Spread 'em

[jmcw]

Partner is playing a NT contract, the lead is made and you face the dummy.

Do you have any routine about which suits you place on your right, left?.

 

This is not quite as trivial as it may seem!. Until last night it was random for me.

[Ethel]

I don't think it matters. I try not to put a suit/suits that we have bid on the right hand side. Partners sometimes forget the contract. (Perhaps that should read -" I "- sometimes forget the contract). :rolleyes:

[barmar]

A common strategy is to avoid putting any suit that has been bid by your side on the right, to avoid declarer mistaking it as trumps.

 

I think we may have had discussions in the IBLF about whether this is strictly legal -- it could be interpreted as illegal communication between partners or participation in the play. But one could also make the same claim about alternating colors, and I've never heard of anyone complaining about that.

 

Seems like something only a Secretary Bird would make an issue of.

[Phil]

With a partner that is prone to playing fast, I will try to put down the lead suit last, just to give them a few more milliseconds to plan the play, which they won't do anyway.

 

Protocol is alternating the colors in dummy.

 

I've been experimenting with getting my partners to sort the dummy the same as my hand, so SHCD from left to right. It seems to help when you plan the play and look at your 'trick packages'. That is how the GIBs put it down, and when you play a lot of robot tourneys, you kind of get used to it.

 

Ethel's (and barmars) tip about NOT putting a bid suit on declarer's left is a good one!

[barmar]

With a partner that is prone to playing fast, I will try to put down the lead suit last, just to give them a few more milliseconds to plan the play, which they won't do anyway.

...

Ethel's (and barmars) tip about NOT putting a bid suit on declarer's left is a good one!

I like to do both, but I also tend to put the suits down right to left. When the opening lead is the only unbid suit (not uncommon), I have to start thinking....

[mycroft]

Having a partner with bad eyesight, my dummies are "always" <trump>SHDC, as he requests. I have been known to misplace a 6-card spade suit in 3NT however.

[billw55]

It may be a bad habit, but often as dummy in a NT contract, I resort my hand while opening leader is thinking, such that the suit I expect him to lead is on my right, and gets laid down first (even if he does not actually lead it). This method almost always places an unbid suit on my right. Thereafter I alternate colors.

 

In suits, if I have shortness in a color opposite trumps, I always lay that down second. Not really sure why, just another habit that might be bad.

 

If four color cards are in use, do people still alternate "black" and "red" suits?

[ArtK78]

Alternating color is the only criterion for me.

[TimG]

Alternating color is the only criterion for me.

Indeed, I think the rest of it is over thinking.

[Bbradley62]

I put my longer suit of each color in the second and third positions, to hopefully keep the colors separated for as long as possible. If partner might confuse one of the other two suits for trump, it goes on the far right.

[jmcw]

Indeed, I think the rest of it is over thinking.

 

Have you or your partners never played a NT in a suit before realizing your mistake :)

[TimG]

Have you or your partners never played a NT in a suit before realizing your mistake :)

 

I direct all the mental energy that I'd expend on worrying about the order of dummy's suits to remembering what the contract is. Of course, even that has failed a few times. :-)

[ArtK78]

Have you or your partners never played a NT in a suit before realizing your mistake :)

So what are you suggesting? Putting all of the NT's on the left?

[rwbarton]

I put the opening lead suit on declarer's left unless I think partner might think it is trump. The rest of the suits just go in some alternating color order. Pretty similar to billw55 I guess except I don't reorder my suits in advance of laying them down.

 

I have no evidence to back this up but I imagine there is some edge in cognitive ease to normally having declarer's weak suit in the same place, compared to laying out dummy in a random order. I expect it slightly helps pattern recognition in questions of how many rounds to hold up, etc., even if declarer isn't aware of it. But now I want to try Phil's suggestion of getting partner to match the order of the suits in my hand, as I've recently noticed that counting my tricks is easier when the suits line up, as when reading a book or playing online (I use the hand diagram mode).

[barmar]

I direct all the mental energy that I'd expend on worrying about the order of dummy's suits to remembering what the contract is. Of course, even that has failed a few times. :-)

How much mental energy do you have to expend when you're dummy?

[jmcw]

So what are you suggesting? Putting all of the NT's on the left?

 

 

I have done it before. I bid ♦, partner raised and we ended in NT.

The ♦ were placed on the right and I proceeded to play as if I was in a ♦ contact....hey it happens or could.

[barmar]

And vice versa. I've had auctions where a minor is raised, NT is offered, but we go back to the minor. Then I proceed to play as if we're in NT.

[Ethel]

I also neglected to say that the suit led is always the last one I put down - NT or Suit contract. It is supposed to give declarer time to look at the rest of the hand. It is not really a signal. As to putting the suits down with black-red-black-red I never worry about that and only change them if partner or the opps insist. So far, I can tell the difference between them (thankfully) so it makes no difference to me how dummy puts the suits down. It has never crossed my mind that someone would think that ANYONE was giving or getting some information on the way dummy puts the cards down. Sometimes it seems to me that people are too picky and should just remember that this is a card game and is meant to be enjoyable. If you go looking for trouble, be assured that trouble will find you. I have a feeling that the first poster had a reason for asking the question. Hope he/she will elaborate. It facinates me just what some people can find to get upset about. :D

[nigel_k]

I just put down diamonds, clubs, hearts, then spades from my left to right. It feels kind of insulting to partner to be trying to influence the play of the hand by the way I put down dummy.

[ThymePuns]

One of my partners likes to put down five suits: spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs, and aces.

[Quantumcat]

In NT contracts I like to guess what will be led and put them down first. If partner is of the same mindset we keep a tally and whoever wins over the session adds one beer to their tally of beer cards. Otherwise, long suits or suits partner has bid go on the left.

 

If I have a jackpot I like to put that down first.

 

In trump contracts if pard has bid his own suit with no encouragement from me, I like to sometimes put those trumps in with the suit of the same colour, possibly along with a comment "you'd better have a bloody good suit" to give him a heart attack.

[BunnyGo]

I try to put down with the following priorities:

 

1) The suit least bid by us (and not dummy's longest) on the left

 

2) Alternating colors

 

3) The led suit as far to the right as possible

 

4) The higher valued cards farther from declarer (I don't mind too much when dummies do the opposite, but it can be distracting)

[Bbradley62]

The higher valued cards farther from declarer (I don't mind too much when dummies do the opposite, but it can be distracting)

Law 41D: Dummy’s Hand

After the opening lead is faced, dummy spreads his hand in front of him on the table, face up, sorted into suits, the cards in order of rank with lowest ranking cards towards declarer, and in columns pointing lengthwise towards declarer...

[JLOGIC]

If they led a suit that I have a really good holding in I insta put that down first. Especially good if it's like:

 

1N p 3N, spade lead, and I have 5 spades for my 3N bid, I'm insta puttin down those spades.

 

However, if they make a good lead I put down that suit last, cuz F them.

 

If I have done anything weird in general on the hand, like not raise my partners major with AKx and then let him play 3N, or cuebid a 2 small (that they don't lead), I will definitely put that down first.

 

If I have 3 suits with no honors in them, but a really good hand overall, I will put those down first, like 1S p 2S AP and dummy is xxx xxx xxx AKQJ, I'm definitely putting down the clubs last (unless the opp led them).

 

If the opponents lead a trump and I have some tenace position like J9x that looks like it will pickle their partner, I will definitely put that down first.

 

Conversely, if the opponent doesn't make a trump lead on a normal trump lead auction (esp after tanking before leading), I'll put down my stiff side suit first so they can see my ruffing value immediately.

[gnasher]

If I have a long suit, I put it at one of the ends. That allows me to spread the suit out properly without the board getting in the way.

 

I also try to make sure that there are no bits of paper underneath my cards, so that the cards are clearly distinguishable from their surroundings.

 

Feel free to make use of either of these tips, with proper attribution of course.