Editing Finesse (section)

== Terminology ==
{{See also|Glossary of contract bridge terms}}

To ''finesse a card'' is to play that card.
{{BridgeSuitNS|{{spades}} A Q|{{spades}} 7 2}}
Thus, in the example, the Queen is finessed.  The outstanding King is the card finessed ''against'', or the card the player hopes to capture by the finessing maneuver.  Thus, you finesse against a missing honor, but you finesse the card you yourself play, the card finessed being so played that it has a chance of winning against the missing higher card.<ref>{{cite book
  |last = Watson
  |first = Louis H.
  |author-link = Louis H. Watson
  |title = Watson on the Play of the Hand at Contract Bridge
  |publisher = Lewis Copeland Company
  |location = New York
  |page = 18
  |year = 1934
  }} Also, {{cite book
  |last = Watson
  |first = Louis H.
  |author-link = Louis H. Watson
  |title = Watson's Classic Book on the Play of the Hand at Bridge
  |edition = New Edition Enlarged and Modernized by Sam Fry, Jr
  |publisher = Barnes and Noble Inc
  |page = 18
  |year = 1959
  |isbn = 0-06-463209-1}}</ref>{{Clear}}

;Related terms
A finesse is said to be ''onside'' or ''on'' if the finessable honor is favorably placed and ''offside'' or ''off''  if it is not.

Many finesses involve a {{gcb|tenace}} which is a combination of non-touching honors in the same hand, e.g. {{spades}}&thinsp;A&thinsp;Q or {{hearts}}&thinsp;K&thinsp;J.

The term ''hook'' is a colloquialism for finesse. Similarly, "in the slot" is a colloquialism for onside.