Leads, Signals & Discards

It seems odd that, considering all the limitations placed on bidding conventions, there is very little that is not allowed in the play of the cards. The EBU's Orange Book states that you may use any system of leads, signals and discards as long as:

A. Reasonable details are entered on your convention card.

B.No signal is given to your partner which, in principle, is based upon information not available to declarer, so no form of 'encrypted' signalling is allowed.

C. You may not use dual meaning odd/ even signals where odd and even are combined with whether a card is high or low to show suit preferences. This does not apply to odd/even discards.

The reason behind the ban of odd/even combined with high/low signals, is that it was found that the slow play of a card tends to indicate that the right card is not available and therefore that the signal should be ignored. This ban does not extend to discards, since most players take time to think over what to throw away. In the USA there is a total ban on odd/even signals and discards.

It took me a long while to come to terms with the idea of'encrypted'signals, since it is difficult to see how the defence might have information available it to it that is not also readily available to declarer:

In this auction West is known to hold a four-card heart suit so, as soon dummy is faced, the defenders will know how many hearts each other holds. Therefore they could agree that they will play fourth highest leads and McKenney discards if North has an odd number of hearts, and third and fifth leads and revolving discards if North has an even number of hearts.

In these circumstances poor declarer won't know until one defender shows out of hearts which method of leads and signals the defence are playing. Therefore the powers that be have decreed that 'encrypted' methods are not allowed