Cashing the Right Honour First

When your high cards in a suit are split between the two hands, the first honour you cash decides which bad splits you can still handle. The usual rule: cash the honour from the hand that holds only one, and keep the hand with two honours (a tenace) intact.

Why it works

A tenace such as A-Q-9 can finesse against a defender who sits in front of it. If you cash one of those honours first, you lose that option. Cashing the lone honour from the other hand reveals the split while keeping the finesse available.

A worked example

Dummy (North): ♠ A Q 9 7 6

Declarer (South): ♠ K 5 4 3

Missing: ♠ J 10 8 2. You want five tricks and have entries to your hand.

Right: cash the ♠K first.

• If both defenders follow, the rest usually runs.

• If East shows out, West has J 10 8 2. Lead low from your hand: when West plays, cover with the card just above it in dummy. Return to hand and repeat. You pick up the whole suit without loss.

• If West shows out, East's J 10 8 2 sits behind dummy and one loser is unavoidable.

Wrong: cash the ♠A first. If East shows out, West's J 10 8 2 now beats your remaining Q-9 on its own, and you must lose a trick you could have saved.

Four common mistakes

• Cashing from the hand with the tenace out of habit.

• Forgetting the entries needed to lead towards the tenace twice.

• Not noticing the 9 or 10, the spot cards that make the finesse possible.

• Rushing the suit before checking the bidding for a likely bad split.

When the rule does not apply

If you are short of entries to the hand opposite the tenace, you may have to cash differently and accept the risk. And if the bidding marks one defender with length, plan the whole suit around that defender rather than following a rule.

Key takeaways

• Cash the honour from the hand that has only one.

• Keep the tenace for a possible finesse.

• Look at the spot cards: they create the finesse.

• Make sure you have entries to repeat the finesse.