Finesse
In contract bridge and similar games, a finesse is a technique which allows one to promote tricks based on a favorable position of one or more cards in the hands of the opponents. If one can lead up to a finessable position such as ace-queen, an additional trick can be won if the king is positioned in front of the combination of ace and queen.
A more precise definition of a finesse would be: A play that attempts to win either the current trick or a later trick with a certain card of the suit led, although the opponents hold a higher card in the suit, by taking advantage of the position of the particular cards.
A finesse is said to be on or off depending on whether or not the finessable honor is favorably placed (onside) or not (offside). Many finesses involve a combination of non-touching honors in the same hand, called a tenace.
Direct finesse
A direct finesse is a finesse that gains a trick without losing one, as long as it is "on". For example:
| ♠ A Q |
| ♠ 7 2 |
If South (declarer) is on lead he can lead to the queen; that is, he
leads a small spade and, if West plays low, plays the queen from dummy. If West
is holding the king (it is "onside"), North-South will win two tricks, for a
gain of one trick without losing a trick. (If West actually plays the king on
the first trick, of course, North-South win two tricks by covering with the
ace.)
Indirect finesse
An indirect finesse is a finesse that gains a trick - if it is on - but may involve losing a trick first. A typical example is:
| ♠ K 7 |
| ♠ 6 3 |
South leads a spade toward the king; if West holds the ace, the king will
either win the current trick or will become the highest remaining spade and win
a later one. (More precisely, the king is set up as a winner, but that doesn't
mean it will necessarily take a trick. It might be ruffed, or at No Trump the
defense might run another suit for a squeeze and force it
to be discarded. But this article is about finesses, and having acknowledged
that such issues exist, we will ignore them henceforth.)
Double finesse
A double finesse is a finesse against two outstanding honours. Sometimes it can gain two tricks:
| ♠ A Q 10 |
| ♠ 7 4 3 |
South leads a spade to the 10; if it holds (or later on, if it loses), he
reenters his hand in a different suit and then leads another spade to the queen.
North-South will take three spade tricks if West has both the king and the jack
(probability about 25% in the absence of any information), two if East and West
have one each (50%), but only one if East has both (25%).
Other times it can gain one trick:
| ♠ A J 10 |
| ♠ 7 4 3 |
South leads a spade to the 10. Assuming it loses, he reenters his hand and
then leads another spade to the jack. North-South will take two spade tricks if
West has either the king or the queen, or both (probability about 75% in the
absence of any information), but only one if East has both (25%).
Similarly, a triple finesse is possible, and occasionally desirable, with a holding such as A-Q-10-8. This would be a low-probability desperation play if you needed four tricks in the suit, but you will probably make two or three.
Deep finesse
A deep finesse is a maneuver that allows one additional trick to be won, but only if two cards are favorably positioned. A deep finesse has therefore a probability of only about 25% of success.
| ♠ A K 10 |
| ♠ 7 4 3 |
South leads a spade and inserts the 10 if West plays low. South will gain a
trick if both the queen and the jack are with West. NB: If there are no entries
back into the South hand, West can assure himself one trick by splitting his
honors, that is playing the queen or jack, on South's original lead.
Leading high for a finesse
If the length of a particular suit in both the declarer and dummy hands is less than the total number of high cards in the suit in the two hands, then at some point you will have to play two high cards on the same trick. In that case, if you are going to finesse in the suit, it is often desirable to start by leading one of the high cards, in order to retain the lead in the same hand if the finesse is on.
Example 1:
| ♠ A Q 10 |
| ♠ J 4 3 |
Example 2:
| ♠ A Q 4 |
| ♠ J 10 3 |
Examples 1 and 2 play the same way. If you intend to finesse, you normally
should not start by leading to the queen: if you did and it held, you would
still have to reenter your hand in order to take a total of three spade tricks.
Instead you should finesse by leading the jack, and if West plays low, playing
the small spade from dummy. This is called running the jack. Now you are
still in your hand and can simply repeat the finesse by leading low to the
queen. Or if West does have the king and covers your jack with it, then
you can put the ace on the same trick and, because you started with four high
cards, you still have the queen and 10 to win the two remaining tricks as
well.
Example 3:
| ♠ A 4 3 |
| ♠ Q J 10 |
Example 4:
| ♠ A Q 4 |
| ♠ 10 9 3 |
Examples 3 and 4 show that when you lead high for a finesse, the honors do
not have to form a tenace that you lead toward. Example 3 can be played
exactly like examples 1 and 2, by running the jack (or queen or 10). In
Example 4, you can take a double finesse by running the 10 (or 9).
Marked finesse
A marked finesse is one that cannot lose, because the opponents' honor is known to be onside.
| ♠ A 10 5 4 | ||
| ♠ J 9 8 7 | ♠ 6 | |
| ♠ K Q 3 2 |
If South begins by leading the king-queen, he learns on the second trick that East has no more spades. The finesse of the 10 is now a sure thing.
Two-way finesse
A two-way finesse is a situation where you can finesse by leading from either hand toward the other.
| ♠ A 10 2 |
| ♠ K J 3 |
You may start by playing the king of spades (or if in dummy, leading the 2 to
the king) and then running the jack; this makes three spade tricks if East has
the singleton queen or if West has the queen, and if that's not the case, then
East will be on lead. Or you may start with the ace and 10, making three tricks
in the opposite situation, or leaving West on lead. You may decide which way to
finesse based on which opponent is more likely to have the queen, or on which
opponent it would be safer to give the lead to, if you must. Or, of course, you
also have the option of not finessing.
This holding similarly presents a two-way finesse, but along with a suitable entry it will always produce 5 spade tricks no matter how the opponents' spades are placed.
| ♠ A K 10 3 |
| ♠ Q 9 5 4 2 |
You simply play the ace on the first spade trick. If both opponents follow
suit, you know that the jack will drop with no finesse needed; if one shows out,
you have a marked finesse available against the other. For example, if East
shows out, next play a small spade to the queen, then score the K and 10 via the
marked finesse; finally enter the South hand in another suit and cash the 13th
spade (or if spades are trump, use it by ruffing).
Ruffing finesse
The ruffing finesse is a variation of a finesse in trump contracts where the finessing player chooses to ruff or not, rather than choosing which card to play from a tenace.
| ♠ | K Q J |
| ♥ | - |
| ♦ | - |
| ♣ | A |
|
N S | |
| ♠ | - |
| ♥ | 2 |
| ♦ | 3 2 |
| ♣ | 2 |
In this example, hearts are trumps and South's 2 is the last one remaining,
and the lead is with North (dummy). Then North-South can take all tricks if East
holds the ace of spades. A spade is led from the North hand; if East plays low,
a diamond is discarded and the lead is repeated. If East never covers,
North-South get three spade tricks and a trump. If East plays the ace, South
trumps and leads a club to return to the dummy, which is high, so taking two
spades, a trump, and a club trick.
Note that while a conventional finesse is "on" if the opponents' critical honor is positioned before yours, the reverse is true for a ruffing finesse. Consequently, there is a form of two-way finesse where you can take a ruffing finesse against one opponent or an ordinary finesse against the other. If there is no other reason to choose one play or the other, the ruffing finesse may be a superior alternative because it allows you to lead high and retain the lead. Let us look at a complete hand:
| ♠ | A Q J 5 |
W E |
♠ | 3 |
| ♥ | K 6 5 4 | ♥ | A 7 3 2 | |
| ♦ | A 7 5 | ♦ | 9 6 3 | |
| ♣ | 6 5 | ♣ | A K 9 4 2 |
East plays a contract of 4 hearts. After the opening lead of a diamond, he
wins the ace and plays the two top trumps; they break 3-2. He leads a spade to
the queen, but the finesse is off, and the opponents now cash two diamonds. With
a trump still to lose, one down.
Out of luck? Not at all. The contract is cold as long as trumps break 3-2 (and the defense cannot get an early ruff). The correct play is to win the ace of diamonds and to continue with the ace of spades, followed by the queen for a ruffing finesse. If North does not cover with the king, declarer pitches a losing diamond. If North does play the king, declarer ruffs and later pitches a diamond on the jack of spades. Even if the king is with South, declarer loses 3 tricks only, if trumps are 3-2. And if trumps are 4-1 the game will still make if the king of spades is sitting with North. The advantage of the trump finesse over the ordinary finesse here is the gain of tempo if it loses.
Free finesse
A so-called free finesse is not technically a finesse at all, as it is not dependent on the position of the opponents' cards, but only on their choice of lead. You have a free finesse when an opponent leads a suit, so that the hand containing a tenace position plays last to the trick. In the first example:
| ♠ A Q |
| ♠ 7 2 |
the normal finesse only works if West has the king, but if East leads spades,
you simply play the lowest card that will win the trick, and so get two tricks
no matter whether East or West has the king. Similarly, in the first two-way
finesse example, you make three spade tricks automatically on a free finesse if
either East or West is the first to lead spades.
Free finesses often happen due to the defense guessing wrong about high cards in declarer's hand, especially on the opening lead. But it is also possible to force the defense to give you a free finesse, by endplaying them. Consider the two-way finesse example again, but with an additional card:
| ♠ | A J 2 |
| ♥ | 2 |
| ♦ | - |
| ♣ | - |
|
N S | |
| ♠ | K 10 3 |
| ♥ | 3 |
| ♦ | - |
| ♣ | - |
Nobody has played any spades at any point, so the defense is known to have 7
of them, and their other card is known to be a heart. Declarer leads a heart,
losing to whichever defender holds the high heart; and that defender is now on
lead with nothing but spades. North-South will take 3 spade tricks for certain,
and declarer need not guess which way to finesse the suit.
Bath Coup
- Main article: Bath coup
This specific case of a free finesse is important enough to have its own name (after the city of Bath in England). It occurs when the declarer holds a suit headed by A J x and the left-hand opponent leads the king or queen of the suit. If the declarer ducks and the opponent now repeats the lead, two tricks with the ace-jack will be gained.
The Bath coup is not just a deceptive play. Even if the suit is not continued, the declarer gains a tempo, since he still has a sure stopper in that suit.
Trump coup and coup en passant
In positions where a finesse in trumps cannot be taken because the hand that would need to lead trumps has none, a trump coup or coup en passant may be used. See those articles.
Suit combinations
The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge has a long list of suit combinations and how best to play them depending on how many tricks you need. A good player does not need to memorize this, and can usually deduce the correct play at the table. However, it is worthwhile to study the suit combinations table. But remember that the optimal play in a suit may not be best in the context of the entire hand.
