Signals and Discards

		Signals and discards are an essential part of a partnerships agreement 
		and on the downside can be helpful to the declarer also.

		They are different in that signals are what card(s) we play when following
		suit and discards are what we play when we don`t follow suit - throwing 
		away cards.

		In defending there are three basic signals and discards that almost all
		partnerships use:-

			1. The Attitude Signal
			2. The Count (Distributional) Signal
			3. The Suit-Preference Signal

		When following suit, signalling, suit preference signals are rarely used.
		Attitude signals should be used when partner leads an ace, otherwise 
		giving count is the most useful signal.

		Using standard methods:-

		When showing attitude, a high card is encouraging,
					     a low card is discouraging.

		When giving count, a high card shows an even number of cards,
				         a low card shows an odd number of cards.

		With suit-preference, play a high card to show a liking for the highest 
					ranking suit, a low card for the lowest ranking.

					QJT9		On partner`s lead of the ace, show
				A		72	attitude by playing high-low showing 
							a doubleton. With 3+ small cards play 
							low, discouraging.

					AKxx		In this situation there is no point in 
				Q		832    	showing attitude. So to be as informative
							as possible to partner, play the two
							showing an odd numbered holding.
							Partner should work out your holding.

					A74		Following on, after partner has lead the 2
				Q92		J863	when opening the suit, say on opening
					KT5		lead, when the suit is next played and we 
							are left with 863, play the 3 to show
		present count. ie. we have three cards left and we play low-high to show an 		odd number of cards left in the suit.

		The next time the suit is played we can the make a suit-preference signal: 
		the 8 showing the higher ranking suit, the 6 the lowest.

		We can therefore show attitude, count and then suit preference on each of 
		the three plays!

		Suit preference is most commonly used in ruffing situations:-

					Jxxx		South is in 4S. West leads his singleton
					KJTx		heart won by partners ace. Partner will
					Axx		correctly read it as a singleton and will
					xx		return the two of hearts to indicate where
				xxxx		x	his outside entry is - in the lower of the 
				x		A972	two outstanding suits.
				xxxx		xxxxx		
				xxxx		AQx	West will ruff the heart return and play a 
					AKxxx		club to his partner`s ace who will then
					Qxxx		play another heart to set the contract.
					KQ
					KJxx		If East held the diamond ace instead of
							the club ace, he would have played the
							nine of hearts to show it.

		For discards it is best to show an attitude signal on your first discard only.
		Afterwards show present count.

		All of this activity should give you a count in firstly one suit and from the way
		the declarer plays the cards when on lead you should soon have a complete
		count of the whole hand. From this you can then formulate a plan to gather 
		as many tricks as you possibly can - if you can.

		All it takes is a modicum of concentration and being able to keep your 			memory for on average two minutes!

		For your info: Suit-preference signals are often referred to as McKenney.
		(Lavinthal in the U.S.)