The Endplay

Many contracts that look like a 50 percent finesse become certain once the defenders can be made to lead the suit for you. A finesse needs the missing honor in the right place. The bridge endplay does not. It puts a defender on lead at a moment when every card in that hand gives you a trick, whether that is a lead into your tenace, a lead into a void that lets you ruff in one hand and discard in the other, or a lead that settles a guess you would otherwise have to make.

Every endplay has two stages. First you strip the hand, removing the cards a defender could safely lead by cashing or ruffing out the suits where a lead would cost you nothing. Then you throw in a defender, giving up a trick you were always going to lose, at a moment when that defender has only bad cards left to lead. The trick you give up is the throw-in; the trick the defender hands back is the endplay.

The classic target is an A-Q tenace. Opposite small cards, with the king offside, the finesse loses. But if the defender with the king has to lead the suit, the A-Q scores two tricks without a finesse. The same applies to K-J-x opposite x-x-x, A-J-10 opposite x-x-x and any holding where a lead from the other side is worth a trick.

In a suit contract, endplays come from elimination play. Draw trumps but keep at least one trump in each hand. Then eliminate the side suits that a defender could safely lead. Cash their winners and ruff the rest, until neither declarer nor dummy has a card left in them. Now if a defender leads one of those suits, you ruff in one hand and discard a loser from the other. That gift is a ruff and sluff (or ruff and discard), and the defenders will do anything to avoid it.

So after a full elimination, a defender who wins the throw-in can give you a ruff and sluff or lead the suit you wanted led. Either way you gain a trick.

Keeping a trump in both hands matters for exactly this reason, because if only one hand has trumps a ruff and sluff gives you nothing.

In notrump there is no ruff and sluff, so a notrump endplay needs the defender to run out of safe cards on their own. It usually comes at the end of the hand, after the defender has cashed winners and is left only with cards in your tenace suits. Here the endplay meets the squeeze, and often a squeeze forces the discards that leave the defender ready to be thrown in.

Look for an endplay whenever one of these appears in the planning stage.

• A finesse you would rather not take, especially an A-Q or K-J tenace where a lead from the other side gives you the trick for free.
• A two-way guess, such as K-10-x opposite Q-9-x. If the defenders have to open the suit, you never guess.
• A side suit with a certain loser that can serve as the throw-in, such as three small opposite two small, or the third round of a suit where only one defender can win.
• Trumps to spare in both hands. Holding nine or more trumps, you can usually draw trumps and still ruff the side suits out of both hands.
• A defender who has shown length in the auction or on the opening lead. That defender is likely to win the throw-in, and you know which suits are left in that hand.

The order matters as much as the idea. Draw trumps first if a defender could ruff one of your eliminations. Strip the side suits completely, using trump entries to get back and forth. Only then lose the throw-in trick, and lose it to the right defender. Choose a suit where the defender you want on lead must win, or where it does not matter which one wins.

Keep your fallback. An endplay that fails usually leaves you with the finesse you would have taken anyway, as long as you have not given it up while stripping. A good elimination line is often a free improvement on a straight finesse, and many players count it among the best safety plays in the game.

Declarer has eleven tricks and two possible losers, the third round of diamonds and the ♣K. The club finesse would fail. Instead, declarer arranges for a defender to lead clubs.

1. 1.Win the ♥A. Play the ♠3 to the ♠A and the ♠7 to the ♠K. Both defenders' trumps are gone.
2. 2.Cash the ♥K and ruff a heart in hand. Return to dummy with the ♠9 to the ♠Q and ruff dummy's last heart. Hearts are now eliminated from both hands, and each hand still holds a trump.
3. 3.Cash the ♦A and ♦K. West follows twice and has no diamonds left.
4. 4.Exit with the ♦5. East has to win it.

If East leads a club, dummy's ♣Q wins and the ♣A takes the other club. If East leads a diamond, South ruffs with the ♠J and dummy throws the ♣Q. Then a club to the ♣A and dummy's last trump take the last two tricks. Twelve tricks, without the finesse. Had West held ♦Q-x-x and won the third round, West would have faced the same choice, and a club from West still leaves declarer the chance of the finesse. The elimination never costs anything.

• Drawing every trump from one hand. Without a trump in both hands, a ruff and sluff gives you nothing and the defender exits safely.
• Throwing in before the strip is complete. One safe exit card left in the defender's hand ruins the endplay.
• Taking the finesse first. Once it has lost, there is nothing left to endplay. Strip first, and the finesse stays available.
• Throwing in the wrong defender. Pick a throw-in suit where the defender you want must win the trick.
• Forgetting to count. In notrump especially, you need to know which cards the defender has left before you throw them in.

Endplays and finesses are two ways of making a tenace score. For the single-suit side of the problem, see the suit combinations guide, and try any deal in the double dummy solver.

What is an endplay in bridge?

An endplay is a position in which a defender is put on lead when every card in that hand gives declarer a trick. Declarer prepares it by removing the defender's safe exit cards, then throws the defender in with a trick declarer was going to lose anyway.

What is a strip and throw-in?

It is the standard form of endplay. Declarer strips the safe suits from the defender's hand by cashing and ruffing them, then throws the defender in. The defender must lead into declarer's tenace or give a ruff and sluff.

What is a ruff and sluff?

A ruff and sluff happens when a defender leads a suit that both declarer and dummy are void in. Declarer ruffs in one hand and discards a loser from the other, gaining a trick.

What is elimination play?

Elimination play is the preparation for an endplay in a suit contract: drawing trumps while keeping a trump in each hand, and cashing or ruffing the side suits until declarer and dummy are both void in them.

Can you endplay a defender in notrump?

Yes, but without a ruff and sluff the defender must run out of safe cards on their own, usually after cashing winners or being squeezed. It needs a careful count of the defender's remaining cards.