Dear Mr. Rigal: If my partner opens one heart and the next player overcalls four spades, what does my four no-trump mean?

Answer: There are three possible definitions: Blackwood for hearts, any slam try for hearts, or two places to play (the minors). I think the most frequent is any slam try, but I can imagine playing it as a two-way call, indicating primarily a hand with both minors, but which could also be good for hearts (planning to remove partner’s five clubs or five diamonds back to hearts). I suggest playing it that way and, of course, alerting it as such.

Dear Mr. Rigal: When I lead a king at trick one against a suit, what does partner’s jack signify?

Answer: This simply shows the 10 and denies the queen, just as it would on lead. The idea is to let you know it is safe to continue the suit from K-Q. Partner should not drop the jack from J-x unless you have agreed that the king asks for an unblock. In general, third hand should follow low from honor-doubleton when a high card is led, and should try to do it in good tempo.

Dear Mr. Rigal: During the play, is it acceptable to detach your card when it is someone else’s turn?

Answer: No, you should avoid this, as it could be viewed as a rushing tactic. Pick out your card only when it is your turn. There are many additional ethical issues if you do this on defense. Let’s just draw a line and say: “Don’t do it.”

Dear Mr. Rigal: You hold Spades A-5-4-3, Hearts A-K-6-3-2, Diamonds 3, Clubs 9-8-3, nonvulnerable vs. vulnerable, and hear your partner open one spade. The next hand overcalls two diamonds. Say you bid four diamonds, a splinter, and your left-hand opponent raises to five diamonds, passed back to you. What now?

Answer: I would say this hand is middle of the road in terms of offense for a splinter in competition, and I would therefore double. If I had more shape, say a void in diamonds or a fifth spade, I might be inclined to bid again. As it is, I expect to beat five diamonds with my top cards fairly often, and I am not particularly concerned about only taking 200 when we had 450 available in spades. This would be a tougher call at other colors.

Dear Mr. Rigal: What sort of discards do you prefer? Attitude? Count? Odd-even? McKenney? Something else?

Answer: I use attitude discards, meaning if playing standard carding, I discard low to say I do not like a suit, high if I want it led. Count is as likely to help declarer as partner in the long run. (Note, though, that you can give count when following to declarer’s lead, and partner can usually work out the rest.) I can understand using suit preference when there is uncertainty between the other suits. For the record, I have played and enjoyed odd-even discards, where odd encourages and even is suit preference. I do not believe there are ethical problems with it; others do not agree.

Contact Barry Rigal, email him at barryrigal@hotmail.com.