The Importance of Signalling Count...

[OliverC]

Eszter and I combined well on this hand to defeat what should be a cast iron contract. It's true that we had no play to defeat it unless Declarer gave us the opportunity, but defensive signalling and patience were the key factors:

Love All, Dealer East

You are North, holding:

North
  A642
  AQ1042
  52
  73

Bidding
East     South     West     North
1       3 (w)   No          No
4       All Pass

Partner leads the 8 and Dummy goes down:
___8 led__
|                  | West (Dummy)
|                  | 10
|                  | J976
|                  | K864
|__________| K942
North
  A642
  AQ1042
  52
  73

You rise with the Ace of Hearts and return the 2, but Declarer plays the King and Partner the 5. Declarer plays a small Spade to Dummy's 10 (Partner contributes the . What do you do?

The fact is there's no advantage to you in taking this trick. Partner surely has a singleton Spade (Declarer almost certainly has 7 to justify their 4 bid), and you have no attractive lead if you do win. Eszter did the right thing and ducked. (A slight quibble is that she perhaps ought to have played the 6 rather than the 2 to indicate a desire to ruff, but there's no guarantee I would read that anyway).

Stuck in Dummy, Declarer now played the King. Even though you don't know the Club position, it's vital that you play the 7 on this trick. Eszter did and then followed with the 3 when Declarer continued the suit. Declarer finessed the Jack and, in with the Queen (South had started with Q10x), I had no problem giving Eszter her Club ruff.

Sitting South I had started with

South
  8
  85
  AQJ10973
  Q106

West's pass over 3 and the 4 bid from East stank of East having a void Diamond (and West some Diamond length), so I had declined to lead a at trick 1. Even if Eszter hadn't echoed in Clubs I might have continued the suit anyway, but the echo cemented the fact that Declarer had probably started with 7 Spades, 4 Clubs, 2 Hearts and definitely a void Diamond.

Too often people fall asleep in defence and just play the cards nearest their thumb without taking opportunities to pass Partner information. Eszter did really well here to (1) nottake the first Spade and (2) signal her count in Clubs. Yes, Declarer played foolishly by not ruffing a Heart high once I played the 8 on the first round of the suit and carry on drawing trumps, but when Opps give you an opportunity you have to grab it.