BRIDGE MASTERCLASS

EaST opened the bidding with 1 ♠ , after which North-South bid to 5 ♣ . You lead ♠ a and partner plays the ♠ K. What do you do next? WITH a spade singleton on the table, your partner East is obviously not asking for a spade continuation here by playing a high card in the suit.

He is directing your attention to the suit he wants you to lead next knowing that you are going to switch.

He is making a suit preference signal asking you to lead the higher ranking of the two remaining suits other than trumps. Therefore, you switch to a heart as requested. Had partner wanted a diamond switch, he would have played his lowest spade at Trick One.

These suit preference signals are often referred to as McKenney. However, there are similar situations where partner may want his suit to be continued to shorten dummy’s trumps, so his high signal might sometimes be ambiguous.