Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-08-27
Wits +.

An Interesting Article on Finess-
ing---PossibiIities of Deceiv-
lan Partner.-.Worth Reading
Twice.
As TO the subject OF flnesse; ii you are
third hand and hold the king and JACK
al arr suit, you will fnd it losing
game to fnesse the jack if your partner
is regular long-suit player. The nm
essing. il any be done in that suit,
should be the privilege OF the partner,
for on the return of the suit you should
give him back the jack, irrespective OF
the number of cards in that suit that
you may happen to hold An exception
to the rule would be when your hand
contains a very good suit OF your own,
in which case the jack may be held as
card Of re-entry when you may return
the suit low A class OF players who re-
gard the ace-jack finesSe as correspond
ing to that of the ace-queen, make
very grave error in go doing They evil
IDENTIFY do not appreciate the fact that
they are finessing against the queen,
card that ought not to make until the
third round, provided that your part
ner's opening was made from the ace.
1t should be remembered that the
average life OF plain suit before
trumps are exhausted is only fraction
over two tricks; so it is better to make
these two tricks with your king and
your partners ace before a ruff" Is
started. If you and your partner are
playing the game that is generally
known as the New York system, it
does not permit any suit to be opened
low on an original lead, unless it con-
tains an honor. Long suits headed by
card no higher than the ten are OPEN
ed with an intermediate card, so that
your partner must hold either ace or
queen, and if his suit is one of five OF
more cards he may have both Should
the latter prove to be the case your
play makes no difference. The jack is
as good a card as the king, for the suit
is divided between you. If your part
per holds the queen it makes no differ
ence whether you finesse the jack or
play the king, as the ace is the only
card in the suit of the enemy bar ruff
t. To- 1,e+ 81 fLo t,ro
sible positions (when the partner holds
the ace and the queen is held by the
enemy that the finesse may result eth
er in loss or gain.
Suppose that your partner has the
ace Your joint holding in the suit is the
ace, king, jack, and the queen is just
as likely to be with one adversary as
with the other. Should it be found
on the left a trick is almost certain to
be lost, for either your king or your
partners ace cannot be made until the
third round, when trumping is likely to
begin
Thus it is seen that of the three hold
ings which the partner may have in
the suit there are three when the fl
nesse could not possibly gain anything
as follows: When the partner has
both ace and queen, or the queen only
at the top of the suit; while in the
third situation, that where he partner
holds the ace, the finesse is clearly bad
whist, for not only do you gain nothing
in the long run, but subject yourself
to serious loss, which is directly con-
trary to the fundamental principle OF
finessing
While on the subject of fineSsing, a
point to touch upon in addition to the
chance of immediate loss is the fact
that the partner may be deceived by
the play and given an entirely erron-
eous idea as to the location of the cards,
whether the tinese in itself be successful
or not Suppose, for example, the fl
nesse Of king, jack, has been successful,
you taking the trick with the jack aud
returning the king Your partner would
naturally infer that your original hold
ing must have been king. queen. jack.
and, provided he has fair trump
strength, will be in doubt whether to
let your king win or to overtake with
his ace and start the trumps
Suppose, on the contrary the finesse
loses, your partner must place the king
with the enemy. aud this misconception
of the situation might prevent him
from making an advantageous trump
lead
This all goes 10 prove that it Is not
SO much the loss itself when the tiuesse
is made that makes the play danger
Gus che as the position in which the
partner is placed on regaining the lead.
Still another difficulty in the matter is
that even il the flnesse be successful,
unless q higher card he returned at
once the partners suit may be blocked
later IN the hand An example may be
made OF a case where you have held the
trick, with the jack third in hand from
king, jack, and one small card. Should
you hold. any sort of trump strength