Andrew:

When finessing, lead from the opposite hand to the card you are trying to promote.

The three basic methods of making extra tricks without trumps are (1) by Force (2) by Length and (3) by Position (The ‘Finesse’). A finesse is an attempt to win a trick with a card when the opponents have a higher card in the same suit. The relative position of those cards is all-important. This is the process:

A. Identify the card that needs to be promoted.
B. Lead from the opposite hand to that card.
C. Assuming the second hand played low, play – third to the trick – the card that you are
trying to promote.

You hope that the opponent playing second holds the missing higher card. The most common mistake when finessing is actually to lead the card you are trying to promote. Unless you also have the adjacent card, this gives you no chance of success: the opponent will simply cover.

Click to play this deal

North Deals
Both Vul

♠	K 9 4
♥	Q 10 7
♦	8 6 5
♣	A K 5 3

♠	Q J 10 7
♥	8 2
♦	J 9 4 2
♣	9 7 4

N
W		E
S

♠	8 6 2
♥	9 5 4
♦	Q 10 7
♣	Q 10 8 6

♠	A 5 3
♥	A K J 6 3
♦	A K 3
♣	J 2

West	North	East	South
	1 NT	Pass	3 ♥
Pass	4 ♥	Pass	6 ♥
Pass	Pass	Pass

6 ♥ by South

Lead: ♠ Q

Made 6

Made 6

What happened?

South declared 6 ♥ on ♠ Q lead. With five trump tricks and three ace-kings, he had 11 top tricks. The twelfth could only come from promoting ♣ J. At the table declarer won ♠ A, drew trumps finishing in hand, then led ♣ J. This passed to East’s ♣ Q and there was no twelfth trick – down one. Note that even if West had held ♣ Q, he would simply have covered ♣ J and nothing would have been achieved.

What should have happened?

In order to promote ♣ J, declarer must lead from the opposite hand (i.e. from dummy), hoping that the player playing second, East, holds ♣ Q. He wins ♠ A, crosses to ♥ 10, then leads ♣ 3 (key play). If East plays low, ♣ J wins the trick, and declarer draws the remaining trumps and cashes out for 12 tricks. Say East rises with ♣ Q and leads a second spade. Winning dummy’s ♠ K, declarer crosses to ♣ J, returns to ♥ Q, then cashes ♣ AK discarding ♠ 5 and ♦ 3. He now leads over to ♠ AKJ and ♦ AK. 12 tricks and slam made.

Tip: When finessing, lead from the opposite hand to the card you are trying to promote. Do not lead the card itself.

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Andrew:

When finessing, lead from the opposite hand to the card you are trying to promote.