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(62) Defense: Defensive Carding and Signals (UDCA)

Date: September 2013 © AiB Robert S. Todd
Level: Novice / Intermediate robert@advinbridge.com

General
Defense is the hardest part of Bridge. Declarer has several advantages over the Defenders: He can see
all of his side’s cards (assets) and he has no partner to get in the way of what he is trying to accomplish.
In order to be successful on defense we will need to work hard with our partner – both on forming
agreements before we defend a hand and on communicating with each other during the defense.

The way that we work with partner is to understand that the cards we play when we are not winning a
trick can be (should be) used to communicate with partner. These cards mean something, so PAY
ATTENTION! These cards will have different meanings in different situations (Attitude, Count, or Suit
Preference.) Let’s look at some of these situations.

Count Signals
Count Signals Summary
When the Declarer is leading a suit we give count. We do so when the Declarer is leading from their
hand or when they are leading from the dummy. We give count when we are playing as second hand or
if we are playing last to the trick (4th hand to play). Of course, one important thing to remember is that
we do not give count if we need to try to win the trick – “Play Bridge First!”

How To Give Count

When it is our turn to play (after Declarer has led) and we are not involved in winning the trick then we
want to use our play to try to communicate some useful information to partner. The information that is
most useful is our Count in the suit. (Count is more useful than Attitude because this is a suit that the
Declarer is playing on and thus we are not likely to like the suit.) Count is the number of cards we have
in that suit. Unfortunately, we cannot tell partner the exact number of cards that we have in a suit –
that is too complicated. But what we can do is try to let partner know our parity in the suit – if we have
an even or odd number of cards.

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Here is how we give Count (in Standard Carding):

 If we have an odd number of cards in a suit then we play them up the line – start with our
lowest card the first time declarer plays the suit and the next time the suit is led we play a
higher card. Partner will see that we played them “in order” or “up the line” and know that we
have an odd number of cards in the suit.
 If we have an even number of cards in a suit then we play “high-low.” That is, we start by
playing the highest card we can afford (without giving up a trick) and on the second round of the
suit we play a lower card. Partner will see that we played high-low (also called a Echo or Peter)
and know that we have an even number of cards in the suit.

Notice that in both of these cases partner did not know for sure our count when the first round the suit
was played. But our first card can still be useful to partner. On the first round of a suit partner will have
to interpret our card – determine if it is low or high. Knowing that this is the case, we want to be sure to
make as clear a signal as possible for partner. That means if we are trying to play a low card, we should
play the lowest card we have. And if we are trying to play a high card then we should play the highest
card we can afford (the highest of equals for sure!) Partner should keep in mind that our first card may
not always be clear. Cards are relative, not absolute – Sometimes a low card looks high or a high card
can look low. If we are giving count from Q109 then we are going to have to play the 9 on the first
round (it is our lowest card.) And if we are giving count from 5432 we are going to play the 5 on the
first round (it is our highest card.) In both cases our count will not become clear to partner until the
second round of the suit – where we will play another card that will clarify our original signal.

Once we have given partner our Count in a suit then they will have to do some work to make use of the
information. They will have to determine if we have 1, 3, 5, or 7 cards OR 2, 4, 6, or 8 cards in the suit.
They will make this determination by using other information available on the hand (they will usually be
able to figure it out relatively quickly.) Once they have determined how many cards we have in the suit
they will also have to figure out how to make use of that information to help our side defend better.
This information will not always be useful to partner early in the hand, but as they acquire more and
more information about our hand and declarer’s hand it will help them solve problems.

Note: Don’t give a count signal that may cost a trick. If we have Qx in a suit, do not play the Queen on
the first round – that will likely cost a trick. Count signals are always given the with “highest card we
can afford to play without giving up a trick!”

(62) Defense – Defensive Carding and Signals (UDCA) 2

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Attitude Signals
Attitude Signals Summary
When partner leads a suit we (generally) give an Attitude Signal. If partner’s card is holding the trick we
tell them if we like the suit or not (Attitude Signal.) If partner’s lead is being won by the second hand
(and we can not win the trick) then we give an Attitude Signal (unless Attitude is known.)

How to Show Attitude

When it is our turn to play (after partner has led a suit) and we are not involved in trying to win the trick
(our first priority is always to try to win the trick) then we shouldn’t just play a random card. Our card
should (and does) mean something and that thing is an Attitude Signal. Our Attitude is how we feel
about the suit that partner has lead – do we like it or do we not like it.

Here is how we show our Attitude (in Standard Carding):

 If we like the suit that partner has led we play a high card (start an Echo or Peter) –
Encouraging.
 If we do not like the suit that partner led then we play a low card – Discouraging.

Notice that in both of these cases partner did not know for sure our Attitude when the first round the
suit was played. But our first card can still be useful to partner. On the first round of a suit partner will
have to interpret our card – determine if it is low or high. Knowing that this is the case, we want to be
sure to make as clear a signal as possible for partner. That means if we are trying to play a low card then
we should play the lowest card we have. And if we are trying to play a high card then we should play
the highest card we can afford (the highest of equals for sure!) Partner should keep in mind that our
first card may not always be clear. Cards are relative not absolute – Sometimes a low card looks high or
a high card can look low. If we are giving Attitude from Q32 then we are going to have to play the 3 to
encourage on the first round (it is our highest card we can afford.) And if we are giving Attitude from
1098 we are going to play the 8 on the first round (it is our lowest card.) In both cases our Attitude will
not become clear to partner until the second round of the suit – where we will play another card that
will clarify our original signal.

Once we have given partner an Attitude Signal in a suit then they will have to do some work to make use
of the information. They will have to determine what our holding in the suit it (based on what we have
told them.) Once they have determined what our likely holding in the suit is then they can combine this
information with other information that they have about the hand in order to make a determination
how best to defend the rest of the hand.

(62) Defense – Defensive Carding and Signals (UDCA) 3

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Agreements
One of the most important parts of good defense is having good agreements with your partner. Here
we will go over what we need to clarify related to signaling.

Basic List of Agreements

 Declarer leads a suit – we give count.
 Partner leads a suit -
o We give Attitude if partner’s card is holding the trick.
o We give Attitude if Second Hand (often Dummy) is winning the trick with the Ace or King.
o We give Count if Second Hand is winning the trick with the Queen or cheaper (if we can
not beat the Queen or lower, Partner already knows our Attitude.)
 If Attitude and Count are already known or irrelevant we give Suit Preference
o Example: When partner leads an Ace and there is a singleton on the dummy (vs. a suit
contract.)
o Example: When partner leads the Ace and the KQx hits on the dummy (vs. a notrump
contact.)
 Primary Signal Attitude, Secondary Signal Count, Tertiary Signal Suit Preference.

There are many other agreements that you and partner can make as you improve and evolve as
defenders. The most important thing is for you and partner to be “on the same page” – have the same
understandings about what is going on during the defense.

UDCA (Advanced)
Most expert players play a variation from Standard Carding called Upside-Down Count and Attitude
(UDCA.) This is exactly what it sounds like – it is making both our Count and Attitude Signals “Upside-
Down.” Upside-Down means the opposite of Standard Carding.
 Upside-Down Attitude means that we use low cards to Encourage and high cards to Discourage.
 Upside-Down Count means that we use low cards (playing “up the line”) to show an Even
number of cards in a suit and high cards (echos) to show an Odd number of cards in a suit.

The more useful of these two agreements is Upside-Down attitude (many players play upside-down
attitude and remain with standard count.) Upside-Down attitude allows us to Encourage with low cards
in the suits we like – letting us save the high cards that we might need in order to take future trick.
Additionally, our low cards are generally clearer than our high cards (a 2 is clearly low, while a 7 may be
high or low) and we want partner to be certain about the suits we like. Upside-Down Count is primarily
played to complicated things for the declarer and to make some issues with upside down Attitude work
more smoothly.

(62) Defense – Defensive Carding and Signals (UDCA) 4

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Note: Upside-Down Count (or UDCA) requires us to have some additional complex agreements. We
need to have more discussion with partner on several new topics. Before you play this set of
agreements you should be sure that you understand these issues and that you have clear
understandings with your partner. If you do not, then confusion can easily arise in complex and difficult
situations at the table:
 Remainder Count (vs. Original Count)
 Return Count
 Shift Count
 Delayed Return Count

Conclusion
There are many challenging aspects of good Defense. But one of the most important is to have good
agreements with partner. These agreements should be combined with good communication and hard
work interpreting partner’s signals to give us the ability to defend each hand well. Defense is the
hardest part of bridge and you and partner will make mistakes and get things wrong. But learning to
signal and communicate with partner is a vital part of exchanging the information you need in order to
defend your best.

(62) Defense – Defensive Carding and Signals (UDCA) 5