The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-10-31
FAULTY FINESSING
AT ROYAL AUCTION
Some Of the Errors Made by
Even Experienced Players
Of the Game.
TWO BROAD PRINCIPLES

mlllar WIN tne history ana literature
OF the parent game. whist. are aware
of the extent and t~horoughness Of the
researches which were made into the
probabilities for and against the play
of certain cards in certain we'll define
positions. A writer Of the past generation
stated that enough had been written
and printed about The play OF king Jack
| alone on a small card lead TO Ill A o
Of 500 pages.
There are certain principles Of play
In whist hat are entirely useless at the
bridge table because Of the exposed
hand. There are others that are useful
only to the deciarer, and one Of these.
perhaps the most important Of all is
the science Of messing.
Two broad principles govern the An
esse In auction bridge. and It would be
worth Some points in any players game
TO paste them in his hat for reference
until he has them firmly fxed In his
! mind.
The nrst is that the principal source
Of gain for the declarer In through
judicious finessing. Tho second II that
the opponents Of the declaration should
never hnesse under any circumstances.
A hnesss 10 an attempt to win a trick
with a card which 10 not the best you
hold in that suit nor in sequence
with II. II II quite distinct from duck
ing. in which there Is NJ attempt to win
the trick.
II you hold the ace and queen Of an
unplayed suit. and try to win the frst
round with the queen. second or third
hand you are hnessing. II YOU have
six to the ace and king In one hand. only
two small in the other and play small
| from both hands. you are duckinE.
The object Of the hnesse is to win a
| trick with an inferior card, and the
on hope Of success Is when the superior
card lies to our right. II 1t is on
your left the inesse fails. II your part
ner has It there Is no hnesse. as II does
not matter which card you play.
In order to make this clear to the be-
ginner, let us take n typical case. The
declarer holds ace queen and one small
club. Dummy has two small only. II
dummy leads and the second hand plays
small. the declarer plays the queen. az
that IL the only way to make two tricks
In clubs. Every player IL supposed to
learn this simple fnesse when first he
takes up the game. but very few under
stand exactly what they are doing when
we come to study the other hands.
Suppose dummy holds the kin OF
clubs. there is no nnessc. as either ace
or queen Win win the trick and they are
therefore equal cards. Suppose again
that dummy has not the king and that
the second player does not follow suit.
Here again there Is no ~flnesse, as sou
know the king II on your left and must
make. II YOU play the queen o sim
ply throw It away.
Now let us shift :he position of the
ace and queen TO the hand of one of the
~adversartes. whose partner leads n small
club. II dummy IL on the left % the
ace and queen and mas not the king
there Is no tinesse. II IL n certainty.
II dummy has the king. 10 play the
queen ~ 10 throw il away. Shift the
position and suppose dummy on the
right of the player with ace and queen.
II the king is In the dummy but a small
card IS play ed second hand. the queen is
= certainly.
Now We come to the position OF which
50 few beginners grasp the Importance.
suppose dummy IL on the right OF the
ace and queen but has not the king. so
that q small card is played from dummy
second hand. II should be obvious that
II the king is WITH the declarer. to play
the queen would he to throw Il away.
II the king Is with your partner. who
led the suit, YOUR ace and queen are
equal cards and il does not matter
which YOU play.
From the consideration OF these yari
Wa fN''N tis 3 t"hN
the rule that the third hand should i,eve.
!inessc, becaus" the tinesse H. against tn,
partner and cannot gain anything. Yol
'incsse against AN adversary, hoping {,
make a trick by II. What Is the use o
taking \ trick that YOU partner coul.
have won just as easily as you could?
The beginner cannot he too often i'm
pressed with the importance Of the fac
that IL he illnesses against his partne
{ and the flnesse fails his partner will
= never credit him with the higher car,
that he should have played.
When the declarcr illnesses an ac
l queen suit he is always finessing again
one OF his advcrsaries. When one Of hi
= adversaries makes a fnssse, no matte
= what the position. he IL always finessin
against his own partner.
A Strange to say, this Is one OF the mo-
= common faults in the beginners gam,
e He II continually irving to win tr!c!
D with cards that are not the best he hold
e in the suit. on the chance that his par.
: ner has the card iinessed against.
= the declarer can make a couple of 81,
cessful illnesses in a suit he may succe4
in catching II doubly guarded king wi,
his ace. That is a clear gain OF Il tric.
II one OF his opponents succeeds
catching his own partners king by sue
Illnesses 1t is usually 2 clear trick lost.
r. When the finesse is a gamble puI
and simple. there being no reason for
the error is usually due to ignorance
: conventional play but II the finesse
excusable by some object other tina
catching the card fnessed against, ,
making an extra trick with an inferit
card, that Is another matter. 1t ms
be vitality important for n player to no
the best OF a suit for reentry purpose
and he may make a fnesse for the pu
"a pose OF holding hat card.
n Then again. a player may hold ,
the best Of a suit with a view to catcl
- ing some card hat Is exposed I'm Il
N dummy, In this case he is not finessir
at all. because the card iinessed again
is not in the dummy. He is iluckin
hoping to catch dummy's card at son
future time.
- II it is vital to catch that inferi,
card. or il there Is a strong p~robabili
that something important may
gained by it beyond the trick itsel
- the nnesse against the partner may
" excused, but the beginner has not n
ripe judgment necessary FOR such 81
" nations and should let them alone.
~ All such plays colne under the hes
Of illnesses against the partner, and u
:, Tess there is some decided gain in vie
- which will more than compensate 4
the loss of the immediate n certa
'" trick they are losing plays and a
at times very costly. Here are "A fe
~ examples OF This faulty fnessing viii,
the writer has noted from time to tim
some OF the plays helng made by We
sons who enjoyed considerable rcput
A. ton as experts at the game,
d Ys:s