How do you defend here?

[Hanoi5]

[hv=d=s&v=b&n=sj873hq963dt2c985&e=sathkt7dq93cqt742]266|200|Scoring: MP[/hv]

 

South opened 1NT which bought the contract.

 

Partner leads the ♦6, which should be his 4th best. You debate a little over what to play if dummy plays low but fortunately declarer is dazed and confused and plays the Ten. You cover, declarer wins the ♦A and plays a small heart to the ♥Q and your ♥K. You return ♦9, ♦J from declarer and ♦K from partner, who then wins the ♦7 (declarer follows and dummy tosses the small club) and ♦5, dummy let's go of a small spade, you?

 

So far:

 

♦6 ♦T ♦Q ♦A

♥4 ♥5 ♥Q ♥K

♦9 ♦J ♦K ♦2

♦7 ♣5 ♦3 ♦4

♦5 ♠3 ???

 

My questions are:

 

- Playing standard signals, what would you discard and why?

- Does playing a high club demand a club return? Does playing a small club deny the Queen?

- Does this depend on every situation or is there a rule?

- I read somewhere that a encouraging card shows but not neccessarily obliges, is this a better understanding?

[Wackojack]

My head is not clear at the moment. This is what I think now but maybe tomorrow I will think differently.

 

Rule No 1 is throw what you can afford. If I throw a club whether it be a high or a low one it could be a trick that I am throwing. If I throw a spade I am leaving a stiff ace, which is very likely to cost a trick. Can I afford to throw a heart? Well, if declarer started with 4 it won't. If declarer started with Axx it won't either, provided I don't throw the 10. In fact I cant think of a likely holding where discarding a low heart will cost. So no suit preference signal which is good, because partner should lead a club in preference to a spade unless she has something as good as KQ9x.

[quiddity]

There's a great Larry Cohen article about partnership style which touches on this. He talks about how, in the early days of his partnership with (I think) David Berkowitz, his partner would often make damaging ("PIERCING STABBING") leads in response to his signals. Cohen definitely prefers the "showing" signal style.

 

> - Playing standard signals, what would you discard and why?

 

I don't know if there's a right answer. Ordinarily I'd be afraid that partner started with ♥Jx, but this declarer doesn't seem likely to hide the deuce, so it's probably all right to discard the two hearts. Partner's middle-down-up diamond play suggests some ambivalence so I suspect he has the K or Q of spades and the A or K of clubs. If he's 4252, we probably want him to return a spade; if he's 3253 we want a club. By not discarding from either suit we leave the decision up to him.

If I were a better player, I could probably draw some inferences from declarer's discards as well...

 

> - Does playing a high club demand a club return? Does playing a small club deny the Queen?

 

I think a club discard (whether high or low) just indicates that you can spare a club. If you had the type of suit of club suit to demand a lead, you wouldn't be discarding them.

[xx1943]

Most discards are NOT a signal. It is up to the players to analyze bidding and play and not to look at partner's DEMAND.

 

 

1) You have to discard something.

2) A discard is not a demand in 99% of the cases. It maybe a signal, which shows. But partner has to do the thinking.

3) PLaying Roman discards is more flexible than standard discards.