Samuel Goldwyn said, “I’ll take 50 percent efficiency to get 100 percent loyalty.”

A finesse has 50 percent efficiency, at least in theory, but it is always better to have a 100 percent line available. Today’s contract is not that good. Did declarer have to rely on a finesse?

South pushed himself into seven spades. After West led the heart queen, what did declarer do?

I agree with North’s three-club response, which immediately hinted at a slam. When North raised to four spades, South might have started to control-bid, but opted for two doses of Blackwood. His last bid was a gamble because if North had the club ace and king, South could have had an unavoidable diamond loser. Still, he anticipated that the grand slam would be at worst on a finesse, which made it a reasonable bet.

Declarer realized that he would make the contract if either the clubs broke 4- 4 or the diamond finesse worked. So, after trick one, South carefully overtook his spade seven with dummy’s eight, ruffed a low club with his spade jack, led the spade nine to dummy’s 10, ruffed another club high, played the carefully conserved spade two to dummy’s three, and pitched his low diamonds on the club ace-king.

When the clubs proved to be 4-4, declarer discarded his diamond queen on the club six and claimed. But if the clubs had been 5-3, the diamond finesse was still available. The chance of success was an acceptable 66.35 percent.