Practice Finesse #13-08

IMPROVE YOUR PLAY

With Larry Matheny

Before playing to the first trick a strong declarer will analyze the hand and include the opening lead in the mix. Then he will proceed with his plan. Taking an unnecessary finesse is not part of a good plan.

Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)

#13-08
Dlr	W
Vul	E/W

	AQ4
	63
	98754
	A97

	1096
	109852
	Q
	10854

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	K7532
	74
	J62
	J62

	J8
	AKQJ
	AK103
	KQ3

West	North	East	South
Pass	Pass	Pass	2
Pass	2	Pass	2NT
Pass	6NT	Pass	Pass
Pass

Bidding: South’s 2NT rebid showed 23-24 high card points. North did the math and bid the slam.

Play: West led the ten of spades and declarer stopped to count his tricks. If he could bring in all five diamonds he has 13 tricks: 1 spade, 4 hearts, 5 diamonds, and 3 clubs. It seemed the only time the spade finesse was needed was if it succeeded but he had to lose a diamond trick. Feeling it unlikely West had underled the spade king, declarer rose with the ace. He continued with a low diamond to his ace as the queen dropped from the West hand. The Rule of Restrictive Choice told declarer that a singleton queen was twice as likely as a doubleton QJ, so he went to dummy with a club followed by a diamond to his ten. It was now a simple task to claim the overtrick.

Those who took the spade finesse came to only 12 tricks. That is, if they also played the diamonds correctly. The spade finesse could be described as an unnecessary or “practice” finesse.