Declarer Play - 6 Spades

Try reading my post on the Finesse first here: http://heidisbridgeblog.blogspot.ca/2016/03/the-finesse.html

The contract is 6♠. The opening lead is the 8♦.

Dummy
♠KT65
♥AQ
♦J43
♣QJ73

Declarer
♠AQJ8
♥J4
♦KQ2
♣AK62

What do we do first? We count our losers in a trump contract. How do we do that?

First we take one hand and only one hand. (You normally take the hand with longer trump but in this example both hands have the same number of trump.) Then we look at how many tricks we will lose in each of the suits. Then we figure out how we could get rid of any possible losers.

♠0 losers -- In our hand we have the AQJ8. In Dummy we have the King. We shouldn't lose a trump trick.
♥1 loser. We have the J and the 4 in our hand. The Ace in Dummy will take care of the 4 but we do have a loser in this suit.
♦1 loser. We have the KQ2 in our hand. In Dummy we have the J43. We will have to lose to the Opponents Ace but we shouldn't lose any more tricks.
♣0 losers. We have the AK62 in our hand. The QJ in Dummy will take care of the 62. We won't lose a trick in this suit.

♠0
♥1
♦1
♣0

Here we have 2 losers. Since we are in a small slam we are only allowed to lose 1 trick. It looks like we are going to lose that one right away. Sure enough, if you play low from Dummy at trick 1 RHO will win their Ace♦ and return another ♦. Luckily LHO does not trump that.

But now we have to figure out how to get rid of our ♥ loser. Any ideas?

How about the finesse?

If the K♥ is with our LHO we can play a low ♥ towards the AQ in Dummy. If LHO plays a small ♥ we will be able to win with the Q♥ if we play it.

So basically we are hoping for this:

	Dummy ♥AQ
LHO ♥K5		RHO ♥63
	Declarer ♥J4

Now ny students wonder how I know the K♥ is on my left. The answer is I don't. I have no idea. But I am stuck. That is the only way to score 2 tricks from this suit and I need 2 tricks.

What happens if the K♥ is on our right? Well, we go down in our slam. Not the first slam I've been down in. Not the last slam I'll be down in. I'll probably be down in better slams. I will certainly be down in worse slams. Life goes on. This is not the end of the world. We are not bad bridge players because we go down in a slam. We are just gutsy. As Shakespeare wrote "Tis better to bid a slam and go down than to have never bid a slam at all."

What my students want to do is to play a low card to the A♥. If I do this I am just delaying the inevitable. The only chance this will win is if my RHO opponent has a singleton K♥. That's the only way. If they have the K♥ and another low ♥ they will simple play a low card on the A♥. Then their K♥ will score a trick later.

So I am taking a chance that the Q♥ will win because that is my best chance for 2 ♥ tricks. Remember that between my two opponents there are 9 ♥. What are the odds that my RHO has only 1 ♥ and it's the K? It's about a 1 in 180 chance. It's about a 1 in 20 chance they have a singleton and only 1 out of every 9 times it will be the K. Very unlikely.

But I DO have about a 50-50 chance that the K♥ is with my LHO. Half the time LHO will have the K♥. Half the time my RHO will have the K♥. Which chance are you willing to bet on?

So take out trump and get back to your hand. Then try the ♥ finesse.