Page 33
Finesses: Not Always Obvious
Getting There is
Half the Fun
West North
East South
--- 1
Pass 1
Pass
2
Pass 3NT
All Pass
With a strong hand
and weak spades, you didn’t look for a 5-3 spade fit, but
instead jumped to 3NT.
You would have
liked to develop diamonds, but West’s spade lead knocked out a
crucial entry to dummy. Unfortunately, without the diamonds, you
have no chance to make nine tricks. You desperately need to find
an entry to the board in addition to the
 A.
Question 1:
Is there any hope of a second entry?
Question 2:
After you lead a diamond to your ace at
trick two, what is your plan?
© 2004 - Marty Bergen
Page 34
Finesses: Not Always Obvious
Question 1:
Is there any hope of a second entry?
Answer:
Yes, dummy’s
10
provides a 50% chance of giving you the additional entry that
you must have.
Question 2:
After you lead a
diamond to your ace at trick two, what is your plan?
Answer:
Lead a club, finesse
dummy’s
10
and say your favorite prayer. If West has the
J,
dummy’s
10
will provide the crucial second entry to the board. You’ll then
drive out the
K
and await developments.
Of course, even if
the club finesse wins, you’re not out of the woods yet. Although
the
A
remains as an entry to dummy’s diamonds, you have no idea what
will happen in the majors. Depending on the location of the
defenders’ honors in diamonds, hearts, and spades, you could end
up with as many as ten tricks, or as few as seven or eight.
Postscript:
On the actual hand,
good news was followed by more good news.
First:
and foremost, the
10
won. Yes!!
Second:
When you then led
dummy’s
Q,
you were pleased when West won the
K.
You certainly were not looking forward to East’s leading through
your fragile major suits.
© 2004 - Marty Bergen
Page 35
Finesses: Not Always Obvious
Third:
Because East would
never get the lead, the contract was not in jeopardy. What
happened next? West defended well by exiting with a club. When
you eventually came off dummy with a heart, West took the last
three tricks with the
 AQ
and the
K.
But with 6 diamond tricks, 2 clubs and 1 spade, you were
delighted to score up your game.
Here
is the entire deal:
Contract: 3NT
Lead:
J |
|
North
A
7 6 4
Q J 10 8
6 5 4
A 4 |
|
|
| |
West
K
J 10 9 7
A Q
K 3 2
J 6 4 |
|
East
8
2
10 8 5 3 2
9 7
9 8 5 3 |
|
| |
|
South
Q
6 5 4 3
K
J 9
A
K Q 7 2 |
|
|
West North
East South
--- 1
Pass 1
Pass
2
Pass 3NT
All Pass
© 2004- Marty Bergen
Chapter 4 :To
Finesse or Not to Finesse? ...................... 43
|
