Blum on Bridge Signals Two, four, six, eight, hike!
	Most of us have those memories of yesteryear days spent playing with the gang, standing a couple of yards behind the center with hands stretched out signaling those even numbers. Looking back, that signal was as obvious to our three or four opponents and buddies as it was to our side. Another memory is as a catcher playing baseball with my friends. Signals were one finger for a fastball, two for a curve. Everything was so simple in those days wasn't it? Today the colleges and pro football teams have play books so thick and complicated it is a miracle that team members have time to go to classes much less pass their courses. Years ago signals in the game of bridge were also far less complicated than they are today. A famous Bridge authority by the name of Joseph B. Elwell invented the equivalent of our simple football and baseball signals called the "echo." Every advanced beginner knows to play high-low to tell his partner how much he likes that suit. Even the slightly more complicated "trump echo," announcing a third trump hoping for partner to lead a suit where he is void allowing him to use that trump to win an extra trick, was about as far as signals went. Incidentally, Mr. Elwell was equally famous for something he wasn't quite as happy about. He was murdered and his case remains is in the annals of unsolved mysteries. Today, I want to present several more recent carding signals that have gained much popularity among experts. Against no-trump contracts a signal popularized in a 1963 article of the Bridge World magazine is called the "Smith Signal." This is an attitude signal given by the partner of the opening leader at his first opportunity to tell him whether or not he likes that suit. Suppose the opening lead is the four from A10842. You, his partner, play the jack from QJ5 won by declarer's king. Declarer now plays a club to his ace in dummy. You hold the 1082. Play the ten to show that you liked partner's opening lead. Had you had poor holding in the opener's lead suit you would play the two to discourage partner from continuing his suit. Odd-Even Discards has gained in popularity more recently than perhaps any other signal. Keep in mind that a discard is a card played after you no longer hold a card in the suit led. Your first discard is all-important. The discard of an odd card (9,7,5,3) in a particular suit encourages partner to lead that suit. Discarding an even card (10,8,6,4,2) discourages partner from leading the suit. However, the rank of the even card also tells which of the other two suits is desired (remember, you are void in one suit and are discouraging the suit led). Playing a high even card encourages a switch to the higher-ranking suit. The play of a low even card encourages a switch to the lower ranking suit. Hy Lavinthal invented suit preference signals in the 1930's. In duplicate circles they are quite popular and known as "Lavinthal Discards." A defender's first discard shows suit preference. He does NOT want the suit led in which he discards. He wants a switch to the higher of the two remaining suits by playing a high card or a switch to the lower ranking suit by playing a low card. To take a break from writing this piece, I went to get my mail. In it was the July/August Washington Bridge League Bulletin where I found an article that directly relates to this column. Steve Robinson, a D.C. resident and world class player, writes about an "Over-ruff Preference" signal which I will take the liberty and quote. You hold AK9876 of spades. The auction goes rho 1 heart-you 1 spade-lho 4 hearts-all pass. You lead the spade king and dummy shows with QJ10. Partner plays the five showing a singleton or doubleton. You continue spades to stop declarer from getting a pitch (discarding) on the third round. Partner follows with the two. The lead of the nine, the highest-ranking spot tells partner he is going to be over-ruffed. This over-ruff preference signal occurs only if there is doubt about your length. On this auction, there is no reason why you couldn't have five spades. If you had overcalled 2 spades vulnerable or opened 3 spades, the nine would be a suit preference signal since you couldn't have only five spades. One final time, I want to reiterate that until you and partner find time to thoroughly discuss your signals when you or partner are on lead the other should give attitude (encourage or discourage). When declarer is on lead give each other count, high low to show an even holding or low high for an odd number of cards.