Bridge Suit preference wins regularly

George Szell, a conductor, was in the United States on his way back to Europe from Australia when World War II broke out. He never left. He said, “Conductors must give unmistakable and suggestive signals to the orchestra, not choreography to the audience.” A bridge defender must give unmistakable signals to his partner, not worry about kibitzers.

Most bridge players are best at declarer-play, second-best at bidding and 10th-best at defense! To defend well, not only do you need to watch the cards closely and signal accurately to partner, but he must be doing the same, and both of you must be interpreting these cards correctly.

The best defenders use a lot of suitpreference signals. Today’s deal shows what is possible. How should the defenders defeat three spades after West leads the club three?

In the auction, if you think West ought to have bid four diamonds over three spades, tune in tomorrow.

East wins the first trick with his club king and cashes the heart ace. West should realize that this is a singleton, so he must signal with his heart 10 under partner’s ace, a suit-preference signal for diamonds. East now shifts to the diamond three. West takes that trick with his 10 and leads the heart six. After East ruffs and leads the diamond jack, West overtakes with his king and delivers a second heart ruff to defeat the contract by two tricks; plus 200 to East-West. Looking for a seasonal present for a bridge player? Give her or him a subscription to Phillip Alder’s bridgeforeveryone.com website.