The Best Way to Play Odd-Even Discards From Bridge Bidding and Carding Strategies by John Loney

It seems that nearly everyone at our bridge club plays “standard” discards when making an initial even discard – to affirm or deny values in this suit. But an even card should be showing values in a different suit, higher- or lower-ranking, picking from the 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 spots to do this. Against a heart contract, if a ♣2 is the initial discard, this shows values in the lower of diamonds and spades – and has nothing to do with clubs (you might even have the ♣A-Q). But you want partner to lead through dummy’s ♦Q-10-7 into your ♦K-J-8-4. Of course, you’d love partner to shoot the ♦9 through the honors, forcing out declarer’s ace. An initial ♠8 discard would also show values in diamonds, the higher of clubs and diamonds. And a very low odd diamond would show values in diamonds. So the initial card that is played, whether odd or even, is positive for the same suit (odd) or different suit (even) – three ways to show values! And there is a 4th way to show values: playing a high odd discard – or high-low odd cards in the same suit – says to lead a different suit. This flexibility is the hallmark of the odd-even system of discarding. More experienced players actually utilize a low odd discard to show a prime holding – a demand; it may show an ace, a king behind an ace, a K-J over a queen or in front of an ace, or other good honor holdings. So an even discard is utilized to show a secondary, finessible value like a K or Q; but it could also show better values in the absence of having an odd card available in the prime suit. Note that, other than high odd discards, initial discards are always positive. Against a heart contract, what would the ♣4 show? If it is followed later on by the ♣2, then it implies spade values, the higher of spades and diamonds. When your initial discard opportunity finally arrives at trick 9 or 10, any even discard tells partner that you have values in the other suit, and any odd discard shows this suit to have honors. Say that you have a doubleton in a suit that partner has opened with (hearts). Your original holding is ♠J74 ♥92 ♦9732 ♣J952. Partner takes the ♥A, K, and Q against a 4♠ contract. Dummy’s cards are ♠T96 ♥763 ♦AKJT ♣843. It seems likely that partner will switch to a club at trick 4, given dummy’s poor club spot cards; but what you really want is a continuation of hearts to promote your ♠J. By playing the ♣9 (from J952), a high odd club, you are telling partner to lead a different suit. As the diamond and spade suits would be illogical leads, a fourth heart is indicated (giving declarer a ruff-sluff), the winning continuation, as it promotes your ♠J for the setting trick. As validation for the 4th-round heart continuation and the trump-promotion plan, partner should check the length in his trump holding.

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