The Smith Echo is a delayed attitude signal employed against no-trump contracts. It is used after partner makes an opening lead and declarer gains the lead. When following suit to declarer's lead, a high card shows encouragement for the suit partner led, whereas a low card is discouraging.
Example
A classic example of the Smith Echo looks something like this:
| | Dummy | | |
| T876 | |
| 53 | |
West | AK74 | East |
95 | QJ7 | QJ432 |
AT872 | | QJ4 |
QT2 | Declarer | 963 |
K63 | AK | 42 |
| K96 | |
| J85 | |
| AT985 | |
South arrives in 3NT and West leads the
7 (fourth-best leads). East plays the jack and South the king. At this point, West does not know who holds the
Q.
South now leads a diamond to dummy's
A. East should follow suit with the
9, a Smith Echo indicating encouragement for hearts. South next takes the losing club finesse to West's
K. Based on his partner's signal, West can hope to underlead his hearts to East's
Q and run the heart suit.
Compare this to the following layout in which the hands are changed ever so slightly:
| | Dummy | | |
| T876 | |
| 53 | |
West | AK74 | East |
95 | QJ7 | KQ432 |
AT872 | | J94 |
QT2 | Declarer | 963 |
K63 | AJ | 42 |
| KQ6 | |
| J85 | |
| AT985 | |
Again West leads the
7 against South's 3NT. East plays the jack and South wins his king.
South now leads a diamond to dummy's
A. This time, East should play the
3, a Smith Echo discouraging hearts. When South now takes the losing club finesse, West should know better than to underlead his hearts and provide declarer his 9th trick.
Reverse Smith Echo
Some players choose to invert the meanings of the high and low cards so that a high card is discouraging, while a low card is encouraging.
Other Considerations
The Smith Echo is recommended for experienced partnerships only. When playing Smith, a defender sometimes lacks the correct spot card to signal properly. This may cause a hesitation that gets declarer calling for the director.
At other times, a count signal is more useful instead of a Smith Echo. Partnerships should discuss these situations in advance.
Origins
The Smith Echo was created by British player I.G. Smith.