SOMETIMES A FINESSE IS NOT SO OBVIOUS

Stacy Keach said, “I can't think of anything that requires more finesse than comedy, both from a verbal and visual point of view.” Obviously, he wasn’t a bridge player.

Today’s deal contains an unusual finesse. South is in four spades. West leads the diamond ace: four, 10, three. West cashes the diamond king: six, two, nine. West continues with a third diamond, declarer ruffing East’s queen. What happens after that?

North used a Texas transfer to get his partner to be the declarer in four spades. Note that four spades by North will fail after East leads the heart five. West takes the trick as cheaply as possible, cashes his top diamonds and exits with a diamond or a trump. He must score

the club king later.

Things look equally grim for South since West probably holds the heart ace and club king. But there is a clever line of play. Declarer draws trumps ending in the dummy, then finesses (runs) the heart 10. West wins with the jack, but what can he do?

If he leads a club, South wins in hand and plays the heart king, taking a ruffing finesse to establish a discard for dummy’s third club. If instead West leads the heart ace, South ruffs on the board and has two discards available. Finally, if West leads a low heart, declarer can establish two heart tricks, thanks to his eight.

No doubt you noticed West’s error. He should have trusted his partner’s encouraging diamond 10 at trick one and underled his diamond king at trick two. East would then have shifted to a heart (or a club) to defeat the contract.

Copyright United Feature Syndicate (Asia Features)