Another example for the workers

For today’s deal, put on your defender’s cap, then cover the East and South cards.

In the auction, West made a weak jump overcall of three clubs over South’s one-heart opening. It wasn’t an ideal bid: The suit was fine, but the hand was playable in three suits, not just the one East would assume. However, experience has shown that it pays to make life tough for the opponents.

North had one of the worst 10-point hands you will ever see, but he had to bid something over three clubs, and he did have fourcard heart support.

Against four hearts, West leads the club king: four, six, ace. Declarer draws four rounds of trumps ending in hand, East following throughout, then leads the club three toward dummy’s jack. West rises with the queen, and partner follows with the two. What should West do now?

It seems to be a guess between spades and diamonds. Probably, because he has one fewer spade, he will switch to that suit. But today it isn’t the winning play. Declarer takes the trick with dummy’s queen and discards a diamond loser on the club jack.

How could West have known? Only if East puts his “useless” trumps to work. If he wants a spade switch, he plays his trumps in descending order: seven, five, four, two. Here, though, he wants a diamond switch, so he follows in ascending order: two, four, five, seven. With no preference, he plays his cards in some random sequence.

Experts make a lot of suitpreference signals with low trumps. They work well — if you play with a partner who watches your cards.