Your First Finesse

The finesses in this lesson are leads toward the high cards, from the opposite hand. The player who sits between your lead and your honors is the one who must hold the missing card. When dummy has the honors, that player is West. When your own hand has them, you lead from dummy and the player in the middle is East.

The lead also has to come from the right hand at the right moment. If you are in the hand with the honors when you want to finesse, plan ahead and cross to the other hand first with a winner in another suit.

The missing king is equally likely to be with either opponent, so a finesse works about half the time. You cannot see which way it will go, so treat it as an even chance. When you already have enough winners, there is no reason to give the opponents the lead. When you are one short, a finesse is often the best chance you have.

You are South in 3NT. Count first, then see where the ninth trick comes from.

When a suit has a gap below your top card, look at who would have to hold the missing honor. Then plan to lead from the other hand, which makes that player play before your honors. Take the finesse when you need the trick, and give yourself the entries to lead from the right hand.

For more finesses, including the ones with two missing honors, see the finesse guide. When the choice is between a finesse and playing for a card to fall, see finesse or drop.