Is 50% Good Enough?
Would you buy a used car from a salesman who told you that your brakes would only work 50% of the time? Wouldn’t you rather walk? Or at least find some other way to get there?
As all of us know, finesses only work 50% of the time but we tend to be finesse-aholics. Let’s try an alternative. If you should find yourself in a contract that depends on a finesse, think about whether you can use a strip and throw-in (otherwise known as an end-play, because it tends to happen near the end of the hand)
| North | ||
| ♠ 109 | ||
| ♥ K8642 | ||
| ♦ K83 | ||
| ♣ K107 | ||
| West | East | |
| ♠ KJ73 | ♠ Q8652 | |
| ♥ 10 | ♥ 93 | |
| ♦ J1092 | ♦ 654 | |
| ♣ Q432 | ♣ 986 | |
| South | ||
| ♠ A4 | ||
| ♥ AQJ75 | ||
| ♦AQ7 | ||
| ♣ AJ5 |
You are South and you arrive in the contract of 6♥, and West leads the ♦J. Counting your losers, you find 1 ♠ loser, no ♥ losers, no ♦ losers and one potential loser in ♣. West has led the ♦J. At times like this, you now need to do your stretching exercises — lean to the left, lean to the right to see which of your opponents has the ♣Q. (Just kidding!) If they are holding their cards close to their chests, do you now fall back on guessing which way to take the ♣ finesse?
In ♣, you have a “two-way finesse” i.e. a choice of which way to finesse. This is in contrast to a situation where you may have the ♣ K32 opposite the ♣ AJ4; now you have no choice as to how to finesse. However, whichever way you to decide to go, if you come to down to a straight guess, your finesse will only work 50% of the time. Let’s see if we can increase your chances of making this hand to 100%.
We’ll assume you win the first trick with the ♦A and now you draw trump (only as many as necessary, in this case two rounds). You now ‘strip’ the ♦suit (play it in its entirety). Resolve to NOT lead the ♣ suit yourself. Now play the ♠A and give away a ♠ to charity. Suppose West wins the ♠ trick. What would you like him to lead now? For that matter, if East wins the ♠ trick, he has the same problem. If either opponent leads a ♠ or a ♦, you sluff a ♣ from your hand and ruff in dummy. If they lead a ♣, you play low from the next hand and you will automatically win three club tricks.
This is the “end” position:
| North | ||
| ♠ — | ||
| ♥ K86 | ||
| ♦ — | ||
| ♣ K107 | ||
| West | East | |
| ♠ K | ♠ Q86 | |
| ♥ — | ♥ — | |
| ♦ J1092 | ♦ — | |
| ♣ Q432 | ♣ 986 | |
| South | ||
| ♠ — | ||
| ♥ J75 | ||
| ♦— | ||
| ♣ AJ5 |
What you have done here is to put your opponents in an impossible situation. Whatever they do now will be give you a trick.
The principle of ‘throwing your opponents in’ (putting them on lead to do your dirty work) occurs in other situations. Here is a cute example:
| North | ||
| ♠ 10976 | ||
| ♥ Q87 | ||
| ♦ K87 | ||
| ♣ A64 | ||
| West | East | |
| ♠ QJ82 | ♠ — | |
| ♥ J109 | ♥ 5432 | |
| ♦ 643 | ♦ J1092 | |
| ♣ 1098 | ♣ QJ752 | |
| South | ||
| ♠ AK543 | ||
| ♥ AK6 | ||
| ♦AQ5 | ||
| ♣ K3 |
You are South in 6♠. West has led the ♥J. You win lead in your hand and start drawing trump (♠A). Suddenly everything comes to a screeching halt! RHO fails to follow suit and your 6♥ contract at first glance seems doomed to fail.
Now hang on. Logic must prevail. If you cash your ♠K, you are now giving up completely. You cannot make your slam after that. So stop pulling trump immediately. Play all the other suits (stripping) and pray that West has to follow all the way. Don’t forget to play the third ♣ from dummy and trump it in your hand: when you are stripping, strip completely!
Now play either the ♠10 from dummy or a small ♠ from your hand toward the ♠10 in dummy.
West will win with the ♠J and here is the end position:
| North | ||
| ♠ 109 | ||
| ♥ — | ||
| ♦ — | ||
| ♣ — | ||
| West | East | |
| ♠ Q8 | ♠ — | |
| ♥ — | ♥ — | |
| ♦ — | ♦ J | |
| ♣ — | ♣ Q | |
| South | ||
| ♠ K5 | ||
| ♥ — | ||
| ♦— | ||
| ♣ — |
West, having gained the lead with ♠J now finds himself in a dreadful predicament: whatever ♠ he now leads gives you the contract!
Remember this kind of tactic, and they’ll all be lined up to play with you.