Contract Bridge

Before deciding which way to take a two-way finesse, declarer should first explore every possible avenue of information. In many cases, clues are directly available from the bidding or play. At other times, declarer can force the opponents to reveal what he needs to know.

Take this case where South is in five clubs. West leads the K-A and another diamond, declarer ruffing the third diamond with dummy’s queen as East discards a heart. South then draws trump in two rounds.

The success of the contract depends on guessing the location of the queen of hearts. If West has it, it can be neutralized by leading a heart to the ten; if East has it, the finesse must be taken the other way.

Before committing himself, South should review what he already knows about the opposing hands. So far, he has discovered that West started with precisely six diamonds and two clubs. If he can find out how many spades West was dealt, he can go a long way toward solving his problem.

Accordingly, declarer next cashes the A-K of spades and ruffs a spade, noting that both opponents follow throughout. He then leads the seven of clubs to the eight and ruffs dummy’s last spade with his last trump.

The information provided by these plays is highly illuminating. West has followed to all four spades, so his hand is an open book. He started with six diamonds, two clubs and four spades, so he can have only one heart.

South can now proceed with absolute confidence. A low heart is led to the ace, and a heart is returned. When East follows low, the jack is finessed. Declarer need not even look to see what happens. Unless West was dealt more than 13 cards, he will fail to follow suit, and the contract is home.