Second Time Around  [second time around!]

 

          In an earlier article I introduced, to some, I expect not all, the American Leads convention, from the days of Whist.  It can be adapted to any solid-suit configuration. The principle is that whenever a defender has indicated a solid threesome, either by leading, playing, or discarding the top honour card, then a subsequent lead, play, or discard from that sequence shows “count”.  Nowadays, the original second highest [or fourth highest with a 4-long sequence] would show that the original holding was an even number of cards in that suit, the original third highest an odd number. This concept could have helped the defence in a notoriously difficult hand from the 1984 Pachabo Cup:

 

          The contract was 4 Spades by South, who had also bid Hearts.  The first signal was the AD lead, from A K and others.  On that trick East dropped the JD.  This denied the Queen, but also implied the 10 & 9, a solid-suit signal. There followed at many tables the QC, KC, AC.  Then almost universally the 9D was returned confirming the extent of the sequence. This was covered by QD, KD. It may appear that all West has to do is to lead another Diamond to the 10 to defeat the contract.  The difficulty for West was that it was not entirely obvious that South had a Diamond left.  Perhaps South has a Club left, in which case the JC should be cashed, in this case fatally flawed for the defence.

          Few  pairs at the 1984 Pachabo solved this problem, other than by guessing.  A hundred years ago, Whist players may have had no difficulty.  In the example, East would return the 10D to show an original 4-card suit.  West could lead the third Diamond in confidence.

         As ever, declarers can attempt to counter defenders’ manoeuvres.  At the table, in the event, one declarer ducked the QC, giving East a problem: to overtake or not overtake.  It depends again on how many Clubs has South.  The only general advice I would venture to offer is the old saw, “If you are going to be deceived let it be by the opposition’s good play, not by your own guesswork”.  South is apparently making an “avoidance” play, to keep East out of the lead; so East should overtake, return a Diamond, and pray!

          Of course, if you play today’s American Leads convention Cincinnati style, [ “Count-coded leads: defensive carding for the 21st Century” by J Lutz & J Fink], then one leads A from AK with an even number, K from AK with an odd number.  So West should lead the KD, and East would know that South had 3 Diamonds, (or one), hence the only way to defeat the contract would be to overtake the QC.

          This hand is posed as an unsolved problem in Andrew  Kambites, excellent book in the Master Bridge series, “Signals and Discards for you” (1994).  It can be solved, 20 years on, by two defensive conventions 100 years apart!  Nevertheless, as Andrew says, there are no perfect signals to cover every situation.  I recommend you discuss Nicholas Trist’s second-time-around leads or play convention with your favourite partner.  It has its uses, even after almost 100 years.