https://youtu.be/R1x4nvRg3Jg

Hi !

Please join me in welcoming Shilpa Lakhani, a wonderful teacher based out of London!

Once dummy comes down you must pause and think. You have to answer the question: what is my partner leading from? The clues suggest partner's lead should be a singleton - do you spot them?

Dummy has four hearts and you hold five hearts in hand. Given that South opened 1NT and so is balanced, South is likely to hold two or three hearts, so your partner's two of hearts looks extremely unlikely to be a low card from a three or four card holding.

How you can coordinate with partner to convert this promising lead into a real defensive trick sequence? If you and your partner use and understand suit preference signals, you can let your partner know you'd really LOVE them to send a diamond your way. How would you do this?

Defense is half of the game. If you want to improve your results you must treat defense with the same attention you give declarer play. One of the most powerful but simple tools in your defensive toolbox is the suit preference signal. When you understand how and when to use it, you will turn routine leads into coordinated defensive gains and turn near misses into swings.

Suit preference is the method you use to tell partner which of the remaining suits you want returned to you. It is most often used when you are returning partner's suit or when you are asking partner to return a specific side suit.

Leave a question or comment (and, if you're willing, a welcome message to Shilpa) here: https://youtu.be/R1x4nvRg3Jg

Your partner in learning,

Bajir from LBO

https://learnbridgeonline.com/