Unusual Suspect

The eternal question for a bridge player… whose fault was it, who is guilty? This new article is dedicated to a domain that is the reason for many discussions at the end of tournaments: signaling.

The Young Woman takes her seat on online bridge application for the first half.
– “Who are we associated with tonight?” she writes to the Young man.
– “We play with Pierrette and Jacques, and the twins are associated with these two youngsters from Brittany (Bretagne) whom we met at the La Baule festival two years ago, do you remember?”
– “Oh, yes! Very well.”

Nothing remarkable happens in the first three deals and our Young woman begins to settle into a slight state of drowsiness. It does not appear that the display of her hand on the next deal is likely to bring her out of it:

Her right hand opponent opens 1♦ and the auction finishes without her side participating in the least

Some seconds go by before she realizes that she is on lead. She hesitates. Not about the suit she wants to lead: With only 2 points in her hand, it is clear that she must try to help her partner set up his suit. She can be of greater help in Hearts than in Spades, owing not only to length but also to quality, so she decides very easily to lead a Heart. But she hesitates about which one!