Examples of the Surreptitious Finesse

The Surreptitious Finesse is an advanced strategy.

Example 1

• See the example image below.
• Alice clues number 3 to Bob, touching a 3 as a Play Clue.

• Bob needs to figure out the meaning of the 3 clue. Donald does not have any playable cards on Finesse Position, but Cathy does, so Bob knows that this could be a Reverse Finesse on one or more of Cathy's cards.
• From Bob's perspective, it could be a few different possibilities:
  • Cathy could be blind-playing 0 cards. In that case, it would be a Double Self-Finesse on Bob for a 1 and a 2, which means that the 3 could be any 3 in the game. (But Bob has to give a chance for Cathy to blind-play first before he should blind-play anything.)
  • Cathy could be blind-playing 1 card. In that case, it would be a Double Finesse and Bob would have the red 2 on his Finesse Position, which means that the 3 would be the connecting red 3.
  • Cathy could be blind-playing 2 cards. In that case, it would be a Layered Finesse and Bob would have the purple 2 on his Finesse Position, which means that the 3 would be the connecting purple 3.
  • Cathy could be blind-playing 3 cards. In that case, it would be a Layered Finesse and Bob would not have to blind-play anything, which means that the 3 would be the connecting red 3. (Out of all of the possibilities, this is the most likely, since it does not involve Bob blind-playing any cards.)
  • Cathy could be blind-playing 4 cards. In that case, it would be a Surreptitious Finesse and Bob would have the blue 2 on his Finesse Position, which means that the 3 would be the connecting blue 3.
• This means that for now, Bob has to wait and see what Cathy does. Bob clues green to Donald as a Play Clue on the green 1.

• Cathy knows that she has the blue 1 as a Double Finesse. She blind-plays her Finesse Position card. It is the red 1 and it successfully plays. Cathy now knows that a Layered Finesse is occurring and that she has the blue 1 on her Second Finesse Position.
• On Bob's next turn, he is in the same situation as before. He must give Cathy another turn to see if the purple 1 blind-plays or not. Bob does something unrelated, for example 5 Saves Donald's 5.
• Cathy blind-plays her Second Finesse Position. It is the purple 1 and it successfully plays. Cathy now knows that a Layered Finesse is still occurring and that she has the blue 1 on her Third Finesse Position.
• On Bob's next turn, he is (again) in the same situation as before. He must give Cathy another turn to see if the red 2 blind-plays or not. Bob does something unrelated.
• Cathy blind-plays her Third Finesse Position. It is the red 2 and it successfully plays. At first, this is confusing for Cathy, because she realizes that "2" connects to "3", and Bob might now think that he has the connecting red 3. However, Cathy knows that a Surreptitious Finesse is occurring and that she has the blue 1 on her Fourth Finesse Position.
• On Bob's next turn, he is (again) in the same situation as before. He must give Cathy another turn to see if the blue 1 blind-plays or not. Bob does something unrelated.
• Cathy blind-plays her Forth Finesse Position. It is the blue 1 and it successfully plays.
• Bob now knows that a Surreptitious Finesse is occurring and that he needs to blind-play the blue 2 and that the 3 in his hand is the connecting blue 3.