DAILY BRIDGE CLUB:

Another certified letter arrived from the Society of Finessers, complaining that finesses never win in my columns.

“Dear Sir: We must again protest your contempt for the finesse, an honorable technique that succeeds fully half the time — except when you write about it.”

Honestly, guys, I have nothing against finesses, except ones that are unnecessary or are sure to fail. I’ll prove it. At four spades doubled, South ruffs the third diamond and suspects that West has all the missing high cards.

South can avoid losing two clubs with an end play, but at Trick Four he must finesse with the queen of hearts. He takes the ace, ruffs dummy’s last heart, and draws trumps with the A-Q.

Declarer then leads a club to his jack, and when West takes the queen, he has no winning return. If he leads a red card, South discards a club from dummy, ruffs in his hand, cashes the ace of clubs, ruffs a club and claims. Unless South takes that “unnecessary” heart finesse, he fails.

DAILY QUESTION: You hold: ♠ 82 ♥ KJ106 ◆ A KQ8 ♣ K Q 8. The dealer, at your right, opens two spades. You double, and your partner bids three hearts. What do you say?

ANSWER: Since your double promised a strong hand plus heart support, pass. Many partnerships try to solve this tough problem with the “Lebensohl” convention. A response of three hearts promises some values; with a poor hand, responder bids 2NT, artificially proclaiming weakness.