ACBL14C – Declarer: Finessing Ward Trumbull
Jack & Queen without Ace/King Mar 15, 2007
Page 1 of 3
Refresher
In ACBL14A I told you how to make finesses when you had the king and queen in a suit but didn’t have the ace. Now let’s take a look at jack and queen without the king or ace.
1. Number 1 Rule
Leave the suit alone as long as possible, because if the opponents
lead that suit, you must get one trick from either the jack or queen.
2. Jack & Queen in the same hand
Dummy Dummy
---------- -----------
Q 7
J 6
4 5
2
Declarer Declarer
----------- ------------
7 Q
6 J
5 4
2
In either situation, lead small toward the queen. If the queen does
not lose to the king or ace, the opponent with both the king and ace
is dead. If the queen does lose, then cross back in another suit and lead
small toward the jack. This approach gives you a 50% chance to get
at least one trick. Playing the queen first should never get you a trick
against opponents that are still alive.
ACBL14C – Declarer: Finessing Mar 15, 2007
Jack & Queen without the Ace/King Page 2 of 3
3. Jack & Queen in the opposite hands
Dummy Dummy
---------- -----------
J Q
8 6
4 5
2
Declarer Declarer
----------- ------------
Q J
6 8
5 4
2
In either situation, you’re going to need some luck and skill. First
the king and ace are probably not in the same hand. Otherwise one of
the opponents would have lead the ace by now. Second you have to
hope for a doubleton king or ace in one of their hands.
You lead small to the jack or small to the queen and it loses to the
king or ace. Knowing that the other top card is behind the your
remaining jack or queen, you must lead back and duck the trick. If
the opponent has a doubleton king or ace, you will get one trick. The
doubleton ace will occur about 20-30% of the time.
ACBL14C – Declarer: Finessing Mar 15, 2007
Jack & Queen without the Ace/King Page 3 of 3
4. Jack, Queen and 9 in opposite hands
Dummy Dummy
---------- -----------
Q J
9 6
4 5
2 2
Declarer Declarer
----------- ------------
J Q
6 9
5 4
Believe it or not, you don’t care where the king and ace are located.
You only need to successfully finesse the 10. First you must lead away
from the hand with the 9 toward the face card in the other hand. One
of three things will happen:
A. If the king and ace are in the hand before your jack/queen,
you will later win a trick with that jack/queen.
B. If the king and ace are in the hand after your jack/queen,
the opponent will probably cash them both to set up your
remaining jack/queen.
C. If the king and ace are split between the opponents, Then
your jack/queen will lose the trick. That means your
remaining jack/queen will lose to the king/ace in the other
hand So you must finesse for the 10 to get a trick.
This approach gives you a 50% chance to get a trick in the suit.
Note that if you finesse for the 10 first, you could lose the 9 to a
singleton 10. It can’t happen if you lead away from the 9 hand first.