Bridge Bites

BRIDGE BITES #12

ONE FINESSE TOO MANY

Brian Gunnell

♠ J

♥ QJT

♦ T97

♣ AJT954

Dummy

West East

Declarer

♠ AKQT954

♥ A64

♦ AQJ

♣

Playing in a team game, you find yourself declaring 6♠. West leads a trump and your job is to avoid a loser in each of the red suits. After Dummy’s ♠J wins the first trick, is there any rush to cash the ♣A and pitch something? And which red-suit finesse do you plan to take first?

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No, there isn’t any rush to cash the ♣A, that can wait. And, of course, you’ll be taking the Heart finesse first because, win or lose, you’ll still have access to the board. The Heart finesse wins! What next?

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Does it now look like you are playing for an overtrick? You can pitch a Diamond on the ♣A, repeat the winning Heart finesse, and still be able to finesse Diamonds in search of the overtrick. No, you didn’t do that, say it isn’t so! But when the deal was played in real life, that’s exactly what happened, and Declarer found himself going down one when it transpired that this was the full layout …

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♠ J

♥ QJT

♦ T97

♣ AJT954

♠ 862

♥ K953

♦ 865

♣ Q87

Dummy

West East

Declarer

♠ 73

♥ 872

♦ K432

♣ K632

♠ AKQT954

♥ A64

♦ AQJ

♣

“Yippee!” thought Dummy when the ♥Q won the second trick. Now Dummy’s ♣A was cashed (pitching a Diamond) and the winning Heart finesse was repeated. Oops! The winning Heart finesse was now a losing one. That devious West fellow produced the King! Even worse, Declarer now had no way of avoiding a Diamond loser also. Down one in a cold contract! Where did Declarer go wrong?

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When the first Heart finesse worked, Declarer took his eye off the ball. He should have realized that a second Heart finesse was unnecessary. After the ♥Q wins, the 100% safe line is to cash the ♣A (pitching a Heart), ruff a Club high (just in case there is an overruff in the cards), then draw trumps and give up a Diamond. Now it becomes clear why it was premature to cash the ♣A at Trick 2:

- If the Heart finesse was destined to lose then Declarer would need to pitch a Diamond on the ♣A and hope that the Diamond finesse was successful)

- But, if the Heart finesse was destined to win, then Declarer would need to pitch a Heart on the ♣A (catering for the possibility of a dastardly duck).

By the way, that dastardly ducking West would have looked extremely foolish if this had been the full layout:

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