Yes, the debate never ends. You are dealt a side suit headed by the Ace and King, and you are going to lead this suit. Which card do you play?

The recommendation from Master Spades is simple: Always lead the King from AK.

Why Not the Ace?

The liability of leading the Ace from AK should be clear enough. Too often you will lead the Ace from a suit when you do not have the King. Whenever your Ace hits the table you have presented your unfortunate partner with an ambiguous situation right out of the chute. Pard cannot tell which type of holding you have.

• Your partner cannot give a meaningful signal (unless he is holding the King).
• If you switch suits at Trick Two (which is generally a good idea if you started with AKxxx, but a poor idea if you began with Axxxx), your partner has no idea of the whereabouts of the King.

Of course, maybe your partnership doesn't believe in signals, prefering to dodge bags instead. Or maybe you are determined to continue with a second round of the same suit no matter what. In either case, what does it matter which card you start with? Clearly, however, this is not good Partnership Spades.

Any Objections to Leading the King?

To operate with an expert partner, the two of you must work together. Always lead the King from AK, and accept Pard's card as a signal. (The standard signaling conventions specify that a low card is discouraging, while an unnecessarily high card is encouraging.) With this agreement in place, if you start with an Ace and switch suits, Pard can be certain you do not have the King.

There are only two objections to leading King from Ace-King, and neither of them are worth a nickel. First, there is the matter of ambiguity. Your lead from KQJx, or even from KQxx, would also be the King. Some self-proclaimed experts feel this ambiguity is enough to shut down the debate. "End of discussion!"

Well! If only they had used one more brain cell! Your partner leads the King and...

• There is no ambiguity at all if you hold either the Ace or Queen of the suit.
• Any ambiguity is removed if the second player comes up with the Ace (or, less likely, drops the Queen).
• You have no play problem at Trick One if you hold a singleton (play it), a doubleton (encourage), or three or more small cards (discourage).
• If ambiguity still exists when you play, it ends with the completion of Trick One. If the fourth player wins the Ace you know Pard's suit was headed by KQ. If his King holds the trick and then he switches, you can assume he began with AK.

Perhaps the only problem you might have when your partner leads a King occurs when you hold Jxx. If you knew your partner started with KQxx, you would encourage by playing your middle card. (This is the example that Jay Tomlinson offered.) But if he led the King from AKxx you would discourage. No big deal here; just play low. If the King loses to the Ace, Pard will win his Queen next time anyway. Whether or not your Jack becomes an unlikely third-round winner is just a matter of distribution.

Let us examine the second objection to leading the King from AK. There actually exist players who will trump their partner's King-lead! "If you lead a King I can't know whether it's from AK and should let it win, or if it's from KQJ, in which case I'll trump it!"

Gasp! Any player who trumps his partner's King-lead, even if it is definitely from KQJx, must be placed on your Don't Play Again with this Fool list.

Some Useful Accessories

If you and your regular partner decide you will Always lead the King from AK, there are two more useful conventions that can be tacked on to your carding agreements.

The lead of the Ace followed by the King shows an original holding of AK doubleton.
Tip: Use this convention only if you really want to ruff the third round. Your spades might be 983 or A72. If you started with spade length, however, you would not play your AK doubleton right away. Save these cards for later entries so you can lead spades.

When partner leads a king (showing the Ace as well) and you hold QJx(x), play the Queen. By agreement, the play of the Queen guarantees you can win the next round of the suit. Pard can decide whether to continue the Ace, lead small, or switch.

Note that this convention cannot be used if you lead Ace from AK. Partner's Ace-lead may be from Axx, and dropping the Queen may cost you a trick in this suit.

Summary

There really is no good reason for starting AKxx with the Ace. Some players were taught to play that way when they were tadpoles and never gave it any further thought. Others simply play their own one-man game (or one-person game, for PC) and don't care about teamwork. But if you want to forge a regular partnership, or if you luck onto a stranger who is an expert, play the expert's way: Always lead the King from AK.