Contract Bridge

Sylvia had only the foggiest notion of what constituted a finesse when she started to play at the club. There were of course other areas of the game in which she was equally ignorant, but that did not stop her from playing in the expert game.

It would certainly have made more sense for Sylvia to play with the less-competent players in the club. But, regrettably, she was convinced from the start that to master the game, she had to play with only the best players, regardless of cost.

You can judge how Sylvia (South) played in those days by examining the bidding and play of this hand. Her five-diamond bid was clearly correct in her view, since she felt she had an excellent hand and saw no reason to bid less than game. She considered the marvelous dummy that came down to be no more than her due.

West cashed two spades and shifted to the ten of hearts. Sylvia won with the ace and, dimly remembering something called a finesse, led the queen of clubs. She reasoned that if West had the king, her queen would win the trick, since she planned to play low from dummy.

However, West covered the queen with the king, forcing Sylvia to win with the ace. Undaunted by this setback, she next cashed all her trumps, retaining only the K-Q-6 of hearts in dummy. On the last trump lead, East, who at this point held the J-8-7 of hearts and jack of clubs, had to make a discard.

He could not spare a heart, so he discarded the jack of clubs. Sylvia was not absolutely sure her nine was the high club, but she was sure enough to lead it next, and when it held the trick, she wound up making five diamonds. Consciously or unconsciously, Sylvia had executed one of the rarest plays in bridge — a transfer squeeze!