The
Hookers Know Best
North (dummy)
Q J 8 4
South
A 10 7 6 5 3
Assuming no other considerations, the question is: with 10 cards
missing the king, should declarer finesse or play for the drop?
Many
players think that it is correct to play for the drop here, but
that is not correct. The right answer is:
With
10 cards missing the king, the percentage play is to finesse
rather than play for the drop.
Because understanding is always preferable to simple
memorization, let’s try to learn why the finesse is the
percentage play.
Explaining the logic for some suit combinations is difficult to
do with actual cards, let alone a few pages in a book. However,
because E-W have only three cards in the suit, I believe that an
easy-to-understand presentation can be achieved. I also hope
that once you’re exposed to the correct thought process, it will
enable you to also understand the logic of other suit
combinations.
{N-S
cards repeated for convenience}
North (dummy)
Q J 8 4
West
East
South
A 10 7 6 5 3
The
opponents’ three cards are the king, nine, and two. First,
let’s define a couple of useful terms. I refer to the group who
believe that playing for the drop is correct as “the droppers.”
I used to refer to players who prefer the finesse as “the
finessers.” However,
because “hook” is a
colloquial bridge synonym for “finesse,” I prefer to call
this group “the hookers” (which is also easier to spell).
The
first order of business is to identify (and dismiss) the E-W
holdings where declarer’s technique does not make any
difference.
If
East started with the singleton king, both the hookers and the
droppers will be happy campers.
On the
other hand, if West started with K 2, K 9 or K 9 2, declarer
will always lose a trick in the suit.
© 2006 - Marty Bergen
