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Giving Count
In standard (American) carding practice, we give attitude when Partner leads a suit and we give count when the opponents lead a suit (high-low to show an even number). Here are some examples where giving count was the key to finding the successful defense.
Related Play Problems Play Problem 78
Related Extracts from Past Wednesday Games
3♠ can be beaten one trick, but it requires careful defense. A Diamond lead from South, low from the board, won by North’s Ace … then the defense cashes 2 Clubs, and reverts to Diamonds … now, if Declarer draws trumps he has a 2nd Diamond loser, and, if he plays on Hearts, South will win the Ace and lead a third round of Diamonds, forcing Dummy to ruff and promoting a trump trick for the defense.
The defense looks pretty easy when you can see all four hands, but it’s easy to see how a trick might be lost. For example, North wins the opening Diamond lead, the defense tries to cash 3 Clubs … Declarer ruffs the third one, of course, and loses a Heart … now, it’s too late for the defense to get that trump promotion and 9 tricks is the result. How does the defense avoid this trap? Careful count signals and spot-watching are required. When North wins that opening Diamond lead, she must shift to the appropriate Club spot. For example, if N-S play 4th best leads, North shifts to the Five, and then when South cashes her second Club, North plays the Four … this sequence of plays should make it pretty clear that North started with 5 Clubs, and that the third one won’t cash. Similarly, if N-S play “3rd and 5th” leads, at Trick Two, North shifts to the Four, and South should be able to work things out.
East’s 2♣ was the so-called “Inverted Minor” convention.
North leads a low Heart, and Declarer should call for the Ten from Dummy. This holds, South playing the Four and Declarer the Three. At this point in the proceedings, North knows almost for certain that South started life with precisely 9xx of Hearts. How so? The logic is as follows: - South is supposed to give count in this situation … after all, if she cannot beat Dummy’s Ten, her attitude is already known! A good rule of thumb is that, if Dummy wins with the Queen or a lower card, it’s a count situation. If Dummy wins with the Ace we would normally give attitude, encouraging if we held the King or Queen. And if Dummy wins with the King, we encourage if we have the Queen. - When we signal we always make the signal as clear as is safely possible. When South played the Four was she showing an odd number from 974? Or an even number from 9742? Clearly it’s the odd number, because, with 9742 South can spare the Seven in order to make the signal unambiguous.
Against 3NT, East leads the Spade Ten, won by Declarer. The A♥ is knocked out, and East returns a low Spade, maintaining communications with Partner. Now, when the Hearts don’t split, Declarer has no way to score more than 9 tricks.
One small point in the play. Declarer should win the opening lead in her hand with the King (or Queen), rather than play the Jack from the board. This might persuade a gullible and optimistic East to lay down the A♠ (after winning the A♥) in the vain hope of catching North with KQ doubleton. This would not be good play by East who should be wondering why West would play the Four from 6543 on the first trick. Whether that card was intended as count or attitude, surely West would play his highest or lowest, and not the in-between Four.
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