[pclayton]

You play UDCA - everything else is standard.

The opponents play 5♣ x'd. You overcalled 1♠, and pard made a simple raise. You lead the ♠A from ♠AQxxx and dummy has ♠Kx. Pard plays the J and declarer follows.

What does the J signal mean?

[kfay]

Suit preference. Can give count on the next lead of the suit.

[han]

Suit preference.

[gwnn]

SP

suit preference or "sorry partner, wrong signal"

[andy_h]

suit preference

[Echognome]

Clear suit preference as it's clear that neither count nor attitude in ♠ is important here. At least it's unlikely to be.

[bid_em_up]

Given that you cannot take another trick in spades, it is suit preference.

[lexlogan]

It is impossible to answer this question without seeing the complete hand. Absent any compelling reason otherwise, his signal is ATTITUDE; consult the Bridge Encyclopedia or Eddie Kantar if you don't believe me.

The notion that "if we can't take the next trick in this suit we can't be signalling attitude" is based on the flawed, absurd notion that the goal of defense is to take the next trick. The goal is to defeat the contract or maximize the number of tricks taken. Continuing a suit which in which dummy can ruff or win the next trick does not even come close to establishing that we should lead another suit -- switching will, on average, blow half a trick, while continuing in a case like this may be the correct (passive) defense. Dummy (or declarer) must have a threat to justify risking a switch. In such a case, which suit to switch to will generally be obvious -- it won't be the long, threatening suit.

Playing UDCA, partner's Jack signals a strong desire for a switch to the obvious suit. Partner's lowest card would suggest continuing the suit, such as when partner has the threat suit stopped, or has no help in the off suit, or there is no obvious threat.

Jlall, at least, is an expert, and I am not, but Eddie Kanter has made this point repeatedly and I cannot fathom why any good player would play anything but attitude here (barring a dummy which makes continuing the suit suicidal, as in the example hand from the Bridge Encyclopedia.) As partner is known to have at least three cards, playing the Jack might seem wasteful; but with J54 or the like, it might be crucial to make the signal clear.

[Winstonm]

Singleton and psychic raise.

[jdonn]

lexlogan, on Feb 16 2008, 01:28 PM, said:

I cannot fathom why any good player would play anything but attitude here

You shouldn't make untrue statements. Either that, or your fathoming abilities need work.

Clear suit preference. Note this is not the same as ordering partner to switch to a particular suit next, a distinction you do not seem to be making. Sometimes the dummy makes it clear that you are merely denying an honor in a particular suit by showing suit preference for the other, and that leaves it to partner to do whatever he thinks is right which of course could be continuing the lead.

[skjaeran]

That's one of the more obvious SP positions IMO.

Of course that's a general statement, as I haven't seen the actual hand.

[pclayton]

I used the J as a poor excuse to shift to hearts away from AQx looking at Txxxx in dummy. I thought declarer might have a stiff spade on the auction, but I was really just testing out the principle.

I think pard was just giving count.

[han]

pclayton, on Feb 16 2008, 07:19 PM, said:

I think pard was just giving count.

I doubt that. I think partner had J10x and didn't think further than his nose was long (I was kibitzing).

[brianshark]

I would expect it to be suit pref.

[cnszsun]

To people who play it as SP, i have a question:
If your ♠s are J62 and you have no intersest in either higher or lower suit shift, does it mean you have to play 6 then?

[jtfanclub]

cnszsun, on Feb 18 2008, 06:01 AM, said:

To people who play it as SP, i have a question:
If your ♠s are J62 and you have no intersest in either higher or lower suit shift, does it mean you have to play 6 then?

The usual suit preference rule. If one suit is obviously not right due to dummy and you tell him to shift to that suit, that should be a clear indication not to shift. Otherwise, make a judgement call about which shift would be less harmful.

Playing the six just makes partner have to guess whether that's your high or your low card.

[brianshark]

cnszsun, on Feb 18 2008, 11:01 AM, said:

To people who play it as SP, i have a question:
If your ♠s are J62 and you have no intersest in either higher or lower suit shift, does it mean you have to play 6 then?

I wouldn't (necessarily) play the J as suit pref without holding the ten. The 6 is suit pref for the higher suit and 2 would be suit pref for the lower suit. If you genuinely have no preference, tough. Pick something.

[lexlogan]

bid_em_up, on Feb 15 2008, 07:38 PM, said:

Given that you cannot take another trick in spades, it is suit preference.

You never lead a suit in which you cannot take another trick? Declarers must love all those free gifts -- oh, wait, I don't have to ask, I get those gifts all the time. Hasn't anyone on this forum ever heard of passive defense?

[the hog]

skaeran, on Feb 17 2008, 03:55 AM, said:

That's one of the more obvious SP positions IMO.

Of course that's a general statement, as I haven't seen the actual hand.

Agree with this.