Contract Bridge

Among the first things one learns in bridge is how to finesse. But after you’ve played the game awhile, you start looking for ways to avoid finesses, because experience has taught you there are often other methods of play that will give you better than the 50- 50 chance normally offered by a finesse.

Assume you reach four spades as shown, and West leads the A- 3 of hearts. East wins and plays a third heart, which you ruff high. You cash two trumps and three clubs, discarding a diamond from dummy, and East follows suit throughout. This brings you to what you have been worrying about from the outset — that you might lose two diamond tricks.

However, a quick review of what has transpired thus far would seem to indicate that West is more likely to have the king of diamonds. This is because East has turned up with six hearts, two spades and three clubs, leaving him with at most two diamonds, and West with at least four.

It might therefore seem that you should next lead a diamond to the queen, because if West has the king, you’d immediately make the contract. But the possibility that East, who made a vulnerable overcall, may have the king keeps nagging at you.

So you start thinking about how to avoid the finesse, and pretty soon you realize that even if East has the king of diamonds, you are certain to make the contract anyway. Accordingly, you cash the ace of diamonds, return to your hand with a trump and play a diamond to the queen, hoping to find West with the king.

In the actual case, the queen loses to East’s king, but, since he has no more diamonds, he is forced to return a heart. This allows you to discard your remaining diamond as you ruff in dummy, and the contract is safely home.