BRIDGE

There is no question that the finesse, although a valuable weapon in many deals, can easily be abused. Not every finessing position should be exploited, because there are often other approaches available that offer a better prospect of success.

Take this case where declarer resisted the temptation to take a finesse and scored a game as a result. The bidding was spirited, and South wound up in five hearts. He ruffed the opening spade lead and cashed the A-K of trumps. He then led a low club toward the jack, giving up the opportunity to finesse against East for the king.

It did not matter what West did. If he went up with the king, dummy would play low, and declarer would later be able to cash the J-A-Q of clubs and discard two diamonds from dummy. On this line of play, South would lose only one club and one diamond.

And if West did not take the club king, dummy’s jack would win, and the end result would be the same, with declarer losing only two diamond tricks. Note that if South had started the clubs by leading the jack from dummy, he would have lost the finesse, and also the contract, because the defenders would have scored two diamonds and a club. The question from the start for declarer is which opponent has the king of clubs. If West has it, the finesse should be avoided, while if East has it, the finesse must be taken to secure the contract. South found the winning approach when he decided that West was more likely to have the king. This conclusion was based on West’s opening lead, which indicated that East had the A-K of spades. Since West had made a vulnerable overcall on a queen-high suit, he became a strong favourite to have most of the missing high cards in the side suits -- diamonds and clubs. All South did was to take advantage of this deduction.