CONTRACT BRIDGE The Suit-Directing Convention

Southland Times, Issue 22999, 19 September 1936, Page 13

CONTRACT BRIDGE The Suit-Directing Convention

(F.H.J.) This article is for regular players only and relates to defensive play, not the bidding of the hand. Your opponents are playing a contract in say, Hearts. Your partner leads say, a Diamond. If you play an unnecessary high card on his opening lead you are asking him to shift to the higher of the two outside suits, that is, Spades. If you play a low card, your play may have no special significance, but it may call for a shift to the lower of the two outside suits, that is, Clubs. Granted that this is another artificial convention, in a game that is already full of conventions, but it is on occasions distinctly useful. It saves your partner a guess. It is the subject of a long and complete article in the latest number of the “Bridge World.” Culbertson devotes some pages to it in his “Gold Book,” and what is approved by Culbertson is of some use to us here. In the following hand East-West are playing a contract of 4S. South leads C 3, which North reads as a singleton. He takes the trick with his Ace. What does he then lead? S: 9 5 H: A 7 3 D: K J 8 C: A Q 6 5 2 S: J 4 2 N S: A K Q 10 6 H: J 9 6 WE H: K Q 8 5 D: Q 10 5 S D: A C: J 8 7 4 C: K 10 9 S: 8 7 3 H: 10 4 2 D: 9 7 6 4 3 2 C: 3 Answer. North returns the Queen of Clubs, not the two. He knows that South will Trump, and if South returns a Heart, North can lead another Club for South to Trump, thus defeating the contract. The lead of the QC, a very high card, conveys a distinct message to South. When he Trumps, South is to lead the higher of the two outside suits, which are of course Hearts and Diamonds. The following hand illustrates _ the same point, coupled with an intelligent reading of the hands. The bidding has been North South 1 C IS 2C 2 H 3S 4 S West leads DK. What does East play and why? S: Q J 5 H: K J 7 D: 2 C: A K Q 9 5 4 S: 6 3 N S: A 8 7 H: 9 3 WE H: A 6 5 D:AK9S3S D: Q 8 7 6 4 C: 10 8 6 3 C: 7 2 S: K 10 9 4 2 H: Q 10 8 4 2 D: J 10 C: J Answer. East plays the Diamond Queen on his partner’s King, thereby calling for a lead in Hearts, the higher of the two outside suits. Why? He reads South from the bidding to hold five Hearts and five Spades. Therefore West holds two Hearts and two Spades, and can Trump the third round in Hearts. West dutifully leads a Heart, East wins and returns a Heart which is taken by North or South. A Trump must be led, East jumps in with the Ace, and leads a third Heart, which West ruffs, defeating the contract. The same convention can be intelligently applied to No-Trump play. In the following hand the bidding has been

South North IS 2 C 2 NT 3 NT West makes the correct opening lead of H 4 and the correct play is West. North. East South. H: 8 H: 6 H: 10 (wins) H: 9 ? H: 5 H:A What does West play on the third round? The hands aro

S: K 2 H: 7 6 2 D: 9 8 5 C: A Q J 4 2 S: A 9 7 N S: 86543 H: KQ 8 4 WE H: JlO 5 D: J 6 3 S D: 10 7 4 C: 9 7 3 C: K 6 S: Q J 10 H: A 9 3 D: A K Q 2 C; 10 8 5

Answer. West plays KH, not QH, an unnecessarily high card. It is easy to decide that Spades and Diamonds are the “outside” suits, as dummy .holds such strong clubs. South has got in with the Heart Ace, and West sees that the only chance of defeating the contract is if East happens to hold the Club King, and on getting in leads a Spade not a Diamond.