[barmar]

pescetom, on 2025-April-08, 15:58, said:

Bridge is just not a good game if your partner can communicate with anything other than calls or plays.

Of course. But the degree of improper communication matters, too.

If your partner can see your entire hand, it's much worse than if they only know your suit distribution. And if they can see all four hands, it's as bad as it can get. This is why self-kibbitzing online is one of the most serious infractions.

Inferences from UI are not even close to this. And unless it's deliberate, I wouldn't use the C-word to describe it.

[johnu]

barmar, on 2025-April-08, 15:22, said:

Even in cases where these are used as deliberate signalling mechanisms, the bandwidth is very low. For instance, the famous Reese-Schapiro system just signalled the number of hearts.

IIRC, there were also allegations that they signaled hand strength by the height that they held their hands. I agree that even with both types of cheating this isn't close to as good as knowing all 13 cards in partner's hand.