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McKenney/McKinney
Discards (sometimes
called Lavinthal) |
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When
you are defending and cannot follow suit, then you have to discard
something. It is
often best to convey some sort of information to your partner with this
discard and there are various methods. High/Low
discards are a common example. A High
card (I like), a low card (I don’t like). One
of the best and most commonly used methods is known as McKenney. The advantage is that you DO NOT discard
from a suit that you like, but you discard from one of the other suits. There
are two remaining suits to discard from and the size of your discard
indicates which of these remaining two suits you like. For example:- A
high/middle card (6,7,8,9) indicates you want the higher ranking of the
remaining suits. A low card (2,3,4,5) asks for the lower ranking suit of the
remaining suits. |
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McKenney
discards are suit-preference signals that work in the following manner: The first
discard by either defender denies interest in that suit, and the size of the
discard indicates whether he would like the higher or lower of the two
remaining suits to be led. For
example, if declarer is running diamonds and you have to discard, a high
heart discard would ask for a spade, and a low heart discard would ask for a
club. Similarly,
a high spade discard would ask for a heart, and a low spade discard would ask
for a club. The
main advantage is that as a defender you do not need to discard a valuable
card in the suit you actually want. You also have a choice of which of
the remaining two suits to use for his signal. |
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Most importantly
however: A suit preference signal (discard) is for
information and is not an instruction. You are not compelled to lead the suit your
partner has indicated, as you may have a good reason for playing something
else at your turn to lead. Finally, DO NOT make a discard which will ruin your hand. |
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