Bridge | 19 August 2023

They say a two-way finesse is never a complete guess: there are always clues to be gleaned from the bidding and play. That’s not strictly true, as the great Giorgio Belladonna once demonstrated at a tournament when, after a long think, he turned to a kibitzer and asked him to toss a coin.

But even with nothing concrete to go on, you can often rely on psychological inferences – an untimely hesitation, for instance, or feigned nonchalance from one of the opponents, which, as P. Hal Sims argued, made it far more likely he held the queen. Alan Truscott’s advice was always to play your left-hand opponent for the queen: it can be a dangerous card to lead away from, so that might be one reason he didn’t lead the suit. Personally, I like my friend Gary Bell’s suggestion: finesse into whichever opponent you find less annoying; it’ll hurt less if they win.