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.