Taking The Losing Option
Taking a Losing Finesse.
Recently I played a suit combination very poorly - it was so obvious when my partner explained my error.
I had plenty of entries to both hands playing in 6 spades on the hand below at teams.
North-Dummy
A Q x x
A
K x
A Q 10 x x x
Your holding is South
K J x x
x
A Q x x x
8 7 x
The lead is a heart and trumps are drawn in 3 rounds ending in your hand. See if you can do better than my foolish play.
I finessed the club 10 losing to the Jack and found myself on another guess when leading towards the club AQ moments later.
My partner pointed out that at teams scoring I need to maximise my chances of making the contract - the overtrick is of secondary importance.
So he suggested the best play to only lose 1 club is to cash the Ace first as this ensures 12 tricks against any 2-2 break and any 3-1 break with a singleton King or Jack.
Hope you did better than I did - it is obvious when someone else points it out!
Enjoy your bridge.
R. Wells
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