Some Tricks of the Trade

Some of these methods are fairly well-known by most.  All are standard equipment of the compleat declarer.

WATCH THE SIGNALS AND THE DISCARDS

What are the opponents' carding methods?  You might need to know:

• Standard American
• Odd-Even
• Lavinthal
• Upside-down Count and/or Attitude
• Other

If you ask, and an opponent answers, say, "Lavinthal", this can be a good time to observe the other opponent's behavior.  Often, A.J. is not playing the same card as his partner; and an inadvertent mannerism might telegraph that fact.

More importantly, however:

• TIP: If you ask about carding and A.J.'s response is "Standard", don't believe it!

Get clarification.  Was that discard of a three-spot encouraging, or was it not?  Millions of bridge players worldwide, including many at your own local club, believe that making their first discard in the suit that they want led is Standard.  Not only is that a pathetic defensive method, however, but announcing it as Standard is both incorrect and, because it is a private understanding, illegal.  In Standard American, a high card is encouraging in the suit of the discard, and a low card is discouraging.  As declarer, you may need to root out the facts.

AVOID MAKING FALSE CONCLUSIONS FROM A SIGNAL

At Trick Seven, an opponent discards a deuce.  You ask about the carding, and the response is, "upside-down attitude".  So you play the signaller for an important key card, which proves to be wrong.  What happened?  Were you misinformed?  Not necessarily.  You probably were not playing against Average Joe on this occasion.  Your capable defenders already had completed their pertinent signalling to each other several tricks earlier, and subsequent plays might have been solely for your 'benefit'.

So many declarers simply cannot seem to assimiliate this concept, probably because their own defensive carding methods are flawed.  You need to be aware of it yourself, however, and of the opponents' carding agreements as well.  Asking about a play made late in a hand generally is a waste of time; instead, you need to concentrate on why RHO played his ace at trick one rather than the king, or why LHO echoed in the trump suit, etcetera.  At Trick Seven, a two is just a two.

Another situation is when a defender has all the outstanding stuff and knows that he is pretty much on his own.  Because partner doesn't need any signals, the defender can play whatever he chooses.  He is not there to help you.  Average Joe's signals, on the other hand, tend to be honest at all times; but rely upon them at your own risk, of course.

TRY TO INDUCE A CONTINUATION

Everyone is familiar with the Bath Coup, wherein you duck the lead of a king or queen holding AJx, hoping that the suit will be led again.  There are other possibilities, however, most of which involve the playing of an unnecessarily high card on the first lead.

For example, a king is led against your Notrump contract.  You hold A109 opposite 8xxx.  Consider following with the ten.  This gambit gives up a sure second stopper; but it also might prompt LHO to continue the suit, giving you an extra tempo toward setting up the eight when a defensive switch would have proved more profitable.

TRY TO INDUCE A COSTLY COVER

Lead the ten from 10xxx opposite A98xx, which cannot cost.  RHO might split his honors for you, crashing his partner's equal honor.  Lead the jack from Jxxx toward A9xxx in your hand for the same reason, but not if RHO could be short in the suit.

Lead the ten from A108 toward K9xxx.  LHO might foolishly cover with Jx, Qx, Jxx, Qxx.  With Jxxxx opposite Qxxxx, lead toward dummy if you judge that LHO might have Kx, or lead the queen from dummy, hoping that RHO will cover with Kx.  This ploy never should work, but occasionally it does.

TRY TO INDUCE A MEANINGLESS COVER

Most players know this one.  If you are missing the queen of trump, the lead of the jack might prompt a cover that could not possibly be useful to the defense.  Average Joe grasps the concept of honor-promotion only vaguely, if at all.  Somebody once told him to "cover an honor with an honor", though; so he might do just that.

Be careful not to overdo it, however.  If you hold K8xxx opposite AJ10x, you can afford to lead the jack; but overtaking with the king is risky.  If the other defender shows out, you have just created an extra loser in the suit.

LEAD THE HIGHEST CARD IF YOU WANT IT TO BE COVERED, OTHERWISE NOT

Most players are aware of this one.  The lead of a king is more likely to be captured than the lead of a queen or jack, because the hand with the ace might be leery of crashing an honor in partner's hand.  If you want to sneak a trick through, such as when trying to get the trumps drawn, lead a lesser honor first.  Don't be too greedy, though.  A little deception is well and good, but too much of it can backfire.  If you have bid a suit three times, it is not likely to be jack-high, and the opponents will know that; so from KQJ, lead the queen, not the jack.

In contrast, holding QJ108xx opposite Ax in dummy, lead the ten.  If that is covered, then finesse the eight on the way back.  Average Jane probably has not figured out in advance that covering the ten with K9 doubleton is a no-lose play (have you?); therefore, the king most likely is a singleton (assuming, of course, that it was played in tempo).

There are other such opportunities for inducing an error.  With J10xxx opposite Kxx, lead the ten, hoping that it is not covered by the hand with Qx.  Holding J10x across from Axx and you believe that the suit is splitting 4-3, lead the jack, because you are hoping for split honors and you do want the jack to be covered.  If you have QJ9x with Axx in dummy, lead the queen.  If it is covered, finesse the nine on the way back; you might not lose any trick at all!

GIVE THE OPPONENTS OPPORTUNITIES TO GO WRONG

The knowledge that Average Joe will grab most opportunities to win a trick is a powerful thing.  In most situations is is odds-on to assume that A.J. is behaving normally for his skill-level.

With Axx opposite Q10x, lead toward the queen; if the king doesn't pop up, assume that it is not in LHO's hand.  Lead low from Kxxxx toward a singleton in your hand; sometimes, RHO will rise with the ace.  Lead low from AQx toward xxx in your hand.  If RHO has the king, either he will play it, or he very likely will reveal its location by a hesitation.  He definitely will not be ready for that particular lead.  Even a good player would be hard-pressed to duck with, say, Kx, because it could prove very costly.

RESTRICTED CHOICE

The well-publicized principle of Restricted Choice is a useful guide; yet not only is it nonsensically named (because the situation actually involves an unrestricted choice), but going with the mathematical odds accomplishes the same effect.  The following is a situation of truly restricted choice:

• TIP: When a trump lead is strongly suggested by the bidding yet is not forthcoming, play the opening leader for the key trump honor.

It is reasonable to expect that LHO was restricted from leading a trump due to the nature of her holding — Qxx or Kx, for example.

Note that this conclusion does not apply if you are missing just Q-x-x in trumps  No one ever would lead a trump in that situation unless the suit were breaking 2-1 anyway.  Be aware also that this conclusion is valid only against a reasonably skilled opponent, for Average Joe might not have known to lead the right thing.