ACES ON BRIDGE

“There is no mode of action, no form of emotion, that we do not share with the lower animals. It is only by language that we rise above them, or above each other — by language, which is the parent, and not the child, of thought.”

— Oscar Wilde

Kit Woolsey’s latest book, “The Language of Bridge” covers a lot of ground. One of the topics discussed is how to help your partner do the right thing, as well as instructing you when to make the decision for the partnership if you know what is appropriate.

Here, you can see your own hand as Dast, plus the dummy, after North has shown a balanced 12-14 points and you have discreetly decided to stay out of the proceedings. Your partner leads the diamond queen against South’s four spades, and the route to four tricks on defense may seem straightforward.

Defeating the contract should be simple, assuming declarer wins the first diamond, draws trumps and loses a club finesse. You will underlead your diamond king, and partner can put a heart through.

But can you see a potential problem? Declarer might sneakily duck the first round of diamonds. If you have encouraged, partner will not think to shift to a heart — why would he, since you might have king-third of diamonds and no heart queen? After a diamond continuation, the defense is kaput since West no longer has an entry for the heart play.

The secret is that you must discourage with the diamond two at trick one, even though you are happy with the lead. Now if declarer ducks, partner will know to shift to a heart.

Moral: It is worth remembering that attitude signals relate to the whole hand, not just the suit led.

ANSWER: Some people play a redouble here as a good hand, short in spades; others treat it as a support redouble, guaranteeing precisely three spades, with a raise promising !our trumps. I’m on the !ence on this issue, so I won’t urge you to go one way or the other, but you should be aware o! the options.