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 Leading for a Signal by Ben Norton

Leading for a Signal

Sometimes the winning defense is far from clear when you’re picking out your opening lead. Indeed the best line of play may depend on partner’s shape or where his strength lies.

At times like this you can enlist the help of partner by way of defensive signalling. Partner will strive to help you as much as possible by following with a certain card to indicate either his count (if he has an even or odd number of cards) in the suit, or his strength (whether he has a high honor card there). Using standard signals, partner will play high-low to show an even number of cards or encouragement, and he will follow upwards to advertise an odd number or discouragement.

The information he will digress depends entirely on which card you lead. This is subject to partnership agreements but the most common method is to lead the King to ask for count and the Ace or Queen to ask for attitude (strength), so you shall use that here. Of course these methods are only really used when you have either an AK or KQ sequence though.

As South on these five hands try to enlist partner’s help in order to plan the best defense.

Question 1

  Your Hand
 A K 3
 K 9 5 2
 8 7 5 3
 7 4
 
Q: 1 - You find yourself in the spotlight after a short but sweet auction to 5.

What do you lead?

SouthWestNorthEast
--Pass1
Pass1Pass3
Pass5PassPass
Pass


 Your choice:
A: A. On this occasion you can see two likely defensive tricks and you want to find out where your third lies.

It’s just about possible that partner could hold the Q and three rounds of the suit are standing up, in which case you want your partner to give you an attitude signal to indicate whether or not he has the Queen. It’s very unlikely that partner will have a doubleton, thus a count signal rates to be unnecessary. Even if you can give partner a ruff for the setting trick though, he should encourage with a doubleton as well as with the Queen.

Not only this, but as you hold the vast majority of the defensive strength you can expect partner to hold very little, so if you don’t cash your Spade winners they may well go away on one of the side suits. It’s also plausible that you have three tricks in your own hand if the A is on your left, in which case you must again ensure that your Spades don’t run away.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 2

  Your Hand
 8 7 4
 K Q 10 2
 J 8 3 2
 9 7
 
Q: 2 - East-West land in 3NT after the traditional sequence.

How do you plan to defeat this contract and what information do you need from partner to guide you?

SouthWestNorthEast
---1NT
Pass3NTPassPass
Pass


 Your choice:
A: Q. You kick off with the Queen to ask for an attitude signal from partner, in an attempt to ascertain whether the Heart suit is a profitable source of tricks for the defense.

To woodenly lead the King from this Heart holding would be to leave yourself in the dark, for when low cards hit in the dummy and you hold the trick you won’t know whether to continue the suit, which would blow a trick if declarer is holding up from A J x and forming a Bath Coup, or to switch, which could give away a vital tempo if partner actually has the J or A.

By leading the Q partner can resolve this problem for you by contributing either a high spot card, asking you to continue the suit, or a low one to discourage this.

In terms of which suit to attack, Hearts is the stand out. Even though you could be blowing the suit, the trick-taking advantages are manifold, for the opponents haven’t explored a major suit fit and therefore it’s unlikely they’ll have one, which only increases the likelihood that partner will have length in Hearts.

If the auction had been different and your opponents had stretched to game, possibly via an invitational sequence, then a Spade lead would be preferable to a Heart, for then a passive defense would be more attractive and a lead from x x x is much less likely to give away a trick than one from K Q 10 x.

The lead of the Queen from this sort of holding could work equally well against a suit contract, but most partnerships lead the King to remove any ambiguity in the position, for then they know that partner has the Jack on the lead of the Queen, and not the King.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 3

  Your Hand
 10 3
 8 4 3
 7 6 2
 A K 8 5 4
 
Q: 3 - 3NT is the contract once more and you must find yet another lead.

What signal do you want from partner?

SouthWestNorthEast
--Pass1NT
Pass3NTPassPass
Pass


 Your choice:
A: 5. Here you can’t afford to get a signal from partner, for to do so would be to sacrifice a large technical chance.

With no outside entry it’s imperative that you keep the communications in the Club suit open, so that you can establish them while still having an entry to cash them.

The lead of a low card will work wonders if partner has x x and the suit breaks 3-3, or indeed if he holds x x x and it splits 4-1. It’s also completely necessary if partner has Q x or Q x x when the suit breaks badly. But if you kick off with the Ace or King in any of these cases then you will have destroyed the trick-taking potential in Clubs.

Of course it could be that partner has J x x x and by leading out your honor cards you will take five quick tricks, but all might not be lost even if you lead a low card, for partner might have an outside entry, allowing you to cash the suit later.

If, by leading a low card and not offering partner the chance to give you an attitude signal, you let the contract through, it’s hardly likely that you would have been able to beat the contract anyway, for the Club suit clearly offers the best chance of setting 3NT.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 4

  Your Hand
 8 4
 J 10 3
 A K 5 3 2
 10 5 2
 
Q: 4 - East is at the helm once more, this time in 4.

Which lead gives you the best chance of defeating the contract?

SouthWestNorthEast
--Pass1
Pass2Pass4
PassPassPass


 Your choice:
A: K. It’s best to lead the K in an attempt to gain a count signal from partner, which will in turn indicate whether or not you can give him a Diamond ruff.

The most likely path to beat 4 lies in the Diamond suit, and since you have five it won’t matter if partner has the Queen, for you won’t be able to cash three tricks in the suit unless he has a doubleton, in which case you can find out what you need to know by leading the King.

Partner will peter or not depending on his length in the suit, allowing you to determine the viability of a ruff depending on his card and the dummy. Essentially a count signal is of more use than an attitude signal in this scenario, so you lead the King rather than the Ace.

It’s generally best to lead from an AK sequence against a suit contract, for even if it isn’t the right suit to attack it’s unlikely that you’ll have given away a tempo at such an early stage, and by leading a top one you gain the effect of getting to have a look at dummy to help determine the best defense.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Question 5

  Your Hand
 A 9 6
 7 3 2
 8 2
 K 10 9 5 3
 
Q: 5 - East opens a Gambling 3NT, showing a solid seven-card minor and very little outside, and you soon find yourself on lead.

What’s your plan?

SouthWestNorthEast
---3NT
PassPassPass


 Your choice:
A: A. Declarer likely has at least nine tricks to run when he gets in, therefore your job is to seek out five before he gains the lead.

It’s exceptionally likely that declarer will have nine quick tricks, else West would have converted 3NT to his partner’s minor for fear of going too many off. Therefore West must have some values.

By kicking off with the A you not only get to have a look at dummy in order to determine where to look for your tricks while holding the lead, but partner will give you an attitude signal for Spades, which will help you to construct a picture of the hand.

The standard-looking Club lead is very dangerous on this hand, and pretty much puts all the defensive eggs into one basket, for if you don't find partner with the A you won't get another chance. Whereas the A lead is unlikely to give anything away, mainly because declarer will have very little outside his minor (which has to be Diamonds from the look of your hand), so he won’t hold the King.

When considering whether or not to ask partner to signal, first make sure that the signal is actually necessary and that you’re not sacrificing a technical advantage for it. For instance if you can see that there is but one chance for the defense, there’s no need for partner to signal, which could tip off declarer. Instead try to be as helpful as possible to partner, guiding him along the right path.

Be sure to consider the ramifications of a particular lead as well. It can sometimes be all too easy to happily lead the wrong honor card in anticipation for a particular signal only to realise that partner will signal his length rather than strength or vice versa.

Your result so far:
Open Question

Overall Results

Your results:   out of    Average: 

What next? You may enjoy playing our prepared hands series.
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