Signaling on Defense

Good defense requires a coordination of plays between yourself and your partner. This in turn requires timely communications about specific honors and distribution. In short, you have to send your partner signals.

We've already looked at signals (agreements) about specific honors and suit length for opening leads and third hand play. Defensive signals are extensions of those same agreements.

There are three main kinds of defensive signals:

• Attitude Signals tell if you like or don't like a suit.
• Count Signals tell how many cards you have in the suit.
• Suit Preference Signals tell which other suit you want Partner to lead.

Of these three kinds of signals, attitude is by far the most common and the most useful. That's where we'll start.

Attitude Signals

Showing attitude when following suit

Your "attitude" toward a suit Partner has led shows whether you like it and want partner to lead it again, or you don't like it and you'd prefer that Partner switch to a different suit.

How do you show attitude?

• high spot card = something good in the suit, usually an honor card
• low spot card = nothing good in the suit

example 1

	Partner ♥ Q
Declarer ♥ ?		Dummy ♥ K 8 4
	You ♥ A T 9 3

Partner leads the ♥Q, promising the ♥J, and declarer decides to play low from the dummy. You like the lead because you have the ♥A waiting to squish Dummy's ♥K. You might say you have a very positive attitude toward the suit Partner has chosen.

How do you "tell" Partner to continue hearts?

show answer

example 2

	Partner ♣ K
Declarer ♣ ?		Dummy ♣ T 6 4
	You ♣ J 8 7 3

Partner leads the ♣K, and you have a filling honor. Good news! Play an encouraging spot card to tell Partner your attitude.

Which spot card do you play?

show answer

The signals that are easiest for Partner to "read" (figure out) are the lowest spot card you own (for negative attitude), or the highest spot card you can afford (for positive attitude). Middle spot cards run the risk of confusing Partner.

example 3

	Partner ♦ K Q T 5
Declarer ♦ A J 6		Dummy ♦ 9 7 4
	You ♦ 8 3 2

Partner leads the ♦K, but this time you do not have a filling honor. Play a discouraging spot card to tell Partner your attitude.

Which spot card do you play?

show answer

If Declarer wins this trick, Partner's ♦Q-T will sit over Declarer's ♦J-6, so Declarer will make no future diamond tricks.

But suppose Declarer plays the ♦6 on the first trick. If Partner then makes the mistake of leading a second diamond up to Declarer's ♦A-J, Declarer will make two tricks. (Declarer's ploy is known as the Bath Coup.) That's why Partner will pay close attention to your attitude card when she leads from K-Q, only continuing the suit when you show that you have a filling honor.

Showing attitude with discards

When you run out of a suit you can discard any card in your hand. That gives you an opportunity to send Partner an attitude signal about the suit you choose.

example 4

	Partner ♠ ♥ ♦ J ♣
Dummy ♠ 9 6 4 ♥ 9 6 4 ♦ T 6 ♣ A J T 6 4		Declarer ♠ ♥ ♦ Q ♣
	You ♠ J 8 5 3 ♥ A J T 5 ♦ 8 7 4 2 ♣ 6

You lead the ♦8 against 3N.

You can see there is no future in Diamonds, because Partner fails to play a big diamond on the first trick. (Declarer has all of the big diamonds.)

How does Partner also know there is no future in diamonds?

show answer

When Declarer plays clubs, you can discard on the second round. How do you tell Partner that you prefer hearts to spades? (two correct answers)

show answer

You can always give a negative attitude signal for the suit you don't want because you don't need to save those cards. But you may not be able to discard a high card in the suit you do want because you may need all your cards in that suit to take tricks.

Showing positive attitude with a doubleton

example 5

	Partner ♠ A
Declarer ♠ ?		Dummy ♠ Q 5 4
	You ♠ 9 3 2

At a trump contract, Partner leads the ♠A, promising the ♠K.

You have no help in spades, so you follow with a low spot card – a negative attitude signal. You expect Partner to abandon the suit. After all, another round of spades would set up Dummy's ♠Q, helping Declarer.

But suppose you have only a doubleton...

example 6

	Partner ♠ A
Declarer ♠ ?		Dummy ♠ Q 5 4
	You ♠ 9 2

Now you would like Partner to cash the ♠K, and lead a third round for you to trump, killing Dummy's ♠Q.

Play a high spot card, encouraging Partner to lead more spades. If dummy didn't hold the ♠Q, Partner wouldn't know if you were planning to win the third round with a trump or with the ♠Q.

Of course if this were a NT contract, you wouldn't encourage Parter to set up Dummy's ♠Q. You'd play the ♠2.

example 7

	Partner ♥ A
Declarer ♥ ?		Dummy ♥ 9 5 4
	You ♥ Q 2

Remember reading about Third Hand Play? You learned the bridge convention of playing the Q under Partner's ace only when you also have the J. Playing the Queen promises the Jack.

On this hand, you don't have the ♥J, so you cannot play the ♥Q. It's unfortunate that you must play the ♥2 which tells Partner that you have no help in this suit when the truth is that you do have help.

It often frustrates beginners that they cannot signal what they have to Partner. Think of it this way... It's better to play the correct card and be a little frustrated, than to play the wrong card and have Partner VERY frustrated that you misled her.

example 8

	Partner ♦ K
Declarer ♦ ?		Dummy ♦ 8 5 4
	You ♦ 9 2

Partner leads the ♦K. You'd like to trump the third round of diamonds. But wait...

What do you promise if you play a high spot card in this situation?

show answer

Remember what we learned in example 3... if Declarer has the ♦A-J, Partner must not lead a second diamond or she presents Declarer with the gift of a second diamond trick. That's why your attitude signal can only show a doubleton after Partner leads from an A-K combination. After leads from other honor combinations, your attitude signal shows (or denies) a filling honor.

Learn count signals – a powerful tool

Count Signals enable you to tell Partner if you have an even or an odd number of cards in a specific suit. Partner can then figure out how many cards Declarer has in that suit, and plan her defense accordingly.

Playing a high card followed by a lower one indicates an even number of cards. Playing a low card followed by a higher one indicates an odd number of cards.

• high-low = even
• low-high = odd

Usually Partner can figure out your even-or-odd message after you've played the first card. Like this...

example 9

	Partner ♣ 2
Dummy ♣ K J T 6 4		Declarer ♣ Q
	You ♣ A 9 3

Dummy leads a club and partner gives a count signal with the ♣2.

How many clubs does Partner's count signal show?

show answer

How does it help your defense to know the count?

If you win your ace too soon, Declarer will still have a small club to lead to the Dummy and cash future club winners. What you want to do is win your ace when Declarer plays his last club. Let's look at a complete deal and see why that might matter...

example 10

	Partner ♠ K Q T 4 ♥ 7 5 2 ♦ J 9 2 ♣ 8 5 2
Dummy ♠ J 6 2 ♥ K 4 ♦ T 6 5 ♣ K J T 6 4		Declarer ♠ A 9 7 ♥ Q 9 3 ♦ A K Q 7 3 ♣ Q 7
	You ♠ 8 5 3 ♥ A J T 8 6 ♦ 8 4 ♣ A 6 3

Against 3NT you lead the ♥J, won by Dummy with the ♥K.

At trick two, Declarer tries to drive out your ♣A.

If you win this trick, Declarer will enjoy four future club tricks, making eleven tricks in all.

If you win the second club, Declarer will have no entry in the dummy and will score no future club tricks. In fact, Declarer will no longer be able to make his contract. 11 tricks or 8 tricks! Quite a profit for Partner's count signal.

Notice that waiting to win your ♣A when Declarer shows out of clubs (on the third round) allows Declarer to make his 3NT contract. 1 heart trick, 1 spade, 5 diamonds, and 2 clubs = 9 tricks.

Count Signals – Learn Them Now. Use Them Later.

Count Signals are a powerful addition to the defenders available tools. Advanced players use them frequently.

However.... I recommend that beginners use count signals in only one specific situation – when Dummy has a long suit and no side suit entry (see example hand 10).

In fact, you may be wisest to ignore count signals all together.

Why would I say that? Because beginners can be overwhelmed by too many things to think about.

It's difficult enough learning to use attitude signals to place the honors, while simultaneously thinking about declarer's plans and how to counter them.

Not to mention the clues that come from the bidding, and negative implications from bids and plays not made...

Suit preference signals when partner trumps

When you lead a card for Partner to trump, your spot card is a suit preference signal suggesting what suit to lead back. A high spot card suggests the higher ranking suit. A low spot card suggests the lower ranking suit. Like this...

example 11 – an obvious singleton

	Partner ♠ ♥ 4 ♦ ♣
Declarer ♠ ♥ 5 ♦ ♣		Dummy ♠ A J 6 2 ♥ K Q 8 ♦ 9 7 5 ♣ 9 7 5
	You ♠ T 7 ♥ A J 9 6 3 2 ♦ A T 8 ♣ J 8

The contract is 4♠.

Partner leads the ♥4, and you win with your ♥A.

How do you know Partner's ♥4 is a singleton?

show answer

Which heart do you return?

show answer

Partner returns the ♦3. You asked for a diamond, so the choice of suit doesn't tell you anything. But what does Partner's choice of a low spot card mean?

show answer

example 12 – a potential problem

	Partner ♠ ♥ ♦ A 3 ♣
Dummy ♠ A Q T 7 ♥ 6 4 3 ♦ Q T 7 2 ♣ 9 8 4		Declarer ♠ ♥ ♦ 4 ♣
	You ♠ J 8 4 ♥ T 9 8 7 5 ♦ 5 ♣ K J 6 2

You lead your singleton diamond against a spade contract. Partner wins and returns the ♦3 for you to trump.

Who has the ♦K?

show answer

What do you infer from Partner's lead of the ♦3?

show answer

You should always try to see each situation from Partner's point of view. Did Partner know you were going to trump the second round of diamonds? Or did she think your opening lead was low from a suit headed by the ♦K?

If she didn't realize you led a singleton, she wouldn't have been thinking about suit preference. In that case, the ♦3 would not be a request for a club lead, and returning a club could cost the defense a trick if Declarer holds the ♣AQ.

Often the bidding makes it obvious when a lead is a singleton. For example, if Declarer had bid diamonds, Partner would know your ♦5 was a singleton. There's no other justification for leading Declarer's suit.

Go to the next topic:

Discarding

Or see all articles in the Bridge Defense for Beginners series.  +