#2 North South Vulnerable
South West North East
2♥ Pass 4♥ AP
North (dummy)
♠ Q J 9
♥ A Q 3
♦ A K J 4
♣ 9 4 2
West (you) East
♠ A K 6 4 ♠ 2
♥ 7 5 ♥
♦ 9 6 2 ♦
♣ Q 10 8 3 ♣
South (declarer)
♠ 10
♥
♦
♣
A general signal rule against a suit contract ~ When partner leads the A (from AK), third hand signals encouragement with either the Q of the led suit or a doubleton. In this hand, the ♠Q is in the dummy for all to see. Therefore, East’s ♠2 is a discouraging signal showing three or more cards in the spade suit.
West does not want to continue spades and set up the ♠Q before other defensive tricks are taken. It’s a process of elimination. Hearts are trumps and diamonds are solid; therefore, clubs is the obvious switch. Partner figures to have an honor or two in the suit give the fact that South has a weak hand from the preemptive opening bid of 2♥. East holds the ♣AK and the defender’s take three clubs and one spade for down one. If West continued with the ♠K, South trumps, pulls trumps and discards away a club loser on the good diamonds in dummy.
Visit Webinars.PlayBetterBridge.com for free webinar videos called Defend These Hands with Me. World Champion and Master Teacher Donna Compton walks you through her thought process of opening leads, passive vs aggressive defense and many more “must know” defensive ideas. The combination of being a world-class player, along with the ability to share her thoughts with all levels of players makes these webinar videos unique. Married to a multi-time Barry Crane Top 500 Champion and captaining the World’s Top Bridge Team gives Donna access to state-of-the-art bidding, play and defensive agreements. Join Donna today and take your game to the next level!
