Safety Plays with AK10xx Opposite Small

With A K 10 x x opposite x x x x you have nine cards, missing the Q, J and two small cards. Often you can afford one loser in the suit but not two. The safety play is to cash a top honour before you try any finesse.

Why it works

Cashing the ace first shows you the split. If both defenders follow, you can lose at most one trick. If one defender shows out, you know the other has all four missing cards, and if those cards sit in front of your A K 10 you can finesse twice and still lose only one.

A worked example

Declarer (South): ♠ A K 10 6 5

Dummy (North): ♠ 8 7 4 3

Missing: ♠ Q J 9 2. You can afford one spade loser.

Safety play: cash the ♠A.

• If both defenders follow, cash the ♠K next: you lose at most one trick however the rest lies.

• If West shows out, East started with Q J 9 2. Cross to dummy and lead a spade: if East plays the 9, put in the 10. Cross back and lead again, covering East's card. You lose just one trick to East's last honour.

• If East shows out, West holds Q J 9 2 behind your honours, and two losers can't be avoided by any line.

The greedy line: lead low from dummy at once and finesse the 10. That gains when East has both honours with a small card (no loser), but if West has a singleton queen or jack, the 10 loses to it and East's remaining honour with two small cards takes another trick. That's two losers, and the contract may fail.

Four common mistakes

• Taking a first-round finesse when you can afford a loser.

• Cashing the honour from the wrong hand so the finesse position disappears.

• Forgetting to keep an entry to dummy for the repeated finesse.

• Using a safety play when the contract needs every trick.

When the rule does not apply

If you need all five tricks, safety plays don't help: play for the best chance of no loser. At pairs, giving up a likely overtrick can cost more than it saves, so think about what the rest of the room is doing.

Key takeaways

• With nine cards missing Q J, cash a top honour first.

• A void on your left means you can finesse twice on your right.

• A first-round finesse risks two losers to a singleton honour.

• Keep entries for the repeated finesse.