From 28th June, 2006, Board 16 Difficulty * * * Dlr
West E-W Vul
South leads the 4♥.
Plan the play.
SOLUTION
This one is simple enough, provided that we are mindful of the entries to our hand. We can certainly take the Heart finesse, but, if it loses to the Queen we must duck the trick. If we squander the K♥ at Trick One, and lead a Spade to the Queen it will be ducked, and we are an entry short for setting up the Spades and being able to enjoy them. Carelessly winning the K♥ at Trick One leads to defeat against proper defense.
The recommended line is to try the finesse on the opening lead, but let the Q♥ hold the trick. If they continue Hearts we win on the board, set up the Spades (they can duck the first round, but to no avail). This will likely lead to 10 tricks.
Yes, we made the problem extra tricky by getting South to lead a low Heart … some might prefer the 9♥ lead with that holding.
When South wins the A♠, she can roll the dice by leading a low Diamond, putting Declarer to a guess … if he guesses right it’s 11 tricks, otherwise it’s 9 tricks.
If Declarer is afraid of making only 9 tricks, he can always eschew the finesse and win the A♥ on the opening lead, guaranteeing 10 tricks. But that seems a bit feeble to us … for the 9-trick variation to occur, the Q♥ must be off-side, and the A♠ must be with South, and South must find the tricky Diamond shift, and Declarer must guess the Diamond wrong. That’s quite a long shot, so we’d take the first-round Heart finesse and try for 11.
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