Defensive Tip: Suit Preference
by Thomas Rush
PlayBridgeWithThomas@gmail.com
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Last month we talked about one of the most common uses of a suit preference signal -- when leading a card for partner to trump, you can tell him where your entry is so that he might be able to get a second ruff.
Here are several additional times when suit preference signals can come up, ones you might not have heard of before. I won't claim that this list is complete, so feel free to look for others.
Case 1: Say you've preempted, so that partner knows you have six or seven cards in a suit. When partner leads the Ace or King of your suit so that he's going to win the trick, you have the chance to give him a suit preference signal to tell him what you'd like him to do next. This is particularly true if there is a singleton in dummy!
You've preempted 2H, and the opponents end up in some spade contract. Partner leads the Ace of hearts and dummy comes down with a singleton. Since partner knows you have six hearts, I suggest you use suit preference this way: playing your lowest heart under his Ace shows values or interest in the lower of the two other suits -- not the suit partner led, and not trump. Here those two other suits are clubs (lower-ranking) and diamonds (higher-ranking). If you play your highest spot card (or an honor if you can afford it), you're suggesting partner lead the higher of the other two suits (here, diamonds). If you play a middle spot card, you're saying that you'd like partner to continue your suit (hearts), or lead a trump, or that you don't have a preference for what he leads.
With KQT843 of hearts, your lowest (the 3) is suit preference for clubs, the Ten, your highest spot, is suit preference for diamonds, and the 8 or 4 is the "continue, or trumps, or I don't care" card (which one you play depends on the spots you can see in dummy; try to pick the card that's most clear to him).
Case 2; Let's suppose partner opened 1S, RHO bid 2H, you made a non-vulnerable preemptive jump to 4S with J8752, x, KTxx, xxx, and your LHO bids 5H which ends the auction. You lead the spade 5, there's a doubleton in dummy, and partner wins the King as declarer follows. When partner continues with the spade Ace, declarer ruffs, and you have a chance to throw a suit preference signal. Key point: partner knows the count in the spade suit since declarer has shown out, so you don't need to play your deuce to show that you started with five. You can now play the 8 to express interest in the higher of the two remaining suits (diamonds). If you'd had values in clubs, you could play your spade deuce under partner's Ace.
Note that you can give this suit preference signal because partner knows the count in spades. Had declarer followed suit on the second spade, you'd need to show your partner count so he would know not to give declarer a ruff/sluff with a third spade.
Case 3: Many people agree to use some kind of suit preference signal on their first discard. Declarer draws three rounds of trump, and you're out on the third round. What do you do?
3a: In standard signals, you play a high spot card in the suit you have values in, or your lowest spot card in a suit you have no interest. You can say, "lead this suit" or "don't lead this suit", but you can't say "lead that suit".
3b: Using upside-down signals, you play your lowest card in a suit you have interest in partner leading, and a high card in a suit you have no interest. You can again say, "lead this suit" or "don't lead this suit", but you can't say "lead that suit".
3c: Using Lavinthal (also called suit-preference discards), you never play the suit you have interest in, and since you're discarding (when declarer has led, say, a diamond) you don't have values in diamonds. On declarer's diamond lead, a high spot spade would be for hearts, and your lowest spade indicates clubs. Or, if you play a high heart, you'd be suggesting spades, while your lowest heart again indicates clubs. Last, if you play a high club, you're indicating interest in spades, while your lowest club would indicate interest in hearts.
Lavinthal only applies on your first discard, and never suggests trump or the suit you're out of. With Lavinthal, you can say, "lead the higher suit" or "lead the lower suit", but you can never suggest leading the suit you're discarding.
3d: Odd/Even discards are what I prefer. They're a combination of upside-down and Lavinthal signals. If your first discard is an odd card in a suit, you are interested in that suit. Or, if you play an even card, it's like Lavinthal -- high even for the higher of the other two suits, and lowest even for the lower of the other two suits.
With Odd/Even, you can say "lead this suit" or "lead the higher suit", or "lead the lower suit", which is why I prefer it.
Case 4: Just about standard among advanced and expert players, in a suit contract, if partner leads a suit that you can't win, and there's a singleton in that suit in dummy, you should play a suit preference card rather than some doesn't-mean-anything card. High for the higher suit (not trump, and not the suit your partner led), and your lowest for the lower suit.
Important ethics note: You must play each of your cards the same way throughout the hand. The laws of bridge explicitly prohibit you from playing some cards with more emphasis ("Partner, this is suit preference! Pay attention!), nor can you stare at partner to try to wake him up to your signals. Discuss things like this after the round (or game) is over to make sure you're both on the same page.
Important partnership note: defensive signaling is a language, you'll need to discuss this with your partners to make sure you're on the same page.
Important carding note: when you want to indicate 'the lower suit, partner', play your lowest card. Don't try to finesse it by playing the 4 from 97643, and hope that partner will work it out. Declarer may false-card and make it impossible for your partner to get it right. Likewise, when giving a count or attitude signal that calls for a high card, play the highest of equals to be sure that partner gets the point (if you have the 8743 and want to play a high card, the 8 and 7 are equals. Play the 8 not the 7 to show a high card. Make it easy for partner to work out!).
Over time, you'll defend about half the time. Top players are separated from the herd by how well they defend. Start working on your defensive carding with your regular partners, so you can start taking all the tricks on defense that you're entitled to, and watch your scores improve!
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Do you have other interesting examples of suit preference signals? Send me an email with a description, and I'll write it up in a future column. PlayBridgeWithThomas@gmail.com
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