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Together….and Apart.

Discarding is a very important and dangerous area of our game. One wrong discard can be very expensive for the defence.

It is important for defenders to try to give each other as much information as they can to help with both further discards and also the general defence of the hand. One has to weigh up how important it is to tell partner, because there is someone else watching as well, the declarer. There are times when it is vital you do not tell declarer the location of a key honour, though generally, the positive benefits of truthful signalling outweigh the fact that declarer can see the message you are trying to give to your partner.

The positive benefit of signalling was obvious on this board. You, West, had created perhaps an unnecessarily awkward ending with an unwise switch but all might not still be lost:

 

You are playing Pairs where overtricks do matter. You find a potentially rather good lead of J, especially when the declarer wins in hand with the king to switch to a diamond to the ace and a second diamond to declarer’s 10 and your king. Partner shows you they hold an odd number of diamonds. Declarer wants to do some ruffing in dummy or was that a doubleton in declarer’s hand with your partner holding a 5- card suit? You can dismiss that latter thought. Holding QJxxx, your partner would likely have played an honour.

 With no more trumps, your safest exit is another diamond. However, perhaps keen to get to your partner’s hand so they can play a second trump, you try the J. One problem with this is partner will not put up the king unless the queen is played from dummy, which it will not be. Another is you do not know how many spades declarer has. Declarer plays low from dummy, partner showing no interest in the suit as declarer’s king wins the trick. Next comes 8 ruffed very high in dummy (partner plays J) and then 6 more rounds of trumps and the Q from declarer at trick 12. Yet, you still have two black aces. Which one do you keep? It’s OK. Partner told you.

 

Their first discard would or should be a signal to say they had a club honour..maybe 3 low or  8 high encourage. All your worries were over. With some relief, your A takes the last trick. Without a signal from partner (and there are other ways partner could signal too), you would be down to shutting your eyes and hoping the card you pick is the right one. Not good bridge…and not good for your nerves!

Together……but sometimes you are on your own. Indeed, the cause of your having to make a choice could be your own partner taking tricks. Let’s look at yesterday’s problem:

The opposition have forced themselves up to 3. 3 was a game try probably in their own spade suit and looked for help in diamonds. North provided no help.

Your partner led the A, taking your queen. They then followed with K and J (South has followed to two diamonds and is likely to play a third.) Which two discards do you make?

The first one is quite easy, especially if you play low encourage, 3. However, what next? At the table, East threw a heart (it did not matter which one) and an unmakeable contract had just been made…

 

The heart discard was very unwise. Your side had taken 3 tricks. You had to hope for a trump trick and to be able to cash one club trick when you won the lead. What happened was that at trick 4, West switched to 10 which declarer took with the ace. You covered the 10 with declarer playing their three spade winners, to be followed by four rounds of hearts. You ruffed with your winner as South’s club was thrown, “loser on loser style” and 3 made.

No signal from partner could help though there were plenty of clues for you to find the right discard. You must either throw 2 hearts or none.

Clue 1. South has tried for game and yet has no honour in either minor suit and at best AKJ. They must have more than that. They must have the missing heart honours.

Clue 2. It would be unwise for your partner to have continued diamonds if South was going to ruff the third round, especially if your first discard had asked for a club switch. Therefore, you must presume that South does have three diamonds.

Clue 3. It seems following North’s negative double that South does not hold 4 hearts. They could have 6 spades, 2 hearts, 3 diamonds and 2 clubs. If that were the case, you will always make one club trick, but no more. It is really unlikely that declarer has 3 cards in each minor. Without any club tricks, you are not going to prevail…you must hope for one…and one trump trick. Do not be greedy. Beating a contract by one trick when you could have done so by two is not nearly so bad a crime as failing to beat an unmakeable contract.

Clue 4. Is simply preserving the same length as dummy’s heart suit if you can…and you can. Throw two clubs.

Say you were not playing reverse signals and that your 3 first discard would not have been an encouraging card? You can still get the message across by throwing K first up and then 3. This is unlikely to cost the contract.

Apart....The previous bidding, inference to declarer’s strength and one of the basic rules of defence, maintaining the same length in a side-suit as dummy. These were your clues and the difference between +50 and -140. Discarding is not always easy but unless you are genuinely squeezed, there is usually a solution with just a little thought.

And a play hand for tomorrow. Despite your partner trying to sign off in 4, you propel yourself all the way to the small spade slam..

 

5 showed two key cards, no Q. West leads 4. Bid them up. Play them well. Can you? See you tomorrow.

Richard Solomon

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