Tutorial: Your First Finesse

A finesse is an attempt to win a trick with a card that is not the highest left in its suit. With ace-queen in dummy and small cards in your hand, lead towards the dummy. If the left-hand opponent plays low, put in the queen. If the king is on your left, the queen wins. If it is on your right, you lose the trick — but you were always going to lose it. The golden rule: always lead towards the card you hope will win.