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Suit Preference
Of the three basic signals - attitude, count, suit preference - the last is the least common, but none the less important. The most common application occurs when we are giving Partner a ruff and wish to tell him what suit to lead back after gaining that ruff. A high card says "Lead back the higher-ranking suit", conversely for a low card. If we have no preference and have enough cards in the suit to convey a clear signal we can also return a middling card.
Related Play Problems Play Problem 97
Related Extracts from Past Wednesday Games
Even though the N-S bidding passes muster, the resulting 4♠ contract is not a thing of beauty! However, it does have chances, and, as the cards lie, E-W must defend accurately to beat this one. West will lead the K♦ and East will contribute the Jack, which denies the Queen, and, with a singleton in Dummy, should be taken as Suit Preference for the higher suit ... basically, East is trying to tell West that it is safe to shift to a Heart. This shift is the winning defense, it's necessary to knock out those Dummy entries in order to kill the suit. Declarer will win the Ace (he may duck the first round of the suit), and play on trumps ... when West gets in he must attack Dummy's other entry, which is the 4th trump, and the way to do that is to lead a Diamond, forcing Dummy to ruff. Now, Dummy's trump entry has been used up before the Clubs can be set up and enjoyed.
It should be 500 but that requires good defense by West. No doubt West will start out with a red Ace, here’s what might happen: - If West guesses to start out with the A♦, he’ll see the need to stop the Diamond ruff and has two ways to get the treasured 500. He can underlead the A♥ to Partner’s King for a Spade lead through Declarer … or he can play the J♠, praying that Partner has the Nine and that he will get his two Spades anyway. Can Partner help? Maybe, maybe not. With a singleton on the board in the led suit, East is entitled to give suit preference and a high Diamond would show something in Hearts. Alas, the play of the J♦ would also blow a trick in the suit, so East does best to play the Six and hope that Partner can figure it out. - If West starts with the A♥, he has little option but to shift to the J♠ if he wants to collect 500.
It turns out to be a good game unless West finds the opening lead of a Spade. Underleading a King against a suit contract is a common enough practice but not without some risk. And the longer the suit is, the greater the risk. Leading from Kxxxxx is dangerous indeed, but it’s the winner here, allowing the defense to score 4 tricks with the aid of two Spade ruffs. We were in two minds ourselves between an opening Spade or Diamond lead, so we asked Dr Goodlead for his opinion. He was already two for two on this session, we wondered if he could manage the trifecta. Indeed he did, he reckoned the chances of a Spade ruff to be quite high. He even went so far as to lead the Spade Two, intending that as a suit preference signal for Clubs. The Doctor goes three for three!
Against 3♠, East leads his singleton Club, and West plays the King, then the Ace, and gives Partner a ruff. Or, does he play Ace, then King? Or does it even matter? Yes, it matters! The standard play in this third-seat situation is to play the King then the Ace, and making that standard play carries no particular message, it’s business as usual. But, when third seat plays abnormally, playing the high card first, then this has suit preference connotations. The message is “I have a high card in Hearts”, the higher ranking suit (eliminating Spades which are trumps, and Clubs which is the suit being played). And the definition of a high Heart card? In this situation, surely the Ace or the King.
Armed with this knowledge, East should feel confident underleading his A♥ to Partner’s King, getting the second ruff and setting 3♠ one trick. Pretty neat stuff, eh? Perhaps, and we wish that we could report that this is the only way to beat the contract. But it’s not, the defense will still prevail if East cashes the A♥ and continues Hearts. The defense does not get its second ruff in this case, but even so there is no way for Declarer to scrape up 9 tricks and it’s down one anyway. So, only style points are being awarded for that nifty suit preference signaling and the subsequent underlead.
South leads the A♥ and North plays the Five. What does this mean? Usually, when defending a suit contract, if Dummy goes down with a singleton in the suit of the opening lead, that card is intended as suit preference. So, North plays the Heart Five at Trick One, it’s the best that she can do in the circumstances. It’s a high card and is attempting to convey the message “I have something in Diamonds, the higher ranking suit”. Considering the threatening Diamonds in Dummy, that would probably have to be KJ or better. If South is paying attention and shifts to a Diamond at Trick Two, the defense collects its three tricks. If South fails to switch to Diamonds at Trick Two, Declarer can eventually throw in North with the third round of trumps, end-playing her in Diamonds.
How about 4♦? The only way for N-S to beat this contract will be for South to get a Spade ruff. Will this happen? Let’s say that North starts out with the K♥, as would just about everybody. Now we have a familiar situation, when Dummy goes down with a singleton in the led suit. This is generally played as a suit preference situation. Should South play her highest spot card, the mighty Six, to indicate the desire for a Spade shift? No, of course not! The signal might not be that clear, and if North misreads it she may decide that the winning defense is to go passive. No worries! South can see the situation clearly enough and she should take charge. So, she overtakes the first trick, cashes the A♠, then a Spade to North’s King, and a ruff. Nicely done, Ms South! But, if she had feebly signaled on the first trick with the Heart Six, and if North had gone wrong at Trick Two, then she would have had nobody to blame but herself!
South’s 3♠ was perhaps a bit of a stretch, but the 5th Spade looked useful, and there was no substantial wastage opposite Partner’s marked Heart shortness. In other words, South’s modest values were all working.
Against 4♠, let’s say that West lays down the A♥. Standard practice in this situation, when there is a singleton in Dummy, East will give suit preference. If that is part of the E-W repertoire, then East plays the Two, and West dutifully shifts to a Club. Then West hops up with the A♠ on the first round and gives East his ruff. Nicely done, that is the only defense that will hold Declarer to 10 tricks.
3♠ is like a reasonable enough contract but it’s likely to be down one if East starts out with a Heart. When West wins the Ace, Declarer will play the Queen, trying to create the illusion that East has led from JT9. But West probably won’t be fooled, and will shoot back the Club Four, a clear suit preference signal that West wants a Club back after East ruffs (not that there could be any doubt looking at Dummy). So, the defense scores two ruffs and it’s down one.
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