cr|264|cb|2255|cg|2255|cr|1255|cb|164|cg|1255|cr|364|cb|364|cg|3255|cr|4255|cb|464|cg|464|cr|5255|cb|5255|cg|5255|bg|5|bt||mn|More Finessing 4compiled by Harold Schogger|nt|













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            (5th blackened icon along bottom line)|pg||st||md|Sk654,A9,Q732,Jt8|sk|ns|nt|With this as our trump suit how do we try to make 3 tricks ?|pg||nt|we have to try and imagine the layout of the opponents cards|pg||nt|maybe they will be as above|sk|we|pg||sk||nt|now let us see the layout and how the hand might pan out|pg||nt|with the knowledge that West has this doubleton Ace the winning line is to start from the south hand with the 4|pc|s4|pg||nt|West cannot afford to play his Ace now and of course follows low|pc|S9|pg||nt|you now play dummy's Spade queen from dummy and are delighted to win the trick|pc|sq|pc|s8|pg||nt|you now play low card from dummy and when East follows with the 10 you play low from hand|sk||pc|s2sts5sa|pg||sk||nt|you have lost the trick but YOUR KING IS STILL RETAINED to take care of East's remaining Jack shortly.

West's Ace has "fallen on air" ie only captured low cards - Poor West|pg||md|Sk654,A9,Q732,Jt8|nt|The reason this worked was because the Layout of the cards meant that since the Ace was doubleton in the West hand it fell on low cards round two|pg||nt|What happens if the layout is as above|md|Sk654,jt9,Q732,a8|pg||nt|we will now have to finesse the Ace through East at the beginning ie start with low card from the North hand as above|wt|n|pc|S2|pg||nt|Now East has to play low and cannot afford to release his Ace|pc|s8|pg||pc|sKs9|nt|Our King has won the trick|pg||nt|again we must now play a low card from each hand as  this time we watch as East has to release his Ace "on air"|pc|s4sts3sa|pg||nt|shortly we will be able to remove West's remaining Jack when we regain the lead|pg||nt|So how do we know if the layout is as above 

OR|md|Sk654,A9,Q732,Jt8|pg||md|Sk654,jt9,Q732,a8|nt|with East now holding the doubleton Ace|pg||bt||nt|To help us decide who might have the doubleton Ace let us consider the following points :-

1. Did either player bid ? if so they are more likely to have Ace so play that player for it to be a doubleton.
2. Did either play pre-empt ? If so then play the other player to have the Ace  since a pre-emptor is unlikely to have Ace outside his long suit.
3. Did somebody make a take-out double - assume they are more likely to have Ace
4. If neither player bid  assume the remaining points to be equally divided  THEREFORE do some detective work
a) see what was led
b) play on other suits and ascertain where other honours are and if one player has already turned up with 7 points assume rest of points are with other defender.

and if you are STILL NOT SURE

Play low card from one hand intending going up with the honour first time around and then low card from each hand and hope for the best !!!!!!!!! |pg||pg||bt||nt||mn|Happy Finessing|