ACBL14A – Declarer: Finessing Ward Trumbull
King & Queen without the Ace Mar 10, 2007
Page 1 of 4
What is the object?
When you are declarer and one of the suits (between your hand and the dummy) has both the king and the queen but not the ace, sometimes with knowledgeable finessing, you will still be able to get two tricks.
1. King & Queen in the same hand
Dummy Dummy
---------- -----------
K 7
Q 6
4 5
2
Declarer Declarer
----------- ------------
7 K
6 Q
5 4
2
In either situation, lead small toward the king. If the king does not
lose to the ace, cross back in another suit and lead small toward the
queen. This approach gives you a 50% chance to get two tricks.
Playing the king first should never get you two tricks against opponents
that are still alive.
ACBL14A – Declarer: Finessing Mar 10, 2007
King & Queen without the Ace Page 2 of 4
2. King & Queen in the opposite hands
Dummy Dummy
---------- -----------
K Q
9 6
4 5
2
Declarer Declarer
----------- ------------
Q K
6 9
5 4
2
In either situation, you’re going to need some luck and skill. First you
have to be lucky enough to guess which opponent has the missing ace.
That is, you lead small to the king or small to the queen and it holds the
trick. Second, knowing that the ace is behind the other face card, you
lead back and duck the trick. When the opponent has a doubleton ace,
you will get two tricks. The doubleton ace will occur about 20-30% of
the time.
ACBL14A – Declarer: Finessing Mar 10, 2007
King & Queen without the Ace Page 3 of 4
3. King, Queen and 10 in opposite hands
Dummy Dummy
---------- -----------
Q Q
10 6
4 5
2 2
Declarer Declarer
----------- ------------
K K
6 10
5 4
Believe it or not, you don’t care where the ace is located. You only
need to successfully finesse the jack. First you must lead away from
the hand with the 10 toward the face card in the other hand. One of two
things will happen:
A. That face card will lose to the ace. If so, you must finesse for
the jack to get two tricks.
B. That face card holds the trick. If so, the missing ace is
behind the face card in the other hand (the one with the 10).
So guess what, you will have to finesse for the jack to get
two tricks.
This approach gives you a 50% chance to get two tricks in the suit.
Note that if you finesse for the jack first, you could lose the 10 to a
singleton jack. It can’t happen if you lead away from the 10 hand first.
ACBL14A – Declarer: Finessing Mar 10, 2007
King & Queen without the Ace Page 4 of 4
4. King, Queen and Jack between both hands
Dummy Dummy
---------- -----------
K Q
Q 6
J 5
8
5
Declarer Declarer
----------- ------------
6 K
3 J
2 8
7
4
If this suit breaks 3/2, you have no problem. How about a 4/1 split?
If there is a singleton ace, then the other hand has four to the 10. In the
first example, hope for the singleton ace in front of the dummy by
leading small from your hand. In the second example, it’s a guess which
opponent might have the ace. Stop to review the bidding (which was at
least half an hour ago). Then lead small from one hand or the other.
In this situation you should try hard not to have to lead a face card first
from either hand.