The Most Popular Illegal Convention

"An illegal convention that is widely used?" you ask.  "How could that be?"  For the answer, you need look no further than the everyday goings-on at Dante's Infernal.

Many partnerships have adopted specialized defensive carding methods such as "Odd-Even", which enable them to communicate suit-preference early with some latitude in their choice of plays.  There are, however, countless less sophisticated pairs who indicate suit preference simply by a discard in the preferred suit, irrespective of the size of the card played.  At the table, a query of these defenders' carding methods invariably begets a response including the term "Standard"; yet it is not.  A Standard first discard denotes attitude — that is, a high card is encouraging and a low one is discouraging regarding the suit of the discard.  The fact that the non-standard method never is disclosed on the convention card (and virtually never is explained satisfactorily) renders it a private understanding, which is illegal.

The fact that such a required discard in the desired suit is a primitive and flawed method, is immaterial.

Whereas many of the offenders have no illicit intent, neither have they demonstrated a willingness to make any adjustments or even to acknowledge the impropriety of their actions.  Yet a correction is simple:  under "Defensive Carding", check the "Except" box, and enter something such as "first discard is in preferred suit".  Be prepared to explain the method accurately — that is, with no misguided reference to "Standard".

I estimate that more than half the players at Dante's Infernal employ this undisclosed and illegal method.  Are you one of them?