Toddlers are newcomers to English. When you introduce them to certain phrases, you realize how confusing the language can be. 

We were at the playground, and June (2) fell and scraped her knee. I came over to the bawling toddler and apllied all the normal parental remediation techniques: hugs, kisses on the knee, etc. More crying. Finally I told her I'd have to treat the scrape. She stopped crying immediately. I wiped off the dirt, applied a Band-Aid, and said "all better." She looked at me with tears in her eyes and asked, "Where's the treat?"

Bridge has plenty of linguistic ambiguity. You should attempt to differentiate between a deal (52 cards, the whole megillah) and a hand (what you hold). A cuebid is not the same as a control bid. That's not the topic today, just a pet peeve I wanted to throw in. 

The topic is another ambiguity: signals. When we signal, it's really important for partner to know the meaning of the card. Let's try a deal from a tournament I played in recently. 

You, West, hold: 

65

AKJ8532

A954

--

 

None vul, IMPs. 

Auction:

West	North	East	South
1	Dbl	Pass	2
?

What should you bid here? You have a great hand, but with seven good hearts, I don't see the reason to introduce diamonds. 4 is my call. North bids 4 and then it comes around to you after two passes. Will you go on? I think we've bid enough. 

West	North	East	South
1	Dbl	Pass	2
4	4	All Pass

 

 You lead the A. 

 

	DUMMY  KQJ7  64  KQJ  KQ103
65  AKJ8532  A954  --

Trick one is A, 4, Q, 10. Now what?

 

Too many players think that the ace and king are stapled to each other: when the ace is played, the king must follow. In this case, that would be a catastrophe.

 

Partner played the Q. Can that be from Qx? No! This is the ambiguity that we must fix. From Qx, we play a low card. The queen at most breaks even. When the Q is played under the ace, it means that the leader's partner has either singleton Q or the Q and the J. The reason for this is that playing the Q from either of these holdings allows the leader to play a low card next.

 

The leader may want to underlead on the next trick for a couple of reasons: to unblock the suit and, more likely, to allow their partner to lead a new suit. 

 

In this case, West knows East originally held a singleton heart since West holds the J. At trick two, West should lead the 2. When giving a ruff, the specific spot card played is a type of signal called "suit preference." A low heart signals that West would like a club back. A high heart spot card would show a preference for diamonds.

 

West could win the second trick with the K, but how is the defense going to take any more tricks on this auction? South must have both missing aces to jump to 2. When West forces East to ruff, East should interpret the 2 together with being forced to ruff as "I really need you to play clubs." East should listen. After West forces East to ruff, the defense takes a heart, a heart ruff, a club ruff, and the diamond ace. 

 

Here's the full deal:

	KQJ7  64  KQJ  KQ103
65  AKJ8532  A954  --		43  Q  10876  876542
	A10982  1097  32  AJ9

 

Note that if West bids on, he is going to go down two (doubled) for a poor result compared to beating 4. 

 

Defense is hard, but having solid signaling fundamentals let us to picture the killing defense.