On many occasions when you are declarer the success of your contract would depend on a successful finesse. Sometimes declarer has a choice between finesses. He has to decide which finesse to take (or whether to take a finesse at all...) This is Part 3 of Oren's series on Finesses. Click here for Part 1 and Part 2.
Test yourselves with the hands below, and see if you can choose the right finesse:
Start the test now!
21. You play 4♠ on a ♣J lead. Which finesse do you take?
You play 4♠ on a ♣J lead. Best chance to make your contract is to win the first trick in hand with the ♣K and play a LOW heart to the ♥Q. If the ♥K is with West, he will win it and continue with another Club. You will win it with the ♣A, cash the ♥Q, come back to hand with the ♠A and throw your club loser on the ♥A.
That way you will lose one Spade, one Diamond and one Heart. If you win the first trick with dummy's ♣A and try the spade finesse, you will go down if the finesse fails: West will continue with another club and you will lose a Club, a Diamond, a Heart and a Spade.
And what if the ♥K is with East?
He will take your ♥Q at trick 2 and continue with a Club. You will still have a chance to make if the spade finesse works. That way you have about 75% chance to make. You will go down only if the ♥K is with East and the ♠K is with west.
22. You play 4♥ and West leads ♣AKQ. Which finesse(s) do you take?
You play 4♥ after West opened 1♦ and East bid 1NT. West leads ♣AKQ. Ruff and try to finesse Diamond to the ♦Q. Points must be divided around 12-6 between opponents for their bidding, so if the Diamond finesse works, you can place both missing queens with East and finesse them accordingly (as West showed already 12 points: ♣AKQ and ♦K).
But here, East takes the ♦K and returns another Diamond. This means the missing queens are in different hands. So, play a third Diamond and ruff. Now count: East's 1NT bid denies 4 cards majors. This means West has 4 Spades. Also, West has 5 Diamonds (as East had ♦Kx) and at least 3 Clubs; this shows that West has at most one Heart. Play the ♥K, and when the ♥Q doesn't drop, finesse to the ♥J next and cash a third Heart. You can place the ♠Q with West now and run the ♠J to make 10 tricks.
23. You play 4♥ on the ♦Q lead. Which finesse do you take, if any?
You play 4♥ (3NT from North would be cold.) Lead is ♦Q. Ruff the third Diamond and try the Spade finesse. If East wins and plays a Club - win it with the ♣A, play Spade to the ♠A and continue with a Spade ruff, Heart to the ♥Q, another spade ruff, pull trumps and use your ♣K as a final entry to your 5th Spade for a Club discard.
Playing for Spade being 4-2 (or 3-3) is 84%, while playing for the Club finesse is only 50% (as you need to win with the ♣K if you try the club finesse and it fails, losing your last entry for the 5th Spade).
24. You play 4♥ on a ♣J lead. Which finesse(s) do you take, if any?
You play 4♥ on a ♣J lead. Best is to count tricks: 1 Spade, 4 Hearts and 2 Clubs = 7 tricks. You can easily ruff 2 Clubs in hand = 9 tricks.
The 10th trick should come from establishing a Diamond trick: Win ♣A and try the Heart finesse. West wins and plays another Club. Win the ♣K, throwing a Spade from hand. Cash a 2nd trump round, and play a low Diamond to the ♦10.
If East wins and plays Spade – You always manage to limit yourself to only one Spade loser by playing low and losing the trick to West.
If East wins and plays a Club - Ruff, play ♦J, and throw a Spade from dummy (loser on loser). Opponents win and play Spade, but you win it with the ♠A, and throw the last Spade from dummy on the ♦Q.
If, instead of playing the Diamonds you start playing on Spades yourself – you go down.
25. You play 4♠ (after an ambitious bid...) and West leads the ♣Q. Which finesse do you take?
You play 4♠ on a ♣Q lead (East opened 1♣). Win the ♣A and play a Diamond to your ♦K.
To make your contract you need to hope that Diamonds are 3-2 (with ♦A and ♥K both most likely in East's hand for his opening bid).
To make your contract you need to perform both finesses: Diamond to ♦K and Heart finesse.
Did you spot the hidden entry? Play Diamond to the ♦K. If your ♦K wins, play 3 rounds of Spade and continue with another Diamond. Opponents will win, cash the ♣K and continue with another Club. Ruff, and play your ♦10. Opponents will win again but you have now promoted the ♦9 as an entry to dummy to perform the Heart finesse.
If you play the Heart finesse at trick 2, you will lose 3 Diamonds and a Club, since you won't be able to play a Diamond to your ♦K.
26. You play 4♥ after East opened 1♦. West leads the ♦QJ and you ruff the second Diamond. Which finesse(s) do you take?
You play 4♥ after 1♦ opening from East and double (negative) from West. West leads the ♦Q and you ruff the second Diamond.
As the ♦QJ are marked with West, you can count at least one spade honor and the ♣A with East to justify his opening. So... plan your entries to dummy to perform both finesses: Lead a Heart to the ♥Q and play a LOW spade to the ♠J. That play will save you an entry! West will win and play back a Diamond. Ruff, play a Heart to the ♥A and continue with the ♠10.
If East covers - the ♠9 will be an entry for the Club finesse. If East doesn't cover - You remain in dummy to play a Club to the ♣K.
27.You play 3NT and West leads the ♥Q. Which finesse do you take, if any?
You play 3NT and West leads the ♥Q. You have 8 top tricks: 1 Spade, 1 Heart, 2 Diamonds and 4 Clubs.
The 9th trick is likely to come from a successful finesse as you need to make 9 tricks without losing the lead (else opponents will make all their Hearts). But you can improve your chance by playing the ♦AK first: maybe you manage to drop ♦Q or ♦Qx.
If that doesn't happen, try to finesse to the ♠Q. As cards lay, ♦AK drops the ♦Q and you have 10 tricks right away, not needing to take any finesse.
28. You play 4♥ on a ♦Q lead. Why is this hand here? You tried low Diamond twice (maybe the ♦A drops) but East played ♦A on the third round of Diamonds, covering your ♦K. Now what?
You play 4♥ and West lead the ♦Q. You tried low Diamond twice but East played the ♦A on the third round, covering your ♦K.
Now what?
You have 9 tricks and you need to develop your 5th Spade as the 10th trick. For that you need 4 entries: 3 entries for Spade ruffs and another to enjoy your 5th Spade: Ruff the 3rd Diamond with a HIGH trump and play Spade to the ♠A, Spade ruff (HIGH), FINESSE Heart to the ♥7 (!), 3rd Spade ruff (HIGH), Heart to the ♥K, 4th Spade ruff, ♥A to cash opponents last trump, Club to the ♣A, and finally the 5th Spade for a Club discard.
Note: If you don't ruff high in hand, West can set if he plays the ♥8 when you play a Heart to your ♥7.
29. You play 3NT on a ♥6 lead. East plays the ♥10 and you win with the ♥Q. Which finesse do you take, if any?
You play 3NT on a ♥6 lead. East plays the ♥10 and you win with the ♥Q.
The idea is to avoid losing the lead to East, as a Heart return from his side will set you: Play Spade to ♠A and continue with the ♣J, finessing if East plays low. That play will bring you to safety even if East has ♣Qxxx. Finesse again to the ♣10, Cash ♣K, and use the ♦A to enter dummy for your high clubs.
30. You play 4♥ and West leads the ♠Q. After winning the ♠A, which finesse will you take? Heart, Diamond or Club?
You play 4♥ and West leads the ♠Q. After winning the ♠A, which finesse will you take? Heart, Diamond or Club?
Diamond is not good as East may play the ♦K and you can no longer get 2 Diamond tricks.
Heart finesse: even if it works, you would still need a successful Club finesse to make your contract.
In other words, you will certainly need to take the Club finesse no matter what happens in the other suits. Therefore, finesse Club to ♣10 at trick 2: if you lose to the ♣J, try to drop the ♥Qx by playing ♥AK, and use your Diamond entry for another Club finesse. If your ♣10 loses to the ♣K - use your entry to take a Heart finesse (you can play the ♥A before, attempting to drop single ♥Q). And finally, if you are lucky (as here), your ♣10 will hold the trick. Try ♥AK to drop the ♥Q, and use your 2nd entry for another Club finesse.
