@ L J Hazlewood 2013 Bridge 6 - Finessing to Make More Tricks - Part 1

Bridge 6 - Finessing to Make More Tricks - Part 1 • Background We have seen how to make tricks in the play by : • Playing out (or cashing) winning high cards • Establishing as winners the small cards in long suits (either in No Trump contracts, or in suit

contracts - once all the trumps have been removed from the opponents hands) • What if more tricks are needed ? Suppose a partnership hold some high cards in the same suit, but not a complete sequence, or even a

partial sequence, of high cards (ie. some of A, K, Q, J, 10, etc). In other words, there are missing cards (ie gaps) in the sequence - representing cards held by the opponents. This is sometimes called a broken sequence. Example : Suppose North-South are playing a contract, and consider just the Club suit cards shown. If declarer tackles Clubs by (say) playing out the winning cards first, then in the normal case the Club tricks will go something like A (will win), Q (loses to the K), 8 (loses to the 9, 10 or J), hence

producing just 1 Club trick for North-South. North ♣ A Q 8 Is it possible for North-South to make more Club tricks ? South ♣ 7 5 2 The answer is "yes" - sometimes (or in some circumstances). • Where are the missing cards in the sequence ? Example : Suppose in the situation above, the Club cards held by all the players are as follows : Case (a) North | Case (b) North ♣ A Q 8 | ♣ A Q 8 West East | West East ♣ K 10 4 ♣ J 9 6 3 | ♣ J 10 4 ♣ K 9 6 3 South | South ♣ 7 5 2 | ♣ 7 5 2 where in case (a), the K (ie the missing card in the sequence A, K, Q, ...etc) is in the West hand, while in

case (b) the K is in the East hand. Remember, North-South are playing the contract so the declarer (and it doesn't matter whether it is North or South) can see both the North and South hands.

• Making more tricks using a finesse In the above situation, a line of play that could be adopted by North-South involves leading a small Club

from the South hand (ie the hand not containing the broken sequence) towards the North hand (ie towards the hand containing the broken sequence). Then :

i) If West plays a small Club (actually anything other than the K), then North plays the Q, or .... ii) If West plays the K, then North plays the A This general technique is known as a finesse - and this specific example is known as finessing the K. In case (a) the finesse succeeds, and North-South will make 2 Club tricks. In (i) the Q will win, and

declarer still has the A to make a second trick, while in (ii) the A will win (beating the K), and declarer still has the Q to make a second trick.

However, in case (b), the finesse fails. Since West doesn't have the K to play (it is irrelevant whether

West plays the J 10 or 4) the Q will lose to the K. Hence declarer will only make 1 Club trick with the A. Assuming that there is an equal chance that the K could be in either the West or the East hand, then in

50% of the time, the K will be in the West hand and the finesse will produce 2 Club tricks for North-South, while in the other 50% of the time the finesse fails and North-South will only make 1 Club trick (but then, this is no different to declarer not trying the finesse at all, and just playing out the winning high cards).

Thus we see that in a situation like the one above, North-South will always make 1 Club trick (with the A),

but playing the finesse gives North-South a 50% chance of making a second Club trick (with the Q). PTO

@ L J Hazlewood 2013 Bridge 6 - Finessing to Make More Tricks - Part 1

• Making more tricks in other situations in a similar way ? Example : Suppose that North-South are playing a contract, suppose that declarer needs to make an

additional trick from somewhere in order to achieve the contract, and suppose that the Spade cards held by all the players are as shown below :

Case (a) North | Case (b) North ♠ K 2 | ♠ K 2 West East | West East ♠ A J 10 9 ♠ Q 8 7 6 | ♠ Q J 10 9 ♠ A 8 7 6 South | South ♠ 5 4 3 | ♠ 5 4 3 where in case (a), the K in the North hand is after the A in the West hand, while in case (b) the K is in the

North hand is before the A in the East hand (and where it doesn't actually matter in this example which of the East-West hands hold the Q, J, 10, ... etc).

Can North-South make their additional trick in Spades ? If declarer adopts a line of play that involves leading a small Spade from the South hand towards the

North hand, then : i) If West plays anything other than the A, then North plays the K, or .... ii) If West plays the A, then North plays a small spade In case (a), the line of play succeeds, and North-South will always make a Spade trick. In (i) the K played

by North will win (producing the Spade trick), while in (ii) declarer will lose the first trick to the A played by West, but still has the K to make a trick when Spades are played the next time.

However, in case (b), the line of play fails. Since West will play a low Spade, the K from North will lose to

the A from East. Hence declarer will not make any tricks in the Spade suit. This uses a similar idea to a finesse, and in 50% of the time this line of play will make a Spade trick (from

the K) for North-South, while in the other 50% of the time the line of play fails and North-South do not make any Spade tricks (but then, this is no different to declarer not trying this line of play at all).

You should note that in the above example, leading a Spade from the North hand will not produce any

Spade tricks for North-South. If North leads a low Spade, then East-West should be able to win the trick with the Q (or J, 10, 9, etc), ie neither East nor West should play the A. East-West should only play the A when North leads the K. So in either case, there should be no Spade tricks for North-South.

However, we see that in a situation like the one above, leading a Spade from the South hand gives

North-South a 50% chance of making a Spade trick (with the K).