a practice finesse

Practice is always a good thing, right?

A variation of this hand came up about a month ago. After a spirited auction, you are declarer in 7♣.

North

♠ Q J 6 4 ♥ Q J 8 2 ♦ A Q ♣ Q J 5

South

♠ A 8 ♥ A K ♦ 7 3 ♣ A K 9 8 7 4 3

West leads the 6♦. Do you take the diamond finesse now, or play the A♦ and take the spade finesse instead?

ANSWER: Don’t take either finesse!

You have 13 top tricks here: 7 clubs, 4 hearts, and the other two aces. Play the A♦ on the first trick. Then play two rounds of trump ending in your hand, unblock the ♥ A K, and cross to the Q♣ in order to cash dummy’s ♥ Q J, discarding the spade and diamond losers from your hand. The only possible way you can go down is if one of the opponents has a singleton heart and all three of the missing clubs – less than a 5% chance of that. Compare that to the 50% chance of a losing finesse. And oh by the way, if the diamond finesse works, you still have to deal with the spade loser. If you put your hopes on both finesses working, your chances are only about 25% -- bleah!

A “Practice Finesse” is a derogatory term meaning a finesse that gains you nothing if it wins, and puts you in worse shape if it loses. If you take the time to think the hand through, you can avoid taking those practice finesses.

THE PRINCIPLE: As declarer, before playing to the first trick, remember to ARCH. Analyze the lead, Review the bidding, Count your tricks, and decide How to play the hand. Then, only after all that, play to the first trick.

Maintaining control

You are sitting East, the opponents are vulnerable. Partner is the dealer.

  ♠ J 6 5 2    ♥ A K 7 4   ♦ 8 6 5 3   ♣ 7

West		North	East (you)		South
1 ♣ 2 ♥		1 ♦ 3 NT	Double All Pass		1 NT
North
♠ 10 8 3 ♥ 2 ♦ A K Q J 9 7 2 ♣ 6 4
				East (you)
				♠ J 6 5 2 ♥ A K 7 4 ♦ 8 6 5 3 ♣ 7

Partner leads the ♥8 to your ♥K. Now what?

ANSWER: Switch to the ♣7. Yes, it’s usually a good thing to return partner’s lead. Especially when defending notrump, and in a suit that you and partner have bid and raised. But partner’s ♥8 is a top-of-nothing lead, denying any heart honors; declarer has them!

Note that declarer has 7 diamond tricks, and after you cash both top hearts, she’ll have 2 heart tricks. Not to mention whatever tricks she has in the black suits.

So which tricks does declarer have in the black suits? We can’t tell; she probably has a club stopper for her 1NT bid, and she might have a spade trick as well. But partner did have an opening bid, and it obviously didn’t contain any red-suit honors. All of partner’s strength is in spades and clubs, so you need to lead through declarer’s hand in those suits. By switching now, partner can get back to your hand with the ♥A so that you can lead a black suit again.

THE PRINCIPLE: When defending notrump, don’t cash top tricks in a suit if that would set up tricks for declarer. Maintain control of the suit, and save those high cards for use as entries.

The complete hand:

	North
	♠ 10 8 3 ♥ 2 ♦ A K Q J 9 7 2 ♣ 6 4
West		East (you)
♠ A Q 4 ♥ 8 6 5 3 ♦ 10 ♣ A Q 10 8 3		♠ J 6 5 2 ♥ A K 7 4 ♦ 8 6 5 3 ♣ 7
	South
	♠ K 9 7 ♥ Q J 10 9 ♦ 4 ♣ K J 9 5 2

You switch to clubs, partner wins as cheaply as possible, and returns her highest heart (the ♥6) showing preference for spades. You then switch to spades, partner wins two spade tricks and another club trick for down two.

BONUS MINUTE: By convention, after the 1♦ overcall your negative double promises both major suits, at least 4-4. With only one major suit, just bid it naturally.