Which to Choose?

	A J 7
	A K 4
	Q 9 8 3
	Q 9 6
10 8 4 2		Q 9 3
10 8 7 6		J 5 3
K 7 6 4		J 10 5
J		8 7 4 3
	K 6 5
	Q 9 2	Contract: 6 no trump
	A 2
	A K 10 5 2	Opening lead: 6 of hearts

Declarer took the opening lead in the closed hand, went to the Q of clubs, coming back to run 5 club tricks and then took the spade finesse. Losing, of course. And now he can't make the hand. Let's go back and do some simple counting.

We have three hearts, five clubs if we don't get a bad break, one diamond and two spades for eleven tricks. Not enough. We note a finessing position in spades for another trick, and a possible winner in the Q of diamonds. Testing one possibility is suicide while the other brings the contract home. Do you see which one of those possibilities must be tested first?

Well, I've already pretty much given the answer away. If he takes that losing finesse in spades first, he can't make the hand. He must test diamonds first. Why?

No, it's not because that's the one that works. During play, declarer couldn't know that. Rather, if the spade finesse is on, it'll still be on for your contract. You don't need to test it early. But the diamond suit necessitates losing a trick to establish the Q. If it's off, you'll regain the lead and then test spades. But if the spade finesse is off, you can't make the contract by now losing a trick to establish the diamond Q.

Another declarer was a bit luckier on the opening lead, getting a spade lead. But he failed to take advantage of it. He tries the J, which was covered by East and so he was given early warning that there isn't a third trick in spades, and should've been looking for a 12th winner somewhere -- but didn't.

Obviously, once the spades are clarified, it should be obvious that he can pick up a 12th winner only by finding the K of diamonds onsides, which was the case. After taking the opening spade lead with the K, declarer should lead a low diamond toward the Q. That's his only chance and it picks up the K, making the Q a winner, assuming declarer hasn't spent all his lovely entries going back forth, which some declarers have been known to do. He should have played no other suit. He's going to hafta regain the lead, get to the A of diamonds and then get to the Q of diamonds in another suit.