How to Signal with Lavinthal Discards
When discarding a suit you do not want, a Lavinthal discard uses the size of the card to ask partner to lead one of the other two remaining suits.
A Lavinthal Discard (also known as McKenney) is a defensive suit preference signal made when you cannot follow suit and are forced to discard. Instead of signalling attitude about the suit you are throwing away, the rank of the card you discard tells partner which of the other two remaining non-trump suits you want led.
- Discarding a High Card asks partner to lead the Higher-Ranking of the two remaining suits.
- Discarding a Low Card asks partner to lead the Lower-Ranking of the two remaining suits.
Why Lavinthal Discards work
Standard attitude discards tell partner "I like the suit I am throwing." However, it is often dangerous to throw away cards from your good suits because it costs you a potential trick.
Lavinthal allows you to throw away garbage from a suit you hate, while clearly directing partner to the suit you love. Because the suit being discarded and the trump suit are excluded from the equation, there are always exactly two suits left to choose between.
A worked example: Asking for a Heart lead
Spades are trumps. Partner leads the ♦A, and you are void in Diamonds. You need partner to shift to Hearts.
The Suits:
- Trumps: Spades
- Led/Discard Suit: Diamonds
- Remaining Suits: Hearts (Higher) and Clubs (Lower).
Your Hand (East):
♠ 4
♥ A K J 9 2
♦ — (Void)
♣ 8 6 5 3 2
Your Discard:
Throw the ♣8.
Caption: You have no Diamonds, so you discard a Club. By choosing a distinctively high Club (the ♣8), you ask partner for the higher-ranking of the remaining suits. Partner reads the 8 as a high card and shifts to Hearts, directly into your A-K-J.
Four common mistakes
- Discarding an ambiguous middle card (like a 5 or 6) that partner cannot read as definitively high or low.
- Forgetting which suit is trumps and miscalculating which two suits are "remaining."
- Confusing Lavinthal discards with standard attitude discards (ensure you and your partner agree on your discard system!).
- Wasting a vital trick-taking card just to make a high signal.
When the rule does not apply
If you are playing standard attitude discards (where a high card encourages the suit being thrown), Lavinthal does not apply. You must explicitly agree with your partner to play Lavinthal/McKenney discards before the session begins.
Key takeaways
- Used when making your first discard on a suit you cannot follow to.
- High discard = Wants the higher-ranking remaining suit.
- Low discard = Wants the lower-ranking remaining suit.
- Allows you to signal preference without throwing winners.