Author Topic: In Praise of the Pointless Finesse...  (Read 2982 times)

OliverC

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In Praise of the Pointless Finesse...
« on: September 02, 2017, 08:10:14 PM »
Have you noticed that finesses are like a red rag to a bull sometimes?

We were defending on this hand. Eszter and I essentially played a fairly passive defence. We could have played it more aggressively, but it wouldn't have made a single bit of difference to the outcome. Declarer here defeated himself, pure and simple:

EW Game, Dealer East (Hands re-arranged as per the posts below)

East (Dummy)
 !S AJ97
 !H 954
 !D K973
 !C 32

West (Declarer)
 !S KQ842
 !H KQ
 !D AJ
 !C K974

Bidding
East     South     West     North
No        No           1 !S       2 !H
2 !S      No           4 !S       All Pass

My Partner, who was North, led a small Spade. Declarer drew trumps in rounds, ending in Dummy (Spades were 2-2). Next he Led a Diamond to his Ace and then ran the Jack of Diamonds, losing to South's Queen.

WHAT??

Before you take any finesse you have to think what you can possibly hope to gain from it (win or lose). EW are in the par contract here. Trumps have split and there are only three possible losers for Declarer on this hand (The Ace of Hearts and 2 Clubs if the Club Ace is offside) West can ruff East's red-suit losers and East can ruff West's Club losers. The only ways you can possibly go off on this hand it (1) to needlessly draw a 3rd round of trumps, or (2) to lose a Diamond trick.

Aside from the idiotic "chinese" finesse in Diamonds (East will surely cover with !D Qx(x) or any number of Diamonds with !D Q10x), what West needed to ask himself is this: "Is my position going to improve if this finesse somehow succeeds?". Of course the answer is no. If the Jack wins and West gets to discard a Club (or a Heart) on the !D King, he is still going to lose 2 Clubs and a Heart. It doesn't even matter if Declarer finesses against South in Diamonds - he's still going to lose three tricks on this hand because the discard on the !D King doesn't gain him anything. It can only lose if the finesse loses.  Even if NS tried to commit suicide and started chucking the !D Q and 10 under the A, K and J and West somehow managed to gain two discards on the Diamonds, he's still only making 10 tricks, depending on the position of the !C Ace.

The whole world, practically, was in 4 !H making exactly or with an overtrick. This guy and only one other West (who did exactly the same thing, except that that West didn't even play the !D Ace first LOL). were the only two going off. North had the !C AQ and the !H Ace.

Swapping a 100% cold game for a 50% finesse which, even if it wins, doesn't gain you an overtrick and if it loses means you might go off, is pure insanity, yet I see people doing it nearly every day. Finessing is a valuable tactic, but sometimes you need to give yourself a reality check. "Am I actually going to gain anything if this finesse wins?"
« Last Edit: September 03, 2017, 08:58:27 AM by OliverC »
Oliver (OliverC)
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kenberg

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Re: In Praise of the Pointless Finesse...
« Reply #1 on: September 03, 2017, 01:08:45 AM »
Neither the auction nor the play made sense to me so I looked it up, You have the EW hands reversed. West opened 1S, as you have it shown. So the W hand is the one with the five spades in it. And once you switch the hands, now it makes sense that it is making only 4. I was wondering why declarer lost 2 clubs, but he does if he is the one with the club K.

So here they are re-arranged.

East (Dummy)
 !S AJ97
 !H 954
 !D K973
 !C 32

West (Declarer)
!S KQ842
 !H KQ
 !D AJ
 !C K974

Anyway, once the spades split, the diamond finesse is pointless, as you say. Had trumps been 3-1, and if they can and do  keep leading them,  then there will be only one club ruff available. 5 spades 1 heart, 2 diamonds, 1 club ruff comes to 9 and there might be various ways to get a 10th, but the D finesse has at least some point to it if spades are 3-1.  5 spades, 1 heart, 3 diamonds, 1 club ruff comes to 10. But first you see if it is needed, and if it isn't, don't do it.

Congratulations to you partner on the trump lead, but with spades lying  2-2 it is not enough. Nothing is. Except casting a spell on an opener to get him to take a pointless diamond finesse.

Ken

OliverC

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Re: In Praise of the Pointless Finesse...
« Reply #2 on: September 03, 2017, 08:56:02 AM »
Sorry, Ken, You're absolutely right. Not sure how that happened. I've now re-edited the original post.
« Last Edit: September 03, 2017, 08:58:53 AM by OliverC »
Oliver (OliverC)
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kenberg

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Re: In Praise of the Pointless Finesse...
« Reply #3 on: September 03, 2017, 11:58:37 AM »
I often feel that some evil spirit briefly took over my brain, or at least my typing. My first thought here was that surely the !C A is with the 2!H bidder how can there be any problem even after the ill advised !D finesse. But then I say that the 1 !S opening was on 4, as it was shown,  and it was not hard to guess what had happened.

The !D finesse is certainly completely pointless as you note. I am also not so the !D finesse is the right line even if trumps are 3-1.  An alternative is to trust that the !C A is with N and that it is Ax or Axx  so that three rounds of clubs will bring it down. If so, declarer can score 5 spades, 1 heart, 2 diamonds, the !C K and one !C ruff.     There are other possibilities. Perhaps best is for declarer to play a small club at T2.  The danger of a stiff heart with S, and thus 7 with N, seems minimal. If N wins this club and returns another spade, with S showing out. I think playing to bring down the !C A seems right. Otoh, if S wins and returns a spade, N showing out, then bringing down the A is less likely. However the spade trick could be won on the board and a !C led toward the K.  If by any chance S has the A, that's great. But probably not, so N takes the K with the A. But he has no spade to lead, so 2 club ruffs on the board  will be available.

But all this is extra. The main thing is to not take that diamond finesse after the trumps are 2-2. Even if the opening lead had been a !D into the AJ, how could anything be better, declarer still loses 2 clubs and a heart. I have no idea how anyone took 11 tricks on this hand. I guess someone laid down the !C  A, but with trumps 2-2 there is no way to reasonable way to go down and no reasonable way to make an overtrick.

Counting out all four suits can be tough and inferential counts can be even tougher, but taking a moment to count ten obvious tricks after the trumps break is much less difficult. I wish I could say that I always do that, I'll settle for saying I always intend to.


Ken