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This article deals with “present” count. I have given explanations regarding the three basic signals in a previous discussion called Defensive Signaling. The three basic defensive signals include attitude, count, and suit preference. Attitude signals are primarily used when Partner is leading a suit. Basically a high card followed by a lower card indicates a desire to have the suit continued. The play of a low card indicates a desire for partner to shift to some other suit. Count signals are used when the offense breaks, or leads some suit. You signal high-low with an even number in the suit, or low-high with an odd number in the suit. With a 4-card holding we normally play the second highest card followed by the second lowest to show four. Partner will be able to deduce this from the absence of the missing low card. This signal will be very difficult to use in “bagging” deals because high cards are tossed to avoid extra tricks. This signal only has merit on bids that total 11 and higher. Suit Preference Signals are rare but primarily used when leading some suit for partner to trump. If you suspect that partner is out of a suit you can suggest a low ranking suit return by playing a small card for him to trump. If you have a way to regain the lead in a higher ranking suit you can play a very high card in the suit that you are giving partner a ruff in. The ranking of the suits are Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs. If it is suspected that partner is out of some suit only two suits remain. One is higher, and the other is lower. The spades are not counted. This is an important signal when you need to know how to get back to partner. Once you have this information it becomes easier to obtain your trump tricks. Trump Echos are signals that allow partner to determine your trump
length. This signal can be used when
spades are being led. Normally we play
high-low to indicate an odd number, and low-high to indicate an even
number. Notice that count in the trump
suit is inverted. We also use this
signal when trumping. If we suspect
that we will be trumping more than once, we can show the possession of at least
a third trump by trumping high and then low.
This signal should not be used if an unnecessary high trump must be used
to comply. An example would be
Present Count: When your partner is first to break a suit, the first play will be to show attitude. Later he may want to show you count in the same suit. The problem, or dilemma, is whether we show the original count that we started with, or the count we have at “present.” The treatment I prefer is present count. It’s easy to use, does not require any thought of the previous holding in the suit, and still follows all of the rules previously discussed about signaling. The following hand played recently in a rated room on the Zone illustrates the importance of many of these signals, especially “present count.” US Them Score: 381 483 Bags: 3 4 My right-hand opponent bid 1 and I held the following hand:  K Q 10 8 5 4  Q J 10 2  A K  3 It seemed very unlikely that we would be able to set an imminent 2-bid, so I opted for an aggressive bid of 8. I was hoping for a double nil from partner. This would allow a victory for us even if I went set by one trick as long as the double nil came in. All of this assumes a 2-bid from the opponents. If the opponents bid higher, pard will likely bid the equivalent of 14 tricks playing to set the opponents. Sure enough my left-hand opponent bid 1 also. My partner Tough_ went into the think-tank for about 1 minute and bid 4. “Wow,” my pard is going for the set! It now appeared my aggressive overbid might be very costly. Partner was very likely to hold 2 or 3 tricks, and be stretching for the fourth. It seems very obvious looking at my hand that trumps should be pulled very quickly. Unfortunately this is Spades, and not Bridge, and one must wait until the trump suit is broken. With my hand I would be able to quickly trump diamonds or clubs. The question is, whether to lead a diamond, or a club, and I felt the diamond lead had more to gain. The Ace was led followed by the King. This is a count signal showing exactly two diamonds. With more than two I would lead the King first. Partner played the 4,and then the 8 of diamonds, thus indicating a shift to another suit. If my partner really wanted diamonds continued he would have played the 8 followed by the 4. My left-hand opponent played the 5 and the 7, and my right-hand opponent played the 2 and then the 6. Partner clearly played low-high indicating a shift, and was very likely still holding the 3 of diamonds. It was not in my hand, and I can see no reason why the opponents would be playing higher diamonds than the 3. This gives me additional and useful information. Partner has at least four diamonds, very likely to hold five, and partner wants me to lead a different suit. I obeyed partner’s desire for a shift by leading my singleton club. Left-hand opponent gobbled this trick up, rising with the Queen as my pard played the 2 of clubs. Right-hand opponent overtook the Queen of clubs with the Ace and continued with the Jack. Obviously my partner did not have the King. He would have covered the Queen when I first led the suit if that card was in his hand. I trumped this trick small, partner following with the five. It appeared that partner had provided me another strong attitude signal regarding clubs. At this point, partner had to hold the Ace of hearts and the Ace of Spades, if we were going to set the opponents bid and make ours. A very sound piece of advice is this: “If a card needs to be in a particular location for you to make your bid, assume it is there, and play the entire hand around this inference.” I shifted to the 5 spades and partner’s Ace won the trick. The opponents contributed the 3 and the
9. Partner returned the 7 of spades; I
won the Queen, the opponents playing the 6 and the Jack. More information had been transmitted,
namely “present count.” It was obvious who held the 2 of
spades. The opponents had not played
it. They would not deliberately hold
the 2 and play higher cards. Under the
rule of giving present count however, partner would play the 7 of spades back to
me if his original holding were Using the rule previously stated, that one must place key cards in key places to make a bid, I now placed the Ace of hearts in partner’s hand, and the King of hearts in left-hand opponent's hand. I held off leading a third trump because I knew the opponents were out, and this third trump might be of tremendous value in partner’s hand later. The Queen of hearts was now tabled, and my left-hand opponent slightly hesitated before playing the 7. This hesitation was irrelevant. Partner was all over the hesitation, but had already planned on taking the heart finesse as soon as the Queen was led. Partner had a very good count on my hand and knew that my lead of the Queen denied the King. Partner also knew that the heart was not a singleton. I had already shown partner exactly 2 diamonds with my early play in the diamond suit. Partner also knew that I held only one club. After the spade suit was played, partner received the most important count information. He knew that I had started with 6 spades, 2 diamonds, and 1 club. That leaves room for exactly 4 hearts, and playing the Ace of hearts prematurely is a losing proposition. How did pard know that I held 6 spades? I did not pull his last trump. The only reason this could occur is that I must be able to count all of them. I now led the Jack of hearts. Lefty briefly hesitated before playing the King of hearts. Partner contributed the Ace. Partner returned the jack of diamonds, which I trumped. The queen and nine of diamonds fell from the opponent’s hands. Partner’s hand was now fairly complete. He either had started with 3 spades, 3 hearts, 4 diamonds, and 3 clubs, or he had 5 diamonds and 2 clubs. Either way we were home free on this bid and game. I continued playing the 10 of hearts with Lefty playing the nine, pard playing the 4, and right-hand opponent discarding the 8 of clubs. My last heart was now led, Lefty playing the nine, and pard trumping with the 2 of spades, while Righty pitched another club helplessly. The complete deal:
As it turns out we could have made our bid from the lucky 3-3 diamond distribution in our opponents' hands. I could have pitched my hearts on partner’s diamonds but the heart finesse would still have been required. With the necessity of the heart finesse the best line of play is to hold off trumping the third diamond. The chance for an overruff is too great. This hand illustrates most of the techniques involved in signaling. It emphasizes the importance of present count. Present count is utilized in all of the signals. If we make a discard in some suit, normally the size of the first discard is an indication of interest we have in that suit. Once we convey attitude about the suit, all we can do is give partner the count. For example, suppose that I started with five small hearts. On the second round of diamonds I am unable to follow suit. Partner is winning this trick with the King and I have no desire to trump the trick. I can signal at this point a desire to have a suit led, or I can signal a desire to discourage the lead of a suit. In this example, I would play my smallest heart. Ideally, the larger or smaller the card played, the louder the signal becomes. Partner will now know that hearts is not my favorite suit. Now, let’s say partner plays the Queen of diamonds presenting me with another discarding situation. Hearts is the suit that I would like to make the pitch in. Presently I hold 4 hearts, and this next heart discard will show present count. Remember that playing high-low shows even distribution. In this example I would play my second highest heart, continuing with the second lowest to give partner the exact count. Present Count is also given when returning partner’s suit. Anytime partner makes an opening lead, or breaks some new suit; present count will apply when you return those suits. In the situation presented from the article, after winning the Ace of Spades, partner was left with the 7 and the 2. With a doubleton the correct lead is the top card. This is why partner chose the 7 when he returned spades. The usefulness of this signal will occur over and over especially in the trump suit. It is one of the most important signals! Too many times our partner’s pull our trumps when both opponents are void in them. Many sets are missed as a direct result of this trump mismanagement. Have a discussion with your regular pard regarding this signal and I assure you that you will reap instant benefits from more games won, and rating increases. Regards, Jay Tomlinson (Ruffkid1) Please do not make copies of this material without written permission. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
