Agreed Signals - II

362bridgeL

Long suit signals - extra length.

There are several long suit signals available in bridge, but this article concentrates on a method rarely documented.

Often you or your partner make a jump overcall or a pre-emptive bid promising six or more of a suit. In these circumstances, and when your side ends up defending, often the holder of the long suit can communicate if extra length (over and above that already promised) is held by a careful choice of card.

An example might be you jump overcall 1S by 3H and the opponents end up in 4S. Your heart holding is A Q 10 9 7 4 3 and your Ace wins the trick and all follow. Dummy originally held K 8 6 5 and has the K 8 6 remaining on the table. It matters little to your trick taking potential in hearts which small card you now lead in hearts but you can communicate information to partner by your choice of heart.

One partner and I have agreed to use an odd or even card to indicate if an odd or even number of cards in the suit are left in the other three hands.

Often this means you know if you are going to be over-ruffed or not and so can ruff low to win or ruff high for a possible trump promotion - and so is often worth a trick in defence.

Enjoy your bridge.
R. Wells clubs diamonds Simple Tips with Big Impact hearts spades

Have your say...

Be the first to leave your comment.

  • The comment field was not filled in
  • The name field was not filled in
  • The city field was not filled in
  • The county field was not filled in
  • The email field was not filled in
  • Please state you are human

Leave A Comment*

Your Name*

Email *(Not published)

Town/city *

County *

Terms & Conditions

* Required fields

Send To A Friend Send To A Friend

Printer Friendly Printer Friendly

Add Page To Favorites Add Page To Favorites

Back to the top Back to the top

Become a 50connect Member

Green Issues With Michael Wale

Dragon Orchard - Discovery apples ready to pick.

Apple Lovers

Michael Wale visits a Herefordshire orchard brought back to life by the public.

Spotlight

Meet 50connect's Columnists

From relationship advice to environmental issues; life as an ex-pat living in France and the highs and lows of going back to study; read the latest from our regular contributors.