Declarer Play Choices -- Is the Finesse your Best Choice?

Before reading this post make sure you understand what a finesse is (click here) and also how to throw losers on winners (click here).

It really helps to understand how to play a hand if you actually play it out. Grab a deck of cards and play along rather than just reading about it. See if you can figure out how to make this contract on your own first.

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

Dummy
♠AQ5
♥Q865
♦A53
♣K83

Declarer
♠JT
♥AKJ94
♦KQJ6
♣QJ

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. We will look at Declarer's hand since it has more trump in it. 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.

♠1 loser -- In our hand we have the JT. We have 2 losers at the most but the Ace in Dummy will take care of one of our losers. That still leaves 1 loser.
♥0 losers. We shouldn't lose a trump trick.
♦0 losers. We have the Ace in Dummy to take care of the 6♦.
♣1 loser We will have to lose to the Ace in this suit.

♠1
♥0
♦0
♣1

In this contract we have 2 potential losers.

How are we going to get rid of at least 1 of those losers?

Well we could get rid of our ♠ loser by taking a ♠ finesse. If we play the J♠ out of our hand and then play low (if our LHO plays low) we will win the trick if LHO has the K♠. That's about a 50-50 chance of not losing a trick. That's one way of not going down in our contract. Take out trump, lose to the A♣ and try the ♠ finesse. If our LHO holds the K♠ we will make the contract.

On the other hand, if our RHO holds the K♠ we will go down in our contract. Sadness.

Sometimes the finesse is the only way to make our contract and we are stuck with a 50-50 shot. But sometimes there are better ways to make our contract that we don't see right away. Here there is a guaranteed way to make this contract. Can you see how?

We can throw the ♠ loser on a winner! That is a 100% guaranteed way to make the contract.

To throw losers away on winners there needs to be unequal length in the suit. Here there is unequal length in the ♣ suit and also unequal length in the ♦ suit. Which suit do you throw away your losing ♠ on?

It has to be the ♣. You can throw away a losing ♠ on the ♦ suit but unfortunately it is the losing ♠ from Dummy. You are not interested in throwing away a loser in Dummy. You need to throw away the ♠ loser in your hand. For that you need a suit longer in Dummy than in your hand. The ♣ suit is the only one that works.

So our plan is to win the ♦ and take out trump. At this point I don't really care where I win the ♦ so I will win it in Dummy. (That little thoughtless action may come back to haunt me later!) Now we come down to this:

♠AQ5
♥
♦53
♣K83

Declarer
♠JT
♥A
♦KQJ
♣QJ

Notice how there was a really bad trump break. One opponent held FOUR of the little suckers! That's okay though. I didn't panic. There was no need for me to keep any trump in Dummy so I took out all their trump ending in my hand. What next?

Now I need to knock out the opponents Ace of ♣. I play the Q♣ (high cards from the short side) and my LHO opponent wins the A♣ and then plays a low ♠. So now I have this:

♠AQ5
♥
♦53
♣K8

Declarer
♠JT
♥A
♦KQJ
♣J

I win my A♠ and then play a low ♣ to the J♣ in my hand. We have this position left:

♠Q5
♥
♦53
♣K

Declarer
♠J
♥A
♦KQJ
♣

So now I am in my hand. My K♣ is all set for me to throw away my losing ♠ on it. BUT I am in my hand. My winner is in Dummy. How do I get back to Dummy?

Well the answer is I can't. I messed up. What I would give to turn back the clock and win the opening lead in my hand with the K♦. That way I would still have the A♦ in Dummy for an entry.

Let's try that again. On the opening lead I will play a low ♦ from Dummy and win the ♦ in my hand. Then I'll take out trump and lose to the A♣. The opponents will return a ♠ and I can win my A♠ and play a low ♣ to my hand. Now I have this position left:

♠Q5
♥
♦A5
♣K

Declarer
♠J
♥A
♦QJ6
♣

Perfect! Now I can play a low ♦ to the A♦ in Dummy. Play the K♣ and throw away my losing ♠. Now the QJ♦ and the trump in my hand are all winners! Contract made!

That was a tough one. Quite a bit to think about there. You also notice how easy it is to mess that one up? Play the wrong ♦ at trick 1 and you can easily go down in that one.

How should you know to retain the A♦ in Dummy for 7 or 8 tricks later in the future? You shouldn't really. That's pretty advanced thinking. But at trick one you should think to yourself. "Hmmmm. It doesn't seem like it's all that important where I win the first trick. I don't need to be in Dummy to take any sort of finesse right away. So since it really doesn't matter where I win the first trick let's think. If I win the trick in Dummy I have NO MORE Dummy entries in the ♦ suit. So if I play a ♦ I will be forced to win in my hand no matter what. Zero options. However, if I win the ♦ trick in my hand I will still have 2 more entries in my hand to win a ♦. This means that later on in the hand if I play a ♦ I can choose whether or not to win it in Dummy or whether or not to win it in my hand. Choices are good. So win the ♦ in your hand because it is better to keep communication with BOTH hands in a suit. That way you don't have to figure out what you are going to play 7 or 8 tricks later. 7 or 8 tricks later you can decide and you will still have choices about where to win.