[mike777]

This one got emailed to me and I thought it might lead to an interesting discussion here in the forums:

Partner leads the 3 of spades (3rd and 5th).

Dummy comes down with

AK
864
Q876
JT86

You've got:

942
JT9
AT952
54
Assume udca. Which spade do you play at trick 1 and why?
Then assume normal signalling, same question.

(Obviously the debate is WHAT signal do you think SHOULD be given here at trick one [attitude, count, or suit

edit: sorry that part failed to copy and paste
Opponents bid 1h - 2h - 4h - all pass.

[BillHiggin]

I do not consider myself mush of a signalling authority, so probably will not venture a real opinion.
Still, it does seem that perhaps the auction or at least the contract might be relevant.

[mikestar13]

Maybe this should be suit preference at IMPs (where you want to defeat the contract, and the passive spade continuation is unlikely to help) but attitude at matchpoints (where a spade continuation may avoid giving declarer an overtrick).

[ggwhiz]

9♠ under all circumstances. And the J♥ at trick two.

[mike777]

thanks for the discussion so far.....to add fuel to the discussion I will copy and post comments from a multi world champ and future Bali teammember/

"Certainly a matter of agreement. My rule is that if there are no more tricks to take it is suit preference (so could play the 9 here). While on this hand it probably isn't urgent to play a D, it would be on a slightly different hand (if you were 3-3-4-3 with the same honors and declarer had Qxx KQxxx Jx AKQ). Since you have to gear your carding to the auction and the dummy, need to play the same way when you have each hand.



I could note as a side point that you may have a nasty problem if declarer plays a low D off dummy at trick 2 as either ducking or going up A could be very much the wrong play."

[JLOGIC]

I would discourage since I don't play suit pref at trick 1 except specifically agreed upon situations (mainly stiff in dummy vs suit). I could definitely be convinced that suit preference (or similarly obvious shift) is better though, it's possible on many deals that partner will be in with a heart and have to play a minor and guess which one (I will give trump suit pref but it may not be readable). Count is pretty irrelevant.

[aguahombre]

It would seem that AK tight in dummy should trigger a suit preference situation, so I probably would just do it with the nine (assuming right side up suit preference). Am not smart enough to figure out how it could hurt the defense.

But, I can think of ways the 4 or 2 could be really bad for us if partner believes this should be a suit preference situation. Kind of like the physicians' creed: first, do no harm.

[mfa1010]

We play suit preference T1 when dummy hits with a block of tricks with no future in the suit for us. This dummy qualifies. I would play ♠9, and then ♥T-J-9 if declarer pulls trumps.