Declarer Play - 3NT - Developing extra tricks with Finesses

Before you read this post make sure you know what a finesse is. If not, read this post: http://heidisbridgeblog.blogspot.ca/2016/03/more-suit-combinations.html

Contract 3NT:
Opening lead K♥.

Dummy:
♠A32
♥732
♦A42
♣K765

Declarer (me):
♠K86
♥A654
♦KJ7
♣AJ3

How do I play this hand? In NT I count my winners. Those are sure tricks that I can take right away without losing a trick. I should do this before I even play a card from Dummy.

Winners:

♠2 winners
♥1 winner
♦2 winners
♣2 winners

That's not enough winners. I have 7 winners but I need 9 tricks. I have to somehow get 2 extra tricks. Hmmmmm. Maybe a finesse? Do you see any possibilities for finesses?

Actually there are a couple. I can take a finesse in ♣ and I can also take a finesse in ♦. If the Queen in either of these suits is in a good location for me I can score a trick with my Jack.

To score a trick with my J♦ where do I hope the Q♦ is? Do I want my RHO to hold the Q♦ or my LHO to hold the Q♦?

Here I need my RHO to have the Q♦. If my LHO has the Q♦ they will just cover my J♦ with their Q♦ when I play it. But if I play a low ♦ towards my J♦ and my RHO has the Q♦ they cannot stop me from winning a trick with my J♦. When I lead the low ♦ if they play their Q♦ I will win with my K♦ and then my A♦ and J♦ are both good. If I play a low ♦ and my RHO plays a low ♦ I can try playing the J♦. If my RHO has the Q♦ my J♦ will win a trick PLUS I still have the A♦ and the K♦.

Same with the ♣ suit. Who do I hope has the Q♣? I want to try to score a trick with my J♣.

Think about it.

My RHO. I again need to play a low ♣ towards the J♣ in my hand. If my RHO plays a low ♣ I will try playing the J♣. If RHO holds the Q♣ the J♣ will win the trick. Then I will still have the A♣ and the K♣.

If both those finesses work I will have the 2 extra tricks I need!

Do I need both finesses to work? Do you see another possibility for a 9th trick if only the ♣ finesse works?

So I try the ♣ finesse and it wins! What do I do now?

Here I MIGHT be able to set up my last ♣ winner if both the opponents hold 3♣. But that involves paying attention and making sure there are no more ♣ out there. That's quite a bit to remember so if you forget if that last ♣ is good you can always try the ♦ finesse. Maybe a good thing to remember is that if BOTH opponents follow suit when the J♣ and then the A♣ and then the K♣ are played then that last ♣ in Dummy should be a winner.