Defence Against a Trump Contract

You have several weapons in your Armoury to defend against a trump contract - Leads, Distributional (Count) Signals, Attitude Signals & Discard Signals. 

Also, remember 

• second hand plays low - there is no point wasting a high card until Declarer has played a high card
• it is usually a good idea to cover an honour with an honour to cost Opps two for every one of yours and to promote your own low honours, 
• return partner’s suit, and
• most importantly, don’t  play a card without a reason,
• watch out for signals, and
• play as a team

LEADS

1. Don’t lead an unsupported Ace unless it’s a singleton. So if partner leads an Ace and then another suit, the Ace is a singleton
2. Don’t lead away from an Ace
3. AK is a good lead
4. Lead a singleton or your shortest suit so you can trump 
5. Lead partner’s suit if they have overcalled or made a Lead Indicator Bid
6. Lead Ace of a long suit if opposition are likely to be short
7. Against a slam, take your winners early
8. Lead 4th highest of longest suit to promise an honour (but not an Ace), lead a high card to say you are not keen on this suit
9. In your longest suit, lead top of an interior sequence
10. Return partner‘s lead
11. If the suit which is led has no hope after seeing Dummy, then switch suits
12. The top of a sequence is a good lead, as it promotes lower honours
13. Lead into weakness in Dummy
14. Don’t lead to a winner in Dummy and allow Opps a discard
15. Long suits in dummy can be used for discards. Take your winners early
16. Lead low trumps if you see short suits in Dummy as these give Declarer ruffing chances
17. If you have to lose a trick, think about where do you want the next lead from. Declarer or Dummy?
18. Show a poor suit with MUD (Middle, Up, Down)

DISTRIBUTIONAL (COUNT) SIGNALS

Use distributional signals to show how many cards you have in a suit. Again, don’t play a card without a reason, look out for signals and play as a team.

1. When you  have an even  number of cards in a suit you play high then low (called a Peter). This often shows a doubleton. With three small cards, you start with the lowest first.

ATTITUDE SIGNALS

An attitude signal usually occurs when we lead an honour. A high card from partner suggests they like the suit while a low card suggests the opposite.  Again, don’t play a card without a reason, look out for signals and play as a team.

1. A high (followed by low) response means like, a low response means hate.

DISCARD SIGNALS

If Declarer is running a long suit or drawing suits, you will run out and  have to play a discard. Your first discard is a signal to Partner to indicate your preferred suit so that it can be led back at the next opportunity.  HELD (High to Encourage, Low to Discourage) is a popular system. Again, don’t play a card without a reason, look out for signals and play as a team.

There are many more sophisticated Discard Systems. As you develop your game, you and your partner will decide which one you like best. One of the simplest is Dodds - ODDS  OR EVENS. Discard an EVEN card of a suit you want led back.  An ODD discard shows preference for the other suit of the same colour as the discard.

2H - I prefer hearts

3H - I prefer diamonds

3C - I prefer spades