Which finesse is the "right" finesse?
Bridge Column for October 22, 2004, Harvey Bernstein
Special To The Plain Dealer
Both sides vulnerable.  South deals.
                              North
                              S: 7 3 2            
                              H: K J 9 6     
                              D: 8 6 3    
                              C: A Q 6   
            West                             East
            S: K J 10 8 5                    S: 9 6 4 
            H: Void                          H: 7 5 2   
            D: Q J 9                         D: 7 4 2             
            C: J 8 7 5 2                     C: K 9 4 3     
                              South                         
                              S: A Q  
                              H: A Q 10 8 4 3 
                              D: A K 10 5   
                              C: 10       
          The Bidding:  
                  South    West    North    East                  
                    1H     Pass     3H      Pass
                    6H     Pass     Pass    Pass
     South opened the bidding with one heart and North made a
"limit" raise showing four card support and nine to eleven high
card points.  South felt that a series of exploratory bids would
only help West decide on an opening lead.  Instead, he simply bid
the small slam.
     West led the queen of diamonds and South took stock of his
assets.  He could count six heart tricks, two black aces and two
top diamonds for a total of ten.  An eleventh trick could come
from the fourth diamond, but that would require that he lose a
diamond trick along the way.  The twelfth trick could come from a
black suit finesse, but we can see that either finesse will fail. 
How should declarer play to give himself the best chance to make
his contract?
     This hand is another example of declarer trying to find a
better line of play than a simple finesse.  Declarer wins the
opening lead with the ace and plays the ace of hearts.  A club to
the ace allows him to lead a club from dummy and trump it.  A
heart to the king is the entry to trump the queen of clubs. The
queen of hearts draws the last trump from East.  This is followed
by the king of diamonds and a small diamond, leaving this end
position (with West on lead):
                              North
                              S: 7 3 2            
                              H: J      
                              D: Void    
                              C: Void   
            West                             East
            S: K J 10                        S: 9 6 4 
            H: Void                          H: Void    
            D: Void                          D: Void              
            C: J                             C: 9         
                              South                         
                              S: A Q  
                              H: 10     
                              D: 10   
                              C: Void
     If West leads a spade, South will score two spade tricks. 
If West leads a club, South will trump in the dummy and discard
the queen of spades in hand.  
     If West held a fourth diamond at this point, and led it,
declarer could trump in the dummy and fall back on the spade
finesse, which would fail.  Fortunately, this was not the case.
     Notice that Declarer executed an end-play by simply playing
his cards in the correct order.  It is good to get in the habit
of eliminating side suits during the play of the hand just in
case the hand works down to a favorable end position.
_______________________________________________________
Bernstein is a free-lance writer in Solon.