NEA Bridge: If the finesse wins, then what happens?

Victoria Pendleton, a British track cyclist, once said, "I just want to prove that I am really good at something. And I haven't quite done that yet — at least not to myself. I know I could ride so much better, with more ease, with more finesse. I feel I'm nowhere near as good as I should be." She is now a multiple Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth champion.

As you know, we are faced with finesses in virtually every deal. Taking the right one can decide whether we end as a medal winner or an also-ran. In today's deal, how should South play in six hearts after West leads the club jack, and South wins with his queen?

North's three-spade rebid artificially announced slam interest in hearts. It was coincidental that he had spade length. (Similarly, two no-trump - three clubs - three spades - four hearts is a slam-try in spades.) There followed three control-bids and a slightly optimistic jump to six hearts.

The original South immediately cashed his two top hearts, learning that he had an unavoidable loser, ruffed his club seven on the board and played a diamond to his queen. But West produced the king, and the contract had to fail.

Was South unlucky, or did he overlook something?

Suppose the diamond finesse had won — then what? Declarer would still have needed the spade finesse to work. But if it did win, and the suit split 3-2, he could have discarded his diamond jack and diamond queen on the spade nine and spade two. The diamond finesse was a red herring.