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In the card game of contract bridge, the partners defending against a contract may choose particular cards to play to communicate a signal.
When signaling standard attitude, a high card is encouraging and a low card is discouraging. Attitude is normally signaled when following suit to partner's led suit and when discarding on declarer's led suit.
For example, if partner leads the Ace of spades, you might signal with the nine if you held the King (requesting partner to continue the suit), or with the three if you held nothing but small cards in spades (notifying partner that a switch to another suit is likely best).
Of course, you can only signal with the cards you hold. Signaling low is easy for you, but if your lowest card is the eight, partner might have difficulty "reading" it as low. When you are signaling high, play the highest card you can afford. Having easily-readable cards to signal with is part of the luck of the deal.
Suppose declarer is drawing trumps and you are out on the third round. Your discard should be an attitude signal for partner. If you play a high-spot diamond, for example, you ask partner to lead diamonds if she should gain the lead. Normally, you would have an honor or honors in diamonds in this case. If you play a low diamond, you ask partner to not lead diamonds if she should gain the lead. Partner will usually be able to figure out which of the other suits you do like (if any).
If declarer plays yet another round of trump, you may be able to play yet another diamond. This will make it unambiguous to partner whether you are encouraging diamonds (by playing high-low) or discouraging diamonds (by playing low-high).
The standard count signal is to play high-low with an even number of cards, and low-high with an odd number. Normally, you "give count" when following suit to declarer's led suits. This will help partner determine the distribution of the suit. See duck (bridge) for an example.
Count in the trump suit is normally inverted. Thus, high-low shows an odd number of trumps (probably three). Some partnerships (by advance agreement) signal this way only when they have a desire or ability to ruff something.
This signal is used infrequently, in situations where partner does not need to know attitude or count, but rather which of two suits to lead. A high card means lead the higher-ranking suit and a low card means lead the lower-ranking suit.
When leading a suit for partner to ruff, lead a high card to have her return the higher-ranking side suit and lead a low card to have her return the lower-ranking side suit. Letting partner know where your entry is in this way may allow you to give her another ruff.
Many partnerships play that when dummy shows up with a singleton in the suit led to the first trick, third hand's play is suit preference telling partner which side suit to switch to. This can be advantageous, but be aware that there are hands in which continuing the original suit or switching to a trump is the right thing to do. Playing a "middle" card can help here, but it can be difficult for partner to read.
When declarer leads a long suit in dummy missing only a single honor that you hold, partner's signal type will depend on dummy's side entries. If there is no side entry, partner must give you a count signal so you will know when it is best to take your trick (see duck (bridge) for an example). But if there are one or more side entries available, partner should give a suit preference signal so you will know what suit to lead when you win your trick.
Sometimes, discarding an unusually high card in a side suit (a Jack or Queen, even) is suit preference for the higher-ranking other suit.
Some partnerships agree in advance to assign special meaning to the first discard (failure to follow suit).
With this agreement, the first discard is suit preference. You do not like the led suit, of course, and you do not like the suit discarded. Your suit preference signal tells partner which of the two remaining suits you prefer.