Lead Toward Losing Honors (Finessing)

example 1

	Dummy ♦ K 6 2
West		East
	You ♦ 9 7 3

It's a mistake to lead a king when it's not supported by an additional honor.

In this position, for example, don't lead the ♦K. There's no realistic chance of winning a trick that way. Your opponents will see the king and play their ace. In addition, leading your king will not establish a future trick for you, as it would if you also held the ♦Q.

Such a card is called a losing honor" – one the opponents can capture, and it does not establish a trick for you in return.

Holdings like this are not hopeless, though. Think about what might happen if you lead a small card from the South hand toward the losing honor. You can't tell who has the ace, but which opponent would you prefer to have it?

East West

Suppose you lead a small card from the South. If West was dealt the ♦A, he must decide to play it or to withhold it BEFORE you decide to play or withhold your king.

If he plays the ♦A, follow with a low card from North, and your ♦K becomes the master. You will win a future trick with it.

If West withholds his ♦A, you play the ♦K, and it wins the trick. East would like to squish your ♦K with the ♦A, but, luckily for you, he doesn't have it.

When the critical card was dealt where you want it, it's called "on sides." When it's where you don't want it, it's called off sides.

example 2

	Dummy ♦ K 6 2
West ♦ 4		East
	You ♦ 9 7 3

This is how it will actually look. You lead a low card, and West also plays a low card. Now what?

play the ♦K play the ♦2

You can't tell who holds the ♦A. But you should play as if the critical card were "on sides."

example 3

Dummy ♥ K Q 2  You ♥ 8 6 3

This ♥KQ2 example is repeated from the section on driving out the opponents' masters. You can lead the ♥K and drive out the ♥A, establishing your ♥Q as a future trick.

You might be able to improve your results if you lead from the South hand toward your honors. If the ♥A is in the West, the opponents will not be able to play it on top of either honor.

If the ace plays, follow low, establishing two future winners.

If the ♥A is withheld, your ♥K will win the first trick.

After winning with your king, do you lead your queen?

yes no

example 4

	Dummy ♣ 8 5 2
West ♣ ?		East ♣ K 7 5 4
	You ♣ ?

It's different when you're on defense. Then you can hope that partner holds the ♣A in his hidden hand. If so, he won't play it on top of your ♣K. Bridge is, after all, a partnership game, and partner will be (should be...) happy to allow your ♣K to win the trick. He can win a future trick with his ♣A.

So, is it OK to lead the ♣K?

No! If partner turns out to have the ♣A, you can lead low and still win two tricks in the partnership with your two big clubs.

And if partner turns out not to have the ♣A, leading low is better. Then your ♣K isn't squished by South's ♣A – at least not yet.

example 5

Dummy ♠ Q J 8 4    ♥ 4 3 2 ♦ K Q 9 5 ♣ A K Q You ♠ A K 3 2 ♥ K 7 6 ♦ A J 2 ♣ 4 3 2

The opponents lead a club against your 6N contract. You need 12 winners to make 6N. How many do you have?

show answer

That leaves you short of your goal. So you need a trick from a losing honor. Which king is a losing honor?

♠K ♥K ♦K ♣K

Which player do you want to have been dealt the ♥A?

East West

When do you lead toward your losing honor, the ♥K?

Right away. You definitely don't want to cash your other masters first because that establishes new masters for your opponents while they still have the ♥A to capture the lead.

For example, suppose you cash ♣A, ♣K, and ♣Q before leading hearts. They would then have a club master (perhaps the ♣J), and they would lead it right after hurrying to capture the lead with their ♥A. Your contract would then fail even if the ♥A were on sides.

example 6

Dummy ♠ Q 8 4 You ♠ A 7 6

You have one master, the ♠A. The ♠Q is a losing honor.

How do you play this card combination?

show answer

example 7

Dummy ♦ A Q 4 You ♦ 8 6

What if the ace and queen are in the same hand?

The ♦A is a master. You can win a trick by leading it. However, the ♦Q is a losing honor. If you lead it, it will lose to their ♦K.

So, how will you play?

show answer

example 8

	Dummy ♦ A Q 4
West ♦ 2		East
	You ♦ 8 6

This is what it will look like. You play a spot card, and so does West. Now what?

Play the ♦Q – play your losing honor, hoping East doesn't have the ♦K. If it's on sides, the ♦Q will win the trick.

example 9

Dummy ♥ K J 7   You ♥ A 6 2

You have two masters, the ♥A and the ♥K. But you have three hearts in each hand. If hearts are played three times, your ♥J is a losing honor. So...

How do you play this card combination?

show answer

example 10

Dummy ♣ Q 7   You ♣ A 4

Your ♣A is a master, and the ♣Q is a losing honor. So you lead toward your losing honor, the ♣K is played on your left, and... Hey! Wait a minute. This isn't working.

What went wrong?

show answer

When your master card and your losing honor are in different hands, you will need enough spot cards so your masters don't crash after the opponents take a trick with their on-sides critical card.

How many extra spot cards do you need?

Is one more enough? Does it matter which hand?

Let's try one more in the North...

example 11

	Dummy ♣ Q 7 2
West ♣ K		East ♣ ?
	You ♣ A 4

You lead toward your losing honor (♣Q), and the ♣K is played from the West. Now you have two masters and just enough spot cards to play your masters on different tricks.

You'll need another winner in the North to transfer the lead to that hand so you an cash the ♣Q after you unblock the ♣A (playing the ♣A and the ♣7 together).

Transferring the lead on purpose is called "crossing" to the other hand.

And if the extra spot card were in the South hand...

example 12

	Dummy ♣ Q 7
West ♣ K		East ♣ ?
	You ♣ A 4 2

Your winners would still be blocked, but this time you need to "cross" to the South hand to cash the ♣A after you unblock the ♣Q.

example 13

Dummy ♣ A Q  You ♣ 7 4

The complications of enough spot cards, unblocking, and getting the future lead into the correct hand to cash your last master, are minimized when your losing honors are in the same hand as your master cards. Then you simply lead toward you losing honor, and finesse.

As long as West holds the ♣K, you will win a trick with your "losing" honor.

example 14

Dummy ♠ A ♥ Q 5 4  You ♠ 2 ♥ A 6 2

The hand is almost over. All the minor suit cards have been played. The opponents have only spades and hearts left, including the ♥K. You have the lead in the South hand.

Can you win a trick with your ♥Q?

yes no

example 15

Dummy ♠ A ♥ Q 5 4  You ♠ 3 2 ♥ A 6

Suppose we change a spot card in the South hand. Now there is a danger that should change the way you play.

What could go wrong?

If you lead toward your losing honor, the ♥K will appear and your two heart masters will be blocked.

If West then returns a heart, he will be helping you to unblock your masters. So he won't do that. He'll return a spade. With the ♠A gone, you will have no way to cross to the dummy to cash your ♥Q after you unblock your ♥A.

There is a way out of this mess. See if you can figure out how to prevent West from taking advantage of your blocked heart masters.

show answer

example 16

Dummy ♠ A Q T You ♠ 8 6 3

This time you have two losing honors. If you lead them, your ♠Q will lose to the ♠K and your ♠T will lose to the ♠J. So, lead toward your losing honors, and....

Hmm... it seems you have a choice. You can play either one of your losing honors, and you might win a second spade trick. If the ♠K is on sides, playing the ♠Q will win immediately.

And if the ♠J is on sides, playing the ♠T will force the ♠K, promoting your ♠Q to master status.

show me

But if you play the ♠T, and both of the critical honors are on sides, you will be able to win three spade tricks. The ♠T wins immediately, and you can lead toward the ♠AQ later for another winning finesse.

example 17

	Dummy ♠ A Q T
West ♠ K J 5		East ♠ 9 7 4
	You ♠ 8 6 3

This is what it will look like. You lead a spot card, West follows with a spot card (he won't play an honor when he gains nothing for letting you squish it), and your ♠T wins the trick.

Now you will need a winner in the South hand to cross back so you can once again lead toward your losing honor. This time you finesse with the ♠Q. And you can cash the ♠A whenever you want. Three winners. This is called a double finesse – finessing for 2 missing cards.

example 18

	Dummy ♥ 6 5 4 ♣ A
West ♥ Q 8 2 ♣ 3		East ♥ K 9 7  ♣ T
	You ♥ A J T ♣ 7

Here is another type of double finesse. You are missing both the ♥K and the ♥Q. You only have one ♥A to squish an honor with, so you can't win all the tricks in hearts.

Which cards are your losing honors?

♥K and ♥Q ♥K and ♥J ♥Q and ♥T ♥J and ♥T

How do you get two heart tricks?

Lead toward your losing honors, and play one of them, as if the critical cards were on sides. Your ♥T loses to the ♥Q. Then...

Win the club return (which gets the lead back where you want it), and repeat the finesse. Lead toward your remaining losing honor (♥J) and finesse again. This second finesse wins. It's as if the first finesse had to lose in order to set up the later winning finesse.

example 19

	Dummy ♠ 8 7 3 ♥ A Q T
West ♠ 9 6 2 ♥ K J 8		East ♠ K J 5  ♥ 7 6 3
	You ♠ A Q T ♥ 9 5 2

It's your lead in the dummy.
Win all six tricks!

Watch the lead crossing from hand to hand.

1. double finesse in spades (play toward the ♠T)
2. double finesse in hearts (play toward the ♥T)
3. finesse in spades (play toward the ♠Q)
4. finesse in hearts (play toward the ♥Q)
5. cash your two aces (either one first)

example 20

Dummy ♦ 9 5 2  You ♦ K J 8

You have two losing honors. Your best bet is to...
lead toward your losing honors.

When East plays a spot card, do you play the ♦K or the ♦J?

If you play the ♦J, there is a chance you will win two diamond tricks – when both critical cards are on sides. You will later cross to the dummy and lead toward your ♦K to promote it into your second diamond trick.

For this to succeed, you need lots of winners in other suits to recapture the lead (in case your first finesse loses) and also a winner in the dummy so you can later lead toward the ♦K.

example 21

Dummy ♠ K Q 2   ♥ Q 3 2 You ♠ 5 4 3 ♥ K 5 4

Which of these suits, spades or hearts, might give you more tricks?

If the ♠A is on sides, you can win two spade tricks by twice leading toward your losing spade honors. But in hearts, your honors are divided, so the ♥A can't be on-sides for both of them. The ♥A will always be able to squish one of your honors no matter which opponent holds it.

Spades are better for you because of the "togetherness" of your honors. Sometimes these are called "married" honors.

example 22

Dummy ♦ A Q 2   ♣ Q 3 2 You ♦ 5 4 3 ♣ A 5 4

Your diamonds are better than your clubs, but the difference is less than with married kings and queens.

In both suits here, you will get two tricks if the critical kings are on sides, provided you lead toward your losing honors. In diamonds you will get your tricks without giving up the lead, often important. But in clubs, the opponents will be able to capture the lead when you lead toward your ♣Q, even if the ♣K is on sides. On some hands, you cannot afford to give up the lead, so you would seek your extra trick in diamonds.

Go to the next topic:

The Squishing Finesse

Or see all articles in the How To Win Tricks series.  +