{"id":77355,"date":"2023-10-23T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funbridge.com\/blog\/?p=77355"},"modified":"2023-10-19T13:06:47","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T11:06:47","slug":"unusual-suspect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funbridge.com\/blog\/en\/unusual-suspect\/","title":{"rendered":"Unusual Suspect"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Whose<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The eternal question for a bridge player\u2026 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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Young Woman<\/strong> takes her seat on online bridge application for the first half.
\u2013 \u201cWho are we associated with tonight?\u201d she writes to the Young man.<\/strong>
\u2013 \u201cWe 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 <\/strong>two years ago, do you remember?\u201d
\u2013 \u201cOh, yes! Very well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing remarkable happens in the first three deals and our Young woman<\/strong> 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:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Deal<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Her right hand opponent opens 1♦ and the auction finishes without her side participating in the least<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Deal\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Some seconds go by before she realizes that she is on lead. She hesitates.<\/strong> 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!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Our Young woman <\/strong>knows the convention that she uses for opening leads well enough. With three cards including an honor she and the Young Man <\/strong>have decided to lead the middle card \u2013 here the 8 \u2013 as if they have three small cards. This convention puts the emphasis on showing count rather then the possession or not of an honor. Those who are in favor of the reverse priority would lead the 5, but this would not let partner know if they have three cards or four. Needless to say both ways are advantageous in some deals and result in catastrophes on others, without it being obvious which is better. Just make sure you play the same thing as your partner!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, her thoughts are elsewhere.<\/strong> She thinks that with her very weak hand it might be better to give information about the position of her honor to make it easier for partner to decide on a defense. However, very quickly, she concludes that such an approach cannot be determined on without prior agreement. She promises herself to ask the Young Man<\/strong> the question at the end of the deal and clicks on the 8 of Hearts, a card that makes dummy appear on the screen:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Deal<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The Heart lead seems to be rather fortunate: East wins the first trick with the King as the 10 appears from declarer. The young man<\/strong> then continues with the Ace, South following with the 9. Upon this, the Young Woman<\/strong> pauses to think. It appears that declarer only had three Hearts. Following small blocks the suit, that\u2019s for sure. But, on the other hand, unblocking the Queen can turn out to be very expensive if South has started with J109. She sees 12HCP in dummy, 2 in her hand plus she has seen 7 from partner. There is enough space for him to still have an Ace in one of the pointed suits or the King of Clubs and therefore an entry to his hand to cash his last two Hearts. Her decision therefore is to play the 5 of Hearts. When East continues with the 4, South doesn\u2019t follow with the Jack, but with the 6. And, of course, when the Young Woman <\/strong>next tries a Spade, East does not produce the Ace but the King. The twin in charge of the contract then claims the rest of the tricks, showing his hand:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Diagram\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

While she and her partner contemplate the disaster, the Young Woman<\/strong> can\u2019t help but send a private message to the Young Man<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-\u201cIt\u2019s infuriating, isn\u2019t it!\u201d I find the right lead and we are not able to take our five tricks from the top.
-\u201c\u2026\u201d
-\u201cWhen I lead the 8, you know that I have three cards, you could have played a small one, couldn\u2019t you? Whether I have the Queen or not, it doesn\u2019t matter!\u201d
-\u201cExcuse me, <\/strong>I think it\u2019s not that simple. Your lead could have come from three small or from Queen third, okay. But what do you lead from 98xx?\u201d
-\u201cWell\u2026 the 8, I suppose?\u201d
-\u201cYou see? In that case, I have to cash the Ace in order not to let declarer score his Queen doubleton, don\u2019t I? When he played the 10 on the first round, I really thought that\u2019s how the suit was splitting.\u201d
-\u201cYes, the 10 was smart\u2026<\/strong>\u201d
-\u201cBut you, you knew I had five cards, you could have thrown your Queen, right? Even if South has the Jack, you never give away more than one trick. As you decided I need an outside entry anyway to beat the contract\u2026\u201d
-\u201cYes, I thought about that. But imagine you have the same hand, without the Jack of Hearts but with the Ace of Spades instead of the King. If we let declarer score the Heart Jack, that is his ninth trick: five Clubs, one Heart and three Diamonds. But he goes two down if I keep my Heart Queen.\u201d
-\u201cYes. You\u2019re right. In fact, it\u2019s a bit impossible to decide, isn\u2019t it?<\/strong> Maybe, if we lead the five from Q85\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few minutes later, half-time at the end of the tenth deal, the four players meet for a debriefing of a few minutes on Zoom. Our two heroes see with relief that deal number four is a push. They question their teammates.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow did they let through 3 No-trumps on deal four? They led the 8 and then didn\u2019t get it right, like us?\u201d
-\u201cNo, he led the 5. So, when East took the King, I played the 9,\u201d replies Pierrette.<\/strong> \u201cPieric<\/strong> (East) continued with the Ace, I played the ten and Lo\u00efc<\/strong> (West) the 8. And it was over.\u201d
-\u201cBut they could have found it, right?\u201d
-\u201cThat\u2019s what Lo\u00efc<\/strong> said; he asked his partner why he hadn\u2019t played a small one at trick two.\u201d
-\u201cAnd?\u201d
–\u201cPieric <\/strong>answered that he couldn\u2019t know. If Lo\u00efc <\/strong>had the Queen four times, it wouldn\u2019t matter. But if Lo\u00efc<\/strong> had started with his fourth from in 10865, he absolutely had to play the Ace.\u201d
-\u201cOh yes that\u2019s true! You did well by playing the 9, like our declarer with the 10\u2026 This deal is incredible. From whatever end you take it, you don\u2019t know what to do.\u201d
–Jacques, <\/strong>silent up to now, takes the floor: \u201cI wonder\u2026 In fact, Young Man<\/strong>, you might have been able to do something.\u201d
-\u201cBut what?\u201d
-\u201cWell\u2026 It reminds me of a very old deal that Terence Reese and Edwin Kantar <\/strong>published in a book in the 1980s. The principle was \u201cUnusual asks for unusual\u201d.<\/strong> Or, in other words: \u201cAn unusual play asks for an unusual action\u201d. <\/strong>You had the opportunity to do that after the lead, I think.\u201d
-\u201cI still don\u2019t see\u2026\u201d
-\u201cOh yes, yes, the Young Woman <\/strong>interrupts, you could have taken the first trick with the Ace and then continue with the King. Usually this shows Ace-King doubleton but, in context, it had to have a hidden message. And the only possible message was to ask me to unblock. Note, I say this now, but in front of the screen at the time, I\u2019m not sure I would have understood.\u201d<\/strong>
-\u201cOkay,\u201d Jacques<\/strong> concludes. \u201cBut it wouldn\u2019t cost anything to try, right?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n