AUDREY GRANT'S BETTER BRIDGE MAGAZINE May / June 2020 | Page 4

PLAY OF THE HAND
BY DAVID LINDOP
Because we usually learn about
finesses early on, we tend to have a
conditioned response when we see a
holding such as:
Dummy
♣A Q 5
Declarer
♣9 4
This is a classic finessing situation
in which we can get two tricks – or
avoid a loser – whenever our lefthand
opponent holds the ♣K. That’s
a straight 50% chance. However,
just because we can take a finesse
doesn’t necessarily mean we should
take a finesse. We should always
make a plan first, especially when the
opportunity occurs on the opening
trick. Let’s look at some examples.
On this first deal, we reach 5♦ rather
than 3NT and West leads the ♥3.
LEAD:
♥3
♠
♥
♦
♣
♠
♥
♦
w
Q J 5
A Q 5
Q 9 7 4 3
Q 7
n
s
♣ A K J 4
We have a heart loser, and a
successful finesse will eliminate it.
So, it’s tempting to play the ♥Q at
trick one. Unfortunately, that won’t
end well when the full deal looks like
this:
e
A 7
9 4
K J 10 8 6
2 Audrey Grant’s Better Bridge | May-June 2020
Finessing at
Trick One
5♦
♠
♥
♦
♣
K 6 4 3
J 8 6 3
A 5
9 6 5
♠
♥
♦
♣
♠
♥
♦
w
Q J 5
A Q 5
Q 9 7 4 3
Q 7
n
s
A 7
9 4
K J 10 8 6
♠
♥
♦
♣
10 9 8 2
K 10 7 2
2
10 8 3 2
♣ A K J 4
If we reflexively play the ♥Q, East
wins the ♥K. East now leads a spade,
and we have no choice but to try
another finesse. This is our unlucky
day since this loses to West’s ♠K.
There’s no way to avoid losing the
ace of the trump suit, so the contract
is down one. Were we just unlucky?
No. We should have made a plan
before playing a card from dummy.
There are three potential losers:
a heart, a spade, and a diamond.
However, even though we could try
the spade finesse to avoid a loser, we
have a 100% play! After drawing
trumps, we can discard two of
dummy’s spades on our club winners
and then ruff the spade loser.
So we don’t need the heart finesse …
and don’t want to give the opponents
an opportunity to switch to spades
before we are ready. We can’t take
the four club winners until trumps
have been drawn. We simply win the
first trick with the ♥A and drive out
the opponents’ ♦A. They can take a
heart trick but, whatever they lead
next, we win, draw the outstanding
e
5♦
trump, then safely take the club
winners to discard two of dummy’s
spades. We don’t need either the
heart finesse or the spade finesse!
On the next deal, we are in 3NT and
West leads the ♥3:
♣
That’s nice. If West has led from the
♥K, we’ll get three heart tricks by
playing a low heart from dummy.
Oops! If we do that, we’ll go down
when this is the layout:
♠
♥
♦
♣
LEAD:
♥3
Q 8 5
10 7 6 3 2
10 8
9 7 3
♠
♥
♦
♣
♠
♥
♦
♠
♥
♦
♣
♠
♥
♦
w
w
7 3
A 8 4
K J 5
K 10 8 6 5
n
s
A 10 6 4
Q J 9
A Q 7
Q J 4
7 3
A 8 4
K J 5
K 10 8 6 5
n
s
A 10 6 4
Q J 9
A Q 7
♠
♥
♦
♣
K J 9 2
K 5
9 6 4 3 2
A 2
♣ Q J 4
If we play a low heart, East wins the
♥K. That seems okay since we now
have two heart tricks. Unfortunately,
East shifts to a spade. We can try
holding up, but the defenders can
establish three spade winners. When
East wins the ♣A, the defenders have
five tricks.
Let’s make a plan when dummy
comes down. We have a spade
winner, a heart winner, and three
diamond winners. We need four
more tricks, and we can get them
from promotion in the club suit.
We don’t need a second heart trick.
Instead, we win the ♥A, and go
about establishing the club suit. The
defenders can take a heart trick after
winning the ♣A, but we still have
a heart stopper and enough tricks
e
e
3NT
3NT