CONTRACT BRIDGE Extending suit-length signals

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34128, 14 April 1976, Page 23

CONTRACT BRIDGE Extending suit-length signals

For almost 40 years one of the top European bridge players has been Pierre .lais, a Parisian doctor, who has three world titles and several European championships to his credit. This is no small achievement for one who has in the interim written a number of highly successful books, and who avowedly prefers rubber to competitive bridge. It was then no surprise that he was invited to submit an entry to the current Bois Bridge Tips competition, run jointly by the Dutch liqueur company and the International Bridge Press Association. As one of this year’s judges. I shall mark his contribution highly. Jais concerns himself with the subject of signalling. Most players know how to use suit-length signals on the first round of a suit. To show an even number of cards, one plays first high then low, while following suit upwards denotes an odd number. With the heart suit distributed as follows for example, imagine you are East:—

When West leads the king of hearts, you drop the six. to show an even number and give partner a count of the suit. Jais Bols tip is that these signals should be extended to the second round of the suit, when the defenders should follow the same principle to indicate how many remaining cards they hold. If the heart suit is divided like this, it might be important for West to be given an early count:

West leads the two of hearts to the four, queen and ace. Regaining the lead later in another suit, he lays down the king of hearts. East, with three cards left in the suit follows with the five, and his partner knows he started with four hearts. If there is no outside entry in dummy. West will switch [to another suit and the [declarer may never make the [established jack of hearts. With the queen, eight, six of hearts originally East would follow on the second round with the eight, starting an echo to show two cards remaining. BRIGHT DEFENCE The use of these extended signals enabled Jais and his partner to defeat an apparently certain contract on this deal:

The bidding, which may not be everyone’s cup of tea.

Against four hearts. West led the three of diamonds to the four, king and ace. and the declarer led a small heart taken by West’s king.

The queen of diamonds was cashed, and when East

followed with the two, West realised that his partner had started with four diamonds, and therefore the declarer originally held three.

South, who had called hearts twice and clubs twice, was marked with five cards in each of those two suits so it was clear he was void in spades. West had started with high hopes of winning a trick in each suit, but had to change his plan quickly, since he would now need a bit of luck to make his ace of spades. His solution was jquite ingenious. 1 After winning the second (defensive trick with the queen of diamonds, he switched to the two of spades. The declarer, faced with a different guess, eventually refused to believe his opponent would lead away from the ace. and put in dummy’s jack. When this was covered by the queen, South had to ruff. He then had to use the rest of his trumps to draw all of East’s hearts, and when the ace and king of clubs failed to drop the queen, he had to lose the third round of the suit to West. Now the ace of spades defeated the contract. Given the correct information on the lay-out of the diamonds and with an ear properly attuned to the bidding, West had been able to produce an imaginative and lethal defence.

V J 84 W E VKQ97 V6532 S V A 10

V J 94 W E VK732 V 'Q865 S V A 10

N w A K J 8 6 3 V Q 10 ♦ J 4 A .1 10 4 2 E A A97 2 A Q 10 5 4 V K 4 V 8 7 3 2 ♦ Q 6 5 3 ♦K872 A Q 87 A B s A — V A J 9 6 5 ♦ A 10 9 A A K 9 5 3

was very revealing:— S w N E IV No 1 A No 2* No 2V No No 44> No 4V All Pass