Flip a coin! Heads or tails, right? All you have is a 50/50 chance of hitting one or the other. Statistically you would have to flip the coin 100 times or more but sooner or later the head/tail ratio would approach 50%. Wouldn't you also assume the same about odd and even? If you picked a random number between 0 and 13 you would also have pretty close to a 50% odd/even ratio.

Why am I going into elementary statistics? The answer lies with discards and a method that is certainly easy to adapt. I have used it for years and I am quite pleased with it.

Warning! This method might get you labeled a cheater however! Now that I have placed a disclaimer early in this post you can continue at your own risk.

First off, let's assume you know what a discard is, well maybe I better mention it (lol). Basically a discard is a pitch that you make when you are out of the suit that was led. This suit could be any of the four suits including trumps.

When you make a discard you certainly have the ability to signal pard. A massive amount of information can be passed with discards. These include attitude signals and count signals as well as suit preference signals. Many defensive methods exist but I intend to discuss Odd/Even Discards.

Odd/Even Discards

It's quite simple actually!

An ODD-card discard means "Partner lead this suit, please!"
An EVEN-card discard means "Please do not lead the suit which I am discarding in."

We can refine the discouraging EVEN-card discard even further:

HIGH-EVEN discard "Please play the higher outside suit."
LOW-EVEN discard "Please play the lower outside suit."

What is an outside suit? Basically it can't be trumps, and it can't be the suit you're discarding, so it has to be a higher suit or a lower suit.

Ok, now what is the pecking order of the suits?

1. Spades= Highest Suit
   
2. Hearts= 2nd Highest
   
3. Diamonds=2nd Lowest
   
4. Clubs= Lowest
   
   

So the ranking is Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs in that order.

A Few Examples

If an opponent is leading diamonds and I pitch the 8 of clubs. What is that saying to my pard?

Well, it's an even card. It is not obviously high or low so it must be a signal not to lead that suit!

Now suppose I had played the 3 of clubs! Low, and odd.

Hehehe, I tricked ya! It is simply just an odd discard and means "Lead this suit pard!"

Now suppose your partner is playing hearts. This is the third play in the hand and pard has played the Ace and King of hearts with all following. He now places the Q on the table and this is what you have left.

The 8 is a middle club and cannot be mistaken. The middle-even card implies that you do not want a club led. Pard should shift to diamonds and you will either play the A or J depending on whether you are trying to set or not.

Odd/Even vs. Standard Signals

Playing "standard" discards, the pitch of the 2 in this situation would indicate a very strong desire to not have clubs led. In standard discarding the size of the card you pitch is very important. A low card indicates a desire to not have that suit led, and a high card says "Bring them bad boys on!"

Using Odd/Even methods you simply have several extra choices!

Regards,
Ruffkid1 (Jay Tomlinson)