{"id":2507,"date":"2011-05-17T17:30:02","date_gmt":"2011-05-18T01:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/?p=2507"},"modified":"2013-01-08T20:55:51","modified_gmt":"2013-01-09T04:55:51","slug":"polling-you-65-bridge-defense-attitude-and-signals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/?p=2507","title":{"rendered":"Polling You 65, Bridge Defense, Attitude and Signals &#8211; Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/survey.constantcontact.com\/poll\/a07e3w2bc9xgnsiuwa8\/start.js?v=1&amp;w=300\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/p>\n<p><noscript>JavaScript needs to be enabled for polling to work.<br \/>\n<a href='http:\/\/www.constantcontact.com\/survey\/index.jsp?cc=ViraWidPOL'>Online Surveys<\/a> by Constant Contact.<br \/>\n<\/noscript>&#8212;&#8212;-<\/p>\n<p><strong>Visitors &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/bridgehands-videos.s3.amazonaws.com\/Polling_You_65_Part_1_everyone\/Polling_You_65_Part_1_everyone.html\">Click here to view Part 1 of the video commentary<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"..\/..\/freecontent\/Polling_You_65_Part_2_freecontent\/Polling_You_65_Part_2_freecontent.html\"><strong>Free Membership &#8211; Click here to view Part 2, hand #1 of our video commentary<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"..\/..\/premiumcontent\/Polling_You_65_Part_3_premiumcontent\/Polling_You_65_Part_3_premiumcontent.html\">Premium\/ULTRA &#8211; Click here to view Part 3, hand 3 of our video commentary<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Good defenders make use of numerous tactics to ensure they take all their tricks.\u00a0\u00a0 Top among the favorites include:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Opening Leads \u2013 For better or worse, the opening lead often determines the outcome of the hand.\u00a0 And while no one always makes perfect leads, the players who make the best lead most of the time score more tricks in the long run.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Third Hand Play: Signals \u2013 After partner has led, in third seat there\u2019s far more to the game than remembering the general axiom \u201cthird hand \u2013 high.\u201d\u00a0 Aside from the third hand\u2019s duty to immediately take tricks, good players always strive to effectively communicate various signals with their partner using an assortments of signals depending on the situation at hand.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Playing on Opponents Lead: Possible Signals &#8211;\u00a0 Even when the opponents have lead, in either second or fourth seat on occasion we have the opportunity to communicate with partner using signals.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Inferences: Bidding, Play, Hand Evaluation &#8211; Entire Bridge libraries have been written about the plethora of logical deductions associated with evaluating one\u2019s assets and deducing other players cards (honors and length) based on everyone\u2019s bidding and play.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Opening Leads<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Top of Honor Sequence<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Ace from Ace-King, etc.<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Count: Fourth Best, Top of Doubleton, etc.<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>\u201cBOS-TON\u201d Bottom Of \u2018Something\u2019 \u2013 Top Of \u2018Nothing\u2019 (promise an honor)<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Lead Partner\u2019s Suit<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Third Hand Play<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Analyze Partner\u2019s Lead<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Win \u2013 Lowest of Equals (bottom of sequence)<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>If Unable to Win, Show Attitude\/Count\/Suit Preference<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Dummy Becomes \u201cBoss,\u201d Count or Suit Preference<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Special Situations \u2013 Unblock, Underlead Request, etc.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h3>Polling You 65, Hand 1<\/h3>\n<div><!-- Board 3: Diagram --><\/div>\n<table cellpadding=\"4\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\" valign=\"top\"><strong><em>Board 3<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\nSouth Deals<br \/>\nE-W Vul<\/td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" align=\"left\">\u2660 K J 4<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> 8 7 4<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> K J 9<br \/>\n\u2663 J 10 8 7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\">\u2660 6 5<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> A K 6 5<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 4 3 2<br \/>\n\u2663 9 4 3 2<\/td>\n<td>\n<table width=\"64\" border=\"0\" frame=\"void\" rules=\"none\" bgcolor=\"#008000\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"3\" align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #ffffff;\">N<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"left\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #ffffff;\">W<\/span><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #ffffff;\">E<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"3\" align=\"center\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: #ffffff;\">S<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<td align=\"left\">\u2660 9 8 7<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> Q 9 3<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> A Q 10 8<br \/>\n\u2663 Q 6 5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><\/td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" align=\"left\">\u2660 A Q 10 3 2<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> J 10 2<br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 7 6 5<br \/>\n\u2663 A K<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><!-- Board 3: Auction --><\/p>\n<table>\n<colgroup span=\"1\">\n<col span=\"4\" width=\"64\" \/> <\/colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><em>West<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>North<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>East<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>South<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td>1 \u2660<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Pass<\/td>\n<td>2 \u2660<\/td>\n<td>All pass<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><!-- Board 3: Play --><\/p>\n<table>\n<colgroup span=\"1\">\n<col span=\"5\" width=\"64\" \/> <\/colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Trick<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>West<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>North<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>East<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>South<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1. W<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> A<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> 4<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> 3<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> 10<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2. W<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 2<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 9<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 10<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>3. E<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> K<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> 7<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> 9<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>4. W<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 3<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> J<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> Q<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>5. E<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 4<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> K<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> A<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2666<\/span> 7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>6. E<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> 5<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> 8<\/td>\n<td><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> Q<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u2665<\/span> J<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>South opens 1 Spade with a reasonable 14 High Card Point hand and working honors.\u00a0 North signs off in 2 Spades with nice supporting Spades but questionable Hearts and Clubs and more concerns with 4333 shape.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>On lead, West begins with the Heart Ace from Ace-King and takes a peek at the dummy.\u00a0 While East holds the helpful Heart Queen, East really wants a switch to Diamonds.\u00a0 So East responds with the Heart 3, wanting a switch.\u00a0 Looking at the dummy, West deduces finessing through dummy&#8217;s Diamond tenaces is the best option.\u00a0 East happily wins with the Diamond 10 (lowest of equals) and returns a Heart to East&#8217;s waiting King.\u00a0 Returning a second Diamond East wins 2 more Diamonds and cashes the Heart Queen setting South by 1 trick.\u00a0 If East errs on trick 1 and plays an inviting Heart 9, the declarer will win 5 Spades and up to 4 Clubs &#8211; Club Ace, Club King, low Spade to dummy Jack, ruff third Club with East forced to play Queen, win 2 more Spades ending in dummy, winning Club Jack and pitching loser in South&#8217;s hand.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Free, Premium and ULTRA members &#8211; please login to view video of additional hand\/s <\/strong><\/p>\nPlease login or register to view this content.\nPlease login or register to view this content.<br \/>\nPlease login or register to view this content.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Happy Bridge Trails and Tales,<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>BridgeHands<\/strong><\/em><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>JavaScript needs to be enabled for polling to work. Online Surveys by Constant Contact. &#8212;&#8212;- Visitors &#8211; Click here to view Part 1 of the video commentary Free Membership &#8211; Click here to view Part 2, hand #1 of our video commentary Premium\/ULTRA &#8211; Click here to view Part 3, hand 3 of our video [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2507"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2509,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2507\/revisions\/2509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgehands.com\/bridgeblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}