When a high card is not a signal Larry Hammick larry@hammick.com 2000.04.14 Contents ;Foreword ;Dropping the known card ;Trump-suit falsecarding ;Natural "signals" ;Top-of-sequence after bottom-of-sequence ;Second-hand top-of-sequence ;Optional falsecard from equals ;Showing partner a high card ;Blocking plays ;Unblocking in partner's suit ;Unblocking to avoid a throw-in ;Unblocking discard ;Forcing partner to retain a specific suit ;Discarding a winner to force partner to lead something else ;Foreword Apart from playing to win a trick, or playing third-hand-high, there are various occasions for a defender to play a high card. Since it is embarrassing to mistake partner's normal card for a signal, it is well for a partnership to review the cases in which a high card is "natural" rather than "conventional". After all, said Freud, a cigar is still a cigar. Defence is difficult. Signalling aims to make it easier, but can never make it automatic. Excessive signalling makes defence more strenuous and accident-prone. Many times one hears an opponent say to his partner "Didn't you see my S7?" or "I thought your H3 called for a club." If your carding conventions cause more accidents than they prevent, by all means pare them down. Some of the natural high cards listed can scarcely cause confusion, but are included for the sake of completeness. ;Dropping the known card This type of falsecard, together with trump-suit falsecarding, make up what are known as "obligatory" or "natural" falsecards. They are just part of the routine in any good game. xx Txxx KJx AQxx This is a plain suit. Declarer finesses the Q successfully, then cashes the ace. Unless East drops the (known) K, declarer knows that he can safely ruff the third round low. West must allow for the possibility that East has the J; on the other hand, if East drops the J here, West should place declarer with AKQ. x Txx KJx AQxxxx This is the trump suit. Declarer finesses the Q and cashes the ace, East dropping the K. Declarer may fear to lose a tempo by trying to split the trumps 3-3; if he abandons trumps, the 10 and J will score separately. Again, if East drops the J and not the K, West should place declarer with 7 trumps to the AKQ. Q64 K1053 AJ972 8 West leads the 3 and East's J wins. East returns the 7 and declarer ruffs. The natural, neutral card for West to drop now is the 10, with which he is marked. The 10 should not be taken for a signal, but the 5 should. If the suit is led a third time, it is normal for the defenders to contribute both the A and K, since both are marked. Dropping the known card is axiomatic only when declarer is working on one of his own suits and your alternative card is equal to the known one. ;Trump-suit falsecarding You know about following with the 9 from J9xx, for example. A trump- suit falsecard gives declarer an alternative to a winning finesse or a successful play for the drop. Such a play should cause no accidents, for one does not set about signalling length in a suit in which declarer may have a guess. ;Natural "signals" A card may express your holding in the suit just from the logic of the situation. For example, if you have the last two unplayed cards of some suit, and declarer has not shown out, discarding the higher one first is the natural play: it shows both, for otherwise you would be giving declarer a trick. ;Top-of-sequence after bottom-of-sequence This case and the next convey valuable information to partner. x xxx QJ109x AKxx West leads a low card to the 9 and ace. When declarer later ruffs one, East follows with the Q. That card signals only that East has the J10 but not the K. Likewise: xx xxx QJ109x AKx Against NT West leads this suit to the 9, which holds. If East continues the suit, he leads the Q. ;Second-hand top-of-sequence xx xx QJ109x AKxx Declarer leads this suit from dummy and East follows with the Q. If declarer wins with the ace, West will know that the K is behind it; if with the K, East (at least) will know about the ace. To be safe, this second-hand top-of-sequence play requires a (sufficiently) strong holding in the suit. A top-of-sequence play helps partner to count declarer's tricks, which is very important; and it may show him that he can safely lead this suit, safely discard from it, or safely unblock in it. ;Optional falsecard from equals For example, you sometimes drop the Q from QJ doubleton, sometimes the J, when declarer has most of the suit. It signals nothing. ;Showing partner a high card Sometimes you can discard an honour merely to show partner that declarer doesn't have it. 85 A10763 QJ9 K42 At NT West leads the 6 to the J and K. By the Rule of Eleven, East knows that the suit is ready to run, and he can inform West of this by discarding the Q if he gets a chance. It is often right to play second-hand-high from Qx or Kx sitting over losers in in dummy: xxx ??? Qx ??? Playing the Q here may, among other things, prevent partner from making a costly holdup from AJx. In the same vein: Kxx ??? Qxx ??? At some point declarer leads to the K and returns a small one. East may have grounds for going up with his Q, which sits over thin air. If nothing else, this sort of play will cause declarer to wonder on a subsequent occasion when you just follow suit with a bare queen. ;Blocking plays There are two common varieties: second-hand-high to prevent a finesse and thereby oblige opponents to expend an additional entry; and a blocking lead, called a Merrimac coup. As long as you are aware that partner is capable of such plays, they should seldom cause confusion. ;Unblocking in partner's suit In following to partner's suit, the possible need to unblock must be given the right of way over the desire to signal; in other words, if your high card is ambiguous, partner is entitled to assume that you are unblocking. ;Unblocking to avoid a throw-in When threatened by a throw-in, any of a large class of vigorous unblocking plays may be needed. If we regard trumps as "high cards" of a sort, this class of plays includes underruffs, and the ruffing of partner's tricks (possibly even with a trump winner, if the intention is to follow with a trump lead which draws two for one). ;Unblocking discard This play aims to create an entry to partner's hand. xxx Jxxxx Kx AQx If East gets a chance to ditch the K, West's J cannot be kept out. Unblocking from Qx or Ax, sitting over xx or xxx, is equally possible. Txxxxx ?? AQx ?? Sitting East against 3NT recently, I had occasion to unblock the Q on one of declarer's tricks; and when partner got in and continued his long suit to drive out declarer's remaining stopper, I discarded the ace. Alas declarer had the doubleton KJ. ;Forcing partner to retain a specific suit xx JT9x Qxxx AKx Against 6NT, say, West leads the J and declarer wins. When declarer plays off some other suit, East may know that he will have to release this suit. He may start by discarding the Q. ;Discarding a winner to force partner to lead something else Best to be aware of this rare endgame manoeuvre, lest you mistake partner's ace for a signal and lead the one suit that is fatal. A stylized example: S: Kx H: Q D: xx C: -- xx AQJ x A AK x -- -- x Kx xx -- At NT the declarer, who knows the position, exits in diamonds. If West cashes his remaining diamond, East throws HA.