards and 3 even
ODD-CLUBS (OC) => 1 Clubs suit with odd cards and 3 suits even
Obviously it is impossible to find a sub-group with 2 suits having odd number
of
cards and 2 suits having even number, or a sub-group with 4 suits with
even number of cards or a sub-group with or 4 suits with odd number.
So defending against a suit contract if defenders playing distributional
suits convention when Declarer plays trump by convention a defender when
play his trumps cards
high-low inform partner that have only one
suit with a number of cards even and when playing trump low-high inform
partner that he has only one suit with an odd number of cards.
HIGH-LOW => EVEN ODD ODD ODD
LOW-HIGH => ODD EVEN EVEN EVEN
Defending against a NT contract we may use these signals high-low for
even and low-high for odd in the first suit developed by Declarer.
Of course there are ocasions that we are unable to signal high-low
but maybe in half occasions this will be possible and
then this will allow partner deduce Declarer's distribution of cards and
so keep the correct suit guarded when Declarer is trying to make a
false squeeze playing his long suit.
Undertanding Declarer Distribution Could Be Important for Defense?
Supposing you want to know if Declarer is singleton or dubleton in a long
suit in a dummy (KQJxx) without other entry when you have Axx and you know
that Declarer may have 1 or 2 cards in this suit. So if you know your
partner's distribution and dummy and your cards then you may deduce in what
suit Declarer is singleton to decide for holding or serving your ace.
|
A5284753KQJ87 |
bidding:
S W
N E pass pass 1
1
1nt pass4
all pass
Lead: KWest leads K,
dummy serves low, East serves low and Declarer serves low. In trick2 West continuing Spades with the Jack, dummy makes the trick with A and East 10 drops. |
||
|
KQJ93651094A63 |
N W E S |
104932KQJ82J52 |
|
|
876AKQJ107A694 |
trick03, trick04 and trick05 Declarer plays trump and West that is even
(only one suit even) to show type even hand serves 6
and 5 (high-low).
East that is also type even hand serves 3, 2
and 9.
Analyse: West knowing that East is even in Spades after 10
drop may now infere declarer distribution as 3 cards spades, 6 cards
hearts and dubleton in both minors to also be even because East should
be tripleton in Clubs and so have 5 cards in Diamonds. East with 7 cards
in Diamonds should bid 3 Diamonds and not pass.
So declarer's hand is 6322.
Trick06 Declarer plays 9
and West let it run to King Clubs for down 1 because now Declarer
loses 2 Spades, 1 Clubs and 1 Diamonds.
The information of suits distribution prevent a possible blunder in
discard
|
A84J732J43J32 |
bidding:
S W
N E 2
pass 2* pass2
pass 4
pass4nt pass 5 **
pass7
all pass Lead: 7 =>waiting
**=>1keycard
Declarer
plays 3 times trump and West plays
|
||
|
76Q65Q75109876 |
N W E S |
532109841098654 |
|
|
KQJ109AKAK2AKQ |
Analyses: West knows that his East has 3 even suits
and deduces that East hand is 3442.
Possibly
3262 or
3244
seems not like Declare's hand.
So it is clear to West that Declarer has AK
second and
AKx
then West is now prepared to keep his
Q75 and
not guard his Q65.
Declarer also may use defenders sinalling to take decision.
|
A64K74K65K972 |
bidding:
S W
N E 1
pass 2
pass2nt pass 4
all pass Lead: QDeclarer covers Q
with K,
East serves 7.
Declarer plays low Hearts to K
with West serving 2
and East serving 3.
Declarer plays low Hearts to J
that loses to Q
with East serving 8.West plays 2
and North makes A,
East 3
Declarer plays A
with West serving 10
and East serving 9
(W-E playing STD). |
||
|
QJ92Q102102Q1053 |
N W E S |
1075383QJ98686 |
|
|
K8AJ965A72AJ4 |
Analyses: Both defenders play
low-high showing only
one suit with odd number of cards and so West showing 3 cards in Hearts
means that all west other suits have even cards.
Now Declarer plays
2 and
finesse Queen playing J
that loses to Q.
West plays J and
Declarer ruffs and play A
then he plays 4
West serves 5 and
Declarer must decide for another Clubs finesse or for 10
drop.
Declarer trusting in defenders sinalling that West is odd and so must have 4
cards Clubs and then finesse the 10 playing 9 to make 5.
Here defenders knowing suit distribution can't do anything against the correct play of the hand by Declarer
|
QJ4874K65KQ107 |
bidding:
S W
N E 2
pass 2
pass2
pass 4nt pass5 * pass
7
all pass Lead: J* 5 keycards denying trump Quees
Declare wins the |
||
|
62QJ109Q1042863 |
N W E S |
875632J86J952 |
|
|
AK1093AK5A72A4 |
Analyses: Declarer knows that West
has 4
cards but don't know if West has also 4
cards or 4 cards.
In case West has red suits and East has 4
cards Declarer should play for
double squeeze with Diamonds central suit.
For West his partner must guard Clubs and need to have Jxx
to guard this suit against a squeeze in the reds.
Thus it will be easy for West to keep guard in Hearts and wait with his
guard in Diamonds until possible.
For East it will be easy keep guard of Clubs but if West discard 2 times
Diamonds he will be squeezed between jack Diamonds and Jack Clubs.
tricks - South West North East
trick01 -
A
Q 4
2
trick02 -
3 6 J 5
trick03 -
9 2 Q 7
trick04 -
A 9 4 8
now Declarer test drop of Jack Clubs
trick05 -
A 2 7 2
trick06 -
4 6 Q 5
trick07 -
5 8 K 9
trick08 - K 10 7 3
trick09 -
K 2 5 6
now Declarer will play the squeeze card
trick10 - 10
4 8
? <= East blows up and discards 6
8
K6
10
J J86
Q104 J
10
A72
trick11 - 2 10 K 8
trick12 -
A Q 6 J
trick13 -
7 J 10 J
contract 6nt done
Here defenders have a little advantage knowing the suit distribution
and may discard more confortably when Declarer plays his long suit.
|
7432KQJ654397 |
bidding: S
W N
E E-W Vul 3
pass6nt all pass Lead: Q |
||
|
K932QJ94102K54 |
N W E S |
Q108476592J1032 |
Declarer wins the Q
with A,
East serves 5
showing possibly 3 low cards, Then Declarer plays AK
with West-East serving 102
and 92
both showing 3 even suits. |
|
AJ5AK108A8AQ86 |
Analyses: East
must guard his 4 cards suit and West must guard Hearts suit already
knowing that East has both black suits in 4432.
Declarer planning his 12a. trick maybe in Clubs finesses or
in a throw-in.
West deduces that Declarer has 4432 with also 4 cards in Hearts 3 cards
in Spades and 4 cards in Clubs. But for East it's not clear yet if Declarer
has 4
cards or 4
cards because West may have 4423
or 3424.
But both E-W already assume that Declarer has all aces but only the
Heart King so 11 tricks. They also deduce that Declarer should have the
Q
but not the J
because with QJ
makes
12 tricks.
Declarer may consider that East may have both blacks 4-4 so the
probability for King Clubs in East is a relation of 4 by 3.
West knows that also and may discard one or two Clubs if necessary.
Declarer will discard 2 Clubs 2 Spades and one Hearts, so during the
play of the Diamonds West will discard Hearts only after Declarer
discards Hearts and will discard Spades kepping
K
dubleton or singleton because after Declarer playing for Clubs
finesse West need to exit with the Spades King.
Defenders need poker face during the discards to defeat, because they
already know many informations about suit distribution.
======================================
HOW TO SHOW PARTNER IN WHAT SUIT YOU HAVE AN HONOR?
Suppose declarer is playing a contract and your partner leads in a suit
where you signalize no interesting. One way to inform your partner in
what others to suit you have an high honor is during declarer play of
his suit use it to indicate your have an high honor:
low ranking => you play low and high in declarer's suit
high ranking => you play high and low in declarer's suit
So, if your partner need make decision he will now have a information.
=================================================
ENCRIPTED SINALLING
It
is an ingenious method to avoid Declarer to know if opponents are using STD or UDCA in
their signals.
How encripted sinalling works?
The defenders vary their signaling procedure according to a formula that is
revelead to the Declarer but Declarer can't decode the signalling because a
variable key depends on some spot cards in the defenders hands.
How we do that?
Well we can imagine many ways, for example, when Declarer ruffs a suit or
discards any card in a suit, only defenders know some information
about this suit.
So we may establish some spot cards like: "8", "9",
"'10" and "J" as our coded cards and we may define that the player with
even number of that spot cards (0, 2 or 4) will use STD in their
sinalization and the player with odd number of that spot cards (1 or 3)
will use UDCA in their sinalization.
Before the cards start to be played we say to opponents that our signal
is STD or UDCA (you choose the start system discard) but it will
change based the even or odd spot cards we have in the suit Declarer's
ruff of discard a card.
Example1: E-W use STD and during the card play changes to encripted signals
|
QJ8876875AK84 |
bidding:
S W N
E N-S Vul 1
2
4
5 E-W nVul5
all pass
Lead:
A
West leads |
||
|
72Q1065AQJ9675 |
N W E S |
6A943K1042J1032 |
|
|
AK109543KJ3Q96 |
Declarer has 10 tricks and may find 11th in the Clubs 3-3 or finding the
position of
A.
West knows now that his partner probably has the
A
so he may discard 2 cards in Hearts if necessary.
Trick# South West North East
trick01 3 A
5
4
trick02
3
6 7 K
trick03
A
2 8 6
trick04
4 7 Q 3
<= East using UDCA shows Hearts honor
Declarer plays 4 more trumps keeping one trump before playing Clubs
trick05
K Q J
2
trick06
10 J 6
10
trick07
9 5 7
4
trick08 Q 5 4 2
trick09 9 7 A 3
trick10 6 6 K 9
the 3 last cards are:
8
8
4
Q10 A9
9 J
5
KJ
and now North plays 8
East serves 9 and
South must decide
Who Knows What Declarer Will Play?
How partnership define STD or UDCA against NT
contract?
Example2: Opponent are playing 3nt and West has:
West:
Q83
J1098
Q96
754
dummy:
J83
1063
872
AKQ10
West leads against their 3nt the J
and Declarer makes the A
and play Clubs to dummy AK serving the "2" and the "7" and in the Q
Declarer discard a low Hearts with W-E serving Clubs
but the Jack and the 9 did not apper.
So Clubs become the suit for our spot cards and West have zero spot cards
so West will use STD.
Declarer + dummy has 1 spot card the "10"
East => has the "J" and the "9" so he will also use STD.
Thus it is an easy method and of course this demands training with our
regular partner for a long period to have total assimilation, but
depending on the country we are playing encripted system discard is not allowed.
If there are no restrition this needs a pre-alert explanation with a written
card avalaible to be readed at any time during
the game.
Finally to use encripted signalling a partnerhsip should define their spot
cards and be prepared to explain this system discard before using it, not
in a tournament but during a teams context. Of course when
asked you explain your methods already written in a card, but by no
means do you have to explain a particular card discarded or served.
================================================
WHAT IS THE RECOMMENDED METHOD / SYSTEM DISCARD
Of course it is the method that both partners understand well and are
confortable to play. So
make sure that partner is on the
same wave length discussing system's details and maintaining conventions
writed and aproved by both players.
There is no right answer to choose a
discard system because some work well in one hand but not in another.
Some adeptus of UDCA argue that UDCA is better because avoid high card
discard and so they encourage with low cards keeping his high cards. In
other hand adeptus of STD augue that playing UDCA sometimes we need
serve a high card to discourage continuation but that high card will
provoke a lose trick.
All systems discard have configurations where there are no perfect
signalling solution for a specific configuration of cards.
Playing STD in rare ocasions we may have KQ2 in a suit and then partner
leads the ace of this suit to see dummy's cards to decide what to do
hoping for partner's help with an attitude indication. But supposing
dummy shows J106. What should we serve? Having KQ2 if you encourage
playing the King partnership will lose a trick and playing the 2 we will
inform partner to shift to other suit. So this is an insolved problem for
Standard System.
So we change the system discard for UDCA and now when the same situation
occurs we will encourage playing the 2 and keeping KQ.
Next weak partner having AK43 leads Ace and dummy shows J97 and our
cards are J102. We now are playing UDCA so we need to discourage the
continuation, but if we play the 10 then Declarer having Q65 will make
his Queen because a possible finesse was created. If we play the 2
encouraging the continuation partner play King and Queen becomes a top
card.
Thus playing STD or UDCA, both, in rare configuration may be faced with
no solution for a correct signal.
So we change the system discard to ODD/EVEN, supposing that italians
must have a true reason (not only to sell books) to use this system discard.
Then in next having AK75 partner leads the Ace and dummy shows 973
and our cards are Q82. We are now playing O/E and we want the
continuation having Q82 but we don't have an odd card to ask for
continuation! So we must play an even card that will be interpreted by
partner as a suit-preference but we also don't have a good suit to show
interest for a shift by partner.
The italian champion Eugenio Chiaradia (1911-1977) 6 times winner of
Bermuda Bowls (1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962 and 1963) when living in São
Paulo - Brazil coaching the brazilian team, taught that we should not
make signalling always but only in specific moments helping partner to
defeat the contract. He says: discard always low cards you don't need
during the current suit always make signals.
Conclusion: a partnership must use STD or UDCA as system discard and use
signalling only when necessary, but partnerhip should know how to apply a
Lavinthal discard to orient defense or make use of agreements for
better defense using, for exemple, Jack Denies or Smith Echo against
their NT contract.
When you are the Declarer you should disturb their signalling using
false discard (playing a middle card or high honor) to make more difficult
for opponents to understand their distribution. There are many books
writed about false cards.
/ / /