Misinformation as to signals?

[mycroft]

It certainly does not take 1/2 hour or longer to say, "Our signals are right-side up, we do (or not) use Smith Echoes vs NT, our first discard is (or is not) a convention, and we tend not to signal at all unless we believe partner will need it.

 

To "Is this a situation where your partnership is likely to signal? "Yes (or no)."

Aha. Thanks for clarifying something in my mind that's niggled for years. The next question is:

 

"and what card do you tend to play from, say, 4 small, when you are 'not signalling'?"

 

Note, I'm not criticizing (although those who write "we tend not to signal, but when we do, we signal what partner needs to know" I do find inadequate (even if it is correct and complete, or would be complete if they gave the signalling order they would use when they do)). This has just been the question I've always had, but could never crystallize enough to state.

[aguahombre]

Aha. Thanks for clarifying something in my mind that's niggled for years. The next question is:

 

"and what card do you tend to play from, say, 4 small, when you are 'not signalling'?"

The stock answer would be that we tend to get rid of cards we don't wish to keep when not signalling. Rosenberg once, told Zia "Now, you are just fishing." when asked a third or fourth follow-up question such as that. Ed has indicated he would just call the TD instead of answering at all, but I would probably wait for a reaction to my stock answers before doing so.

[blackshoe]

That's a good answer, and hopefully will avoid any acrimony caused by calling the director. Not that there should ever be any, but some people… Anyway, I'll try to remember to use that first. It won't get to the third or fourth follow-on for me though, because after the stock answer, I'll be calling the TD.

[mycroft]

That's a good answer. What I'm trying to figure out is "I know I'm going to be dumping all my diamonds here, and (apart from making clear that partner has to keep the diamond) I have nothing to say to partner. Do I play them bottom up, top down, leftmost card, what?"

 

Because it really wouldn't surprise me if there ends up being some meaning to "non-meaning" discard order - never discussed, just from experience - and I don't get to have it as declarer.

 

I'm *not* accusing anyone here of anything, especially trying to hide information. This is just the kind of "non-agreement" that gets coloured by inferences after 5 years of playing together. I know I have a bunch (including how often partner (or me) will tend to lie when the other partner doesn't care and I know it - effectively trying to reduce it to "if it won't matter to partner, I play randomly").

[aguahombre]

That's a good answer. What I'm trying to figure out is "I know I'm going to be dumping all my diamonds here, and (apart from making clear that partner has to keep the diamond) I have nothing to say to partner. Do I play them bottom up, top down, leftmost card, what?"

You just need to get a mindset that cards which are not signals are not signals. Then the order in which they play their non signals do not signal anything. The inference that, when I stop pitching Diamonds, I have run out of diamonds to pitch or now must follow suit to something else is available to all --- but maybe it just means I got bored pitching diamonds.