Counting Losers in Action -- 4 Spades

This post talks about counting losers in a trump contract. If you want some practice on doing that please read this post first:
Counting Losers

To avoid some losers you might have to try a finesse. If you are not sure what a finesse is try these posts:
The Finesse
More Finessing
Eight Ever, Nine Never

The reason why bridge players count losers in a trump contract is to determine whether or not Declarer has enough losers that they will not be able to make their contract. If Declarer has too many losers to make their contract they have to figure out a way to get rid of some of their losers! If Declarer has losers but will still make their contract they try to figure out if they can avoid some of their losers without jeopardizing their contract. Bridge players are a bit greedy in that sense. They always want more.

So let's start. The final contract is 4♠. The opening lead is the J♥.

Dummy:
♠KQ72
♥Q9
♦KQJ3
♣J92

Declarer (me):
♠AJT3
♥K2
♦T62
♣AQT4

Count losers -- Remember I must either look at either Dummy or Declarer's hand to count losers:

Since I can use either hand to count losers, bridge players tend to count losers from the hand that has the longest trump. This time both Declarer's hand and Dummy have 4 trump. I can use either. Let's do both for the practice.

Losers in Dummy:
♠ 0 losers -- I should not have to lose any trump tricks (assuming one opponent doesn't have all five of them!)
♥ 1 loser -- I will probably lose the A♥.
♦ 1 loser -- I will lose the A♦.
♣ 1 loser -- I might have to lose to the K♣.

Let's try counting losers in Declarer's hand:

Losers in Declarer's Hand:
♠ 0 losers -- I should not have to lose any trump tricks (assuming one opponent doesn't have all five of them!)
♥ 1 loser -- I will probably lose the A♥.
♦ 1 loser -- I will lose the A♦.
♣ 1 loser -- I might have to lose to the K♣.

Pretty good. I am in 4♠ and I only have 3 losers. I will make my contract. Should I try to avoid any losers?

Hmmmmm. I am probably always going to have to lose to the A♥ and also the A♦. But I can try to avoid losing to the K♣. Can you see how?

I can always try the ♣ finesse. When I am playing the ♣ suit I will start from Dummy (very important to start there!) and try playing the 9♣ to begin with. If my RHO plays the K♣ I will win my A♣ and all my ♣ are good! If my RHO plays a small ♣ instead I will play a small ♣ from my hand. Yes this could lose to the K♣. But that's okay. The rest of my ♣ will be winners. HOWEVER, if my RHO has the K♣ (they could) then my 9♣ will WIN the trick! Try it at home to see. Just deal out the ♣ and give RHO the K♣ and a couple of other ♣. Look what happens. If the 9♣ wins then I am still in Dummy to repeat the finesse again. This time I will play the J♣ and if RHO plays low, I will play low. The J♣ will now win the trick. Again I am still in Dummy. I can now play the 2♣ and if RHO plays low I can win my Q♣. My A♣ will be a winner.

So that's how I will try to avoid a ♣ loser.

FIRST thing I need to do is to TAKE OUT the opponents TRUMP.

So the first thing I will do when I win the first trick is to take out all the opponents trump. I will try to remember to end in Dummy so I can try the ♣ finesse. Once I play the ♣ I can play on ♦ and give the opponents the A♦. Then all my ♦ will be good. I can even lose to the A♦ first and then play the ♣. Not a big deal. The big deal is to take out trump! Otherwise when you play all your winners the oppponents will run out of the suit and be able to trump your winners! This is not good.

So take out trump and try the ♣ finesse. It can't hurt and you might avoid a loser.