WATCHING THE DISCARDS IN ORDER TO LOCATE FINESSES
The amount of information to be gained from the adversary’s discards is apt to be underestimated. Careful notice of the discards, particularly in a “no-trump” hand, will often help you to locate honours and to determine where a finesse should be taken; moreover, it will simplify the end play, show you chances to throw the lead, and give you opportunities to force the opponents to lead up to your hand.
If the king of your long suit is against you and on the wrong side, it will probably make, but this is not true of the queen. If you hold in the two hands ace king, jack or ace king jack, ten of a suit, unless you can place the queen, you are compelled to guess where to take the finesse. If, however, you can advantageously lead another suit try to force the adversaries to discard, one will undoubtedly protect the queen of your suit, and the other, not knowing perhaps that you are trying to gain information, will probably discard from his weak suit; the discard thus enabling you to finesse successfully.
This information can often be similarly obtained in a trump hand by leading an extra round of trumps. If, however, you are forced to lead the suit without any knowledge of the situation, lead a card which will tempt your adversary to cover; for instance, holding ace x x in dummy with king jack ten in your own hand, lead the jack. If the jack is not covered, it is often good play to take the first trick with the ace, and, on returning the lead, to play the ten. As the jack was not covered you infer that the queen is held by the other adversary.
If you have no finesse in your suit, it often pays to give the adversaries a chance to make a finesse possible for you. For instance, with A x x in dummy and K 10 9 in your own hand, unless both queen and jack are unguarded, or unless you can tempt them to play badly, the adversaries must make one trick in the suit. The play is to lead the ten, for if it is covered, either with jack or queen, you have the advantage of a finesse on your return of the suit.