[arepo24]

I hold a doubleton 9 and 2. What is my proper response to my partner's opening lead of an A followed by a K in a NT contract by the opponents? Do I play the 9 first or the 2? Thank you for any help.

[manudude03]

Depends on agreements. I prefer to give attitude here and so I would play whichever card is discouraging. If you play ace asks for count though, then you play whichever shows an even number.

[Zelandakh]

This is a case where the traditional meaning is different from the most common one and the modern expert standard is different again. Traditionally, an ace lead against a NT contract was a strong lead asking partner to unblock an honour or give count. Assuming standard count, that would mean playing the 9. Most players these days do not seem to have heard of this concept and would expect an attitude signal. Assuming standard carding again, that would mean playing the 2. Finally, the closest thing to an expert standard these days is for the strong lead to be the king. The correct signal here is once again attitude, which would mean the 2 playing standard carding, except that modern expert standard is udca, which would mean the 9.

So either might be correct and for various reasons. The only real way of telling is to evaluate your partner well or, better, have an explicit agreement. Assuming a pick up partner, you need to tell us what they have written in their profile for us to have a decent chance of guessing correctly. Note that if your only agreement is SAYC, it is implied that the second case is being used so a discouraging 2 would be the right card.

[chasetb]

I agree with manudude03 and zelandakh here. I play that the Ace asks for Count [or dropping the King from K(x)], but others play Attitude. It's all about the agreement!