Kaleidoscope Series - Lesson 5
Squeezes
---------------------
Few things baffle novices as much as squeezes.
"I will never be able to do one of THOSE !"
is a popular sentiment among bridge neophytes.
This notion proceeds from the incorrect premise that squeezes are
difficult and perplexing ... the domain of experienced,
advanced players only. This lesson hopes to demonstrate
that squeezes are often no more complex than a simple
finesse.
We are all familiar with finesses: lead small
towards our AQ and insert the Queen. But what about
♥Ax opposite our
♥Qx? Now the Queen will be covered,
precluding a second trick in this suit.
But, imagine if
we cash
♥A, and come down to something like:
♠Ax
opposite our own
♠x and
♥Q as our last two cards.
If the same person has all the Spades
and the
♥King,
we'll have them ! After all, how can they have the
♥K
and two spades, when we have only 2 cards?
Part of the daunting mystery surrounding squeezes
flows from all of the jargon used by experts in
describing them.
"Stepping stone",
"compound", and
"double" squeeze situations will elude us until we
understand the basics of a
"simple" squeeze.
In the classic squeeze, we play winners from our
hand and then go to dummy to cash whatever has become
good. The situation could easily be reversed, though.
Dummy could have the winners, and we could have the
hand whose cards we hope to promote.
We begin by citing the four
"conditio sine qua non" elements of any squeeze:
Lose | Lose all the tricks that you can afford
to lose as early as possible. This is
called "rectifying the count".
|
Isolate | Try to exhaust one opponent in a suit, so
that only the other one can guard that suit.
|
Threat | Keep some cards in both hands which might
become winners, were the opponents to toss
all of the cards above them.
|
Entry | While you cash your winners in one hand, you
must have one (and only one) entry to the
other hand.
|
These four elements, all equally important, form
the acronym
"LITE": Lose, Isolate, Threat and Entry.
Alternatively, some may use the acronym
"CITE": Count,
Isolate, Threat and Entry.
----------- Quiz #1 --------------
- Why do you suppose we call these plays "squeezes" ?
- How often do squeezes come up ?
- How long before a novice executes hir first squeeze ?
---------- A Simple Squeeze -----------
Consider this hand carefully:
|
Pard
| | A 3 2 | Us vulnerable.
| | 7 5 | IMPs.
| | K 10 8 4
|
LHO | A K Q 7 | RHO
| Q J 8 7 6 | | 10 9
| K Q J 6 4 | | 9 8
| — | | 9 7 6 3 2
| 9 6 4 | Me | 8 5 3 2
| | K 5 4
| | A 10 3 2
| | A Q J 5
| | J 10
|
|
Auction
Me | LHO | Pard | RHO
| 1![D](../img/D.gif) | 2![D](../img/D.gif) | 2![S](../img/S.gif) | Pass
| 2NT | Pass | 6NT | Pass
| Pass | Pass
| Lead: K
|
|
We begin by tallying our tricks. There are only 11.
We can afford to lose one trick, so we
duck ♥K at
trick One.
LHO continues with
♥Q.
Before scrolling down, try to envision the last two
cards in your own hand and the last two cards on Dummy after
you have cashed all your minor suit winners.
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vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
| Pard
|
| A 3 2
|
| —
|
| —
|
LHO | — | RHO
|
Q J | | 10
|
J | | —
|
— | | 9 7
|
— | Me | —
|
| 5
|
| 10
|
| A
|
| —
|
We will cash our
♠K and
all of our minor suit
winners, throwing a small Heart and a small Spade on Dummy's
Clubs.
We will end up in my Hand, going to win the 4th Diamond. With RHO's hand irrelevant, here is the position we
hope for after 11 tricks:
The problem here is the fact that LHO has 3 cards !
Which one can LHO pitch ? If LHO tosses
♥J,
our own
♥10 is good.
If LHO discards
♠Q or
♠J,
dummy's measly
♠3 will take the last trick!
Notice how important it is to be in our hand here.
Were we in dummy, the
♥10 would not threaten LHO, since
we cannot enter our hand in order to cash it. LHO would
simply toss the
♥J and keep the
♠QJ. Remember
:
a threat without an entry is no threat at all !
---------- Lose Your Tricks EARLY ---------
The fancy expression
"rectifying the count" means,
quite simply, that we should lose all the tricks that we
can afford to lose
as early as possible. For example,
if we are in 6NT at IMPs, but can only see 11 winners, we
should
duck a trick somewhere if we can safely do so.
This
"rectifies the count" to 12 possible tricks, and
will add to the pressure that we can apply to our victims
later. Let us reconsider
this hand:
| Pard
|
| A 3
|
| 7
|
| —
|
LHO | — | RHO
|
Q J | | 10
|
J | | 9
|
— | | 9
|
— | Me | —
|
| 5
|
| 10 3
|
| —
|
| —
|
Were we to pounce on the first trick here and rattle
off our 8 minor-suit winners and
♠K, we would
be left with
three cards left. That is exactly how many
LHO would like to be able to keep !
Whether we play a Heart or a Spade here, LHO will
take two tricks.
While
♥7 and
♥3 are utterly
useless to
*us*, the extra card is
vital to LHO's
well-being. Hence, we
remove one such card from
everyone's hand by
ducking that
♥K lead on the
first trick !
---------- Isolate your Opponent ---------
In the above sample squeeze, LHO was overloaded
with work, forced to guard both the major suits. RHO
could not help LHO here. Thus, we would say that LHO
is
"isolated" in hir responsibility to protect the Heart
and Spade suits. Let us change
our sample hand slightly in Hearts:
| Pard
| | A 3 2 | Us vulnerable.
| | 7 5 | IMPs.
| | K 10 8 4 |
| LHO
| A K Q 7 | RHO
| Q J 8 7 6 | | 10 9
| K Q 9 6 4 | | J 8
| — | | 9 7 6 3 2
| 9 6 4 | Me | 8 5 3 2
| | K 5 4
| | A 10 3 2
| | A Q J 5
| | J 10
|
|
Auction
Me | LHO | Pard | RHO
| 1![D](../img/D.gif) | 2![D](../img/D.gif) | 2![S](../img/S.gif) | Pass
| 2NT | Pass | 6NT | Pass
| Pass | Pass
| Lead: ♥K
|
|
Here, were we to win the
♥K lead, we would allow
RHO to guard the Hearts in the ending. The ending would be:
| Pard
|
| A 3
|
| 7
|
| —
|
LHO | — | RHO
|
Q J 8 | | 9
|
— | | J
|
— | | 9
|
— | Me | —
|
| 5
|
| 10 3
|
| —
|
| —
|
In essence, what has happened is that LHO tossed
all
of hir Hearts, permitting RHO to retain
♥J. Had
we
not won the opening lead, RHO's
♥J would have
fallen under our
♥A on the second round ... leaving LHO
alone to guard the Heart suit.
We will need to practice recognizing how to isolate
opponents. Consider
♠A7652 opposite
♠983. If this
suit breaks 3-2, we can isolate on opponent simply by
ducking a trick here. The opponent who started with
two Spades will see their second Spade fall under our
♠A later. Only the person with
three Spades can prevent
the run of this suit. We will, of course, unblock
♠9 and then
♠8 here.
There are
two ways that an opponent can become
isolated in a suit: by
length and by
strength. With
Axxx opposite our Kx, the suit can break 4-3, 5-2, 6-1
or 7-0. Unless the outstanding cards are divided 4-3,
the opponent with the 5+ card length in that suit will
be isolated with the responsibility of guarding it.
With AJ opposite our singleton deuce, there is
little chance of an adversary being isolated by
length.
The suit would have to break 10-0 or 9-1 ! But, the
chances are 50-50 that both the King and Queen are in
one hand, and that hand would be isolated with the
task of preventing our Jack from being promoted.
The opponent with the KQ, then, is isolated by
strength
in that suit.
----------- Quiz #2 --------------
What needs to happen in this suit for an opponent to
be isolated with the sole responsibility of guarding
it ? Assume that we
cannot lose any more tricks.
(a) Dummy: | ♠ A K 4 3 | opposite | Declarer's: | ♠ 5 2
|
(b) Dummy: | ♥ A Q 3 2 | opposite | Declarer's: | ♥ K 4
|
(c) Dummy: | ♦ A 4 2 | opposite | Declarer's: | ♦ 5 3
|
(d) Dummy: | ♣ A J | opposite | Declarer's: | ♣ 5 3
|
(e) Dummy: | ♠ A 9 2 | opposite | Declarer's: | ♠ 4
|
-------- Threat Cards ----------
A threat card is
any card which stands a chance of
becoming a winner. Generally speaking, the higher the
card, the more imposing a threat that it poses to the
adversaries. Often, we will hold
♥Ax(x) opposite
♥Qx(x).
Unable to endplay the opponents into leading this suit
for us, we will often cash
♥A and, when
♥K
does not appear, use the
♥Q as a threat card against
whoever holds
♥K. In fact, this situation is so
common that it has a name: a
Vienna Coup.
|
Pard
| | A K 3 2 | Us Vulnerable.
| | A 5 | IMPs.
| | K Q 10
| LHO | A K Q 7 | Moogal
| Q J 10 9 8 | | 76
| K J 10 9 | | 8 7 6 4
| 9 2 | | 7 5 3
| 6 4 | Me | 9 8 5 3
| | 5 4
| | Q 3 2
| | A J 8 6 4
| | J 10 2
|
|
Me | LHO | Pard | RHO
| Pass | Pass | 2![C](../img/C.gif) | Pass
| 2NT | Pass | 7NT | Pass
| Pass | Pass
| Lead: Q
|
|
We win the first trick with our
♠King. The bad
|
Pard
| | A K 3 2 | Us Vulnerable.
| | A 5 | IMPs.
| | K Q 10
| LHO | A K Q 7 | Moogal
| Q J 10 9 8 | | 76
| K J 10 9 | | 8 7 6 4
| 9 2 | | 7 5 3
| 6 4 | Me | 9 8 5 3
| | 5 4
| | Q 3 2
| | A J 8 6 4
| | J 10 2
|
|
Me | LHO | Pard | RHO
| Pass | Pass | 2![C](../img/C.gif) | Pass
| 2NT | Pass | 7NT | Pass
| Pass | Pass
| Lead: Q
|
|
news is that we have only 12 tricks. The good news in
our 7NT ? At least we've rectified the count ! :)
We begin by hoping that LHO has Spade length for the
lead here. If LHO has 5+ Spades, LHO will have to keep at
least two of them. Now, if only LHO has the
♥K as
well...
So, we devise our plan. We are going to want to cash
all our minor suit cards, ending up in our hand. The
problem is that
♥A is in the way
of our
♥Q threat card ... in a sense, blocking the suit. So
let us
cash the
♥Ace so that the
♠Ace will be our
only
entry to dummy after we've cashed our minor suit tricks.
Correct | Pard
| | A 3 2
| | —
| | —
| LHO | — | Moogal
| Q J | | 7
| K | | 8 7
| — | | —
| — | Me | —
| | 5
| | Q
| | 4
| | —
|
|
|
Incorrect | Pard
| | A 3 2
| | A
| | —
| LHO | — | Moogal
| Q J | | 7
| K J | | 8 7 6
| — | | —
| — | Me | —
| | 5
| | Q 3
| | 4
| | —
|
|
On the left (above), we see the correct ending, with
the
♦4 putting the question to LHO.
LHO can either concede a trick to our
♥Q or to our Spades.
On the right, we see what would have happened, had we
not cashed
the
♥A. LHO could now pitch
♥J, knowing that
we cannot cash the
♥A and return to our hand to enjoy
the
♥Q at this late stage.
------- Entries -------
Typically, we will have one hand with a lot of
winners. Let's call this the
"squeezing" hand.
We will
try to arrange matters so that the other hand will have
some
"winner wannabees" (i.e., threats) and
one entry to
them. Let's call that holding the
"threats" hand.
The
key to good squeeze technique is to keep
one
entry to any hand which contains a threat card. Remember
:
a threat without an entry is no threat at all !
Why only
ONE entry ? The reason for this is that we
want to squeeze the opponents as tightly as possible. The
more winners we can cash, the more pressure that we can
apply. Hence, we play off all of the winners/entries in
the threats hand except one. Then we cash the winners in
the squeezing hand before returning to the threats hand to
cash whatever threat card may have become a winner.
----------- Quiz #3 --------------
Auction
W | N | E | S
| 1![H](../img/H.gif) | Dble | Pass | 6NT
| Pass | Pass | Pass
| Lead: K
|
|
Dummy
| A J x x
| x x
| K x x x
| A x x
| Declarer
| K x
| A J 10
| A Q J x x
| J 10 x
|
|
1. (a) Which of the following is the
"squeezing" hand, and
which is the
"threats" hand ?
(b) You win
♥K with your
♥A, and
play a second Heart.
LHO wins with the
♥Q, and switches to
the
♣K. What do we need LHO to
have in order to make 6NT now ?
(c) What precise card will be our entry to the threats hand (i.e., to dummy) ?
-------------- TWOD --------------
A recurring theme that we will see in squeezes
comes, when we are playing our
LAST winner in the
squeezing hand, just before we cross to the threats
hand to cash whatever has become a winner. At this
critical juncture, we sometimes have to guess which
threat card to pitch from Dummy.
Lest you thought all squeezes were slam or
game contracts, consider this part score hand:
|
Pard
| | 8 4 3 2 | None vulnerable.
| | A 7 5 | IMPs.
| | A 8 6 4
|
LHO | 7 4 | RHO
| A K Q 7 | | 10 9 6
| 4 | | 10 8 3 2
| J 10 3 2 | | 9 7
| A 9 6 3 | Me | K Q 10 8
| | J 5
| | K Q J 9 6
| | K Q 5
| | J 5 2
|
|
Me | LHO | Pard | RHO
| 1![H](../img/H.gif) | Dble | 2![H](../img/H.gif) | Pass
| Pass | Dble | Pass | 3
| 3![H](../img/H.gif) | Pass | Pass | Pass
| Lead: K
|
|
LHO cashes
♠AK and then switches to a trump.
You try playing a Club, hoping that they will
allow a Club ruff with Dummy's shorter trumps. No go.
RHO wins the Club and fires back another trump, LHO
showing out. A second club from Dummy meets with the
same fate: RHO wins, and plays the third Heart to
Dummy's
♥A. Darn !
These two are
good !
| Pard
|
| 8
|
| —
|
| A 8
|
LHO | — | RHO
|
Q | | —
|
— | | 8
|
J 10 | | —
|
— | Me | K 10
|
| —
|
| J
|
| 5
|
| J
|
You ruff a Spade in your hand, play your
♦KQ,
and then your last winner,
♥J. Here is the
ending:
What do we pitch from Dummy, when we cash our
♥Jack ? Here, we have a general rule: Toss Whatever
the Opponent Didn't (i.e.,
"TWOD", pronounced
"2 D").
If LHO pitches a Diamond here, toss your Spade from
Dummy. If LHO discards a Spade, throw away Dummy's
Diamond.
The
TWOD rule usually happens at trick eleven,
giving it the alternate name:
"Rule of Eleventh"
(not to be confused with the
"Rule of Eleven").
-------- The Double Squeeze --------
The more threat cards we have in our two hands, the
better. Often we can't isolate
one player in two suits.
Instead, we can isolate
both players in one suit each.
This gives rise to the
"who's-minding-the-store"
question, that we will learn to ask ourselves:
If LHO is looking after THAT SUIT, and RHO is busy
watching over THAT OTHER SUIT,
who is going to keep THESE ?
|
Pard
| | J 7 5 4 | N-S Vulnerable.
| | 2 | MPs.
| | K 10 9 8 2
| LHO | K 10 9 | RHO
| A K Q 6 | | 10 9 8
| 8 5 3 | | 9 7 4
| 7 3 | | Q J 6 4
| J 8 5 3 | Me | Q 4 2
| | 3 2
| | A K Q J 10 6
| | A 5
| | A 7 6
|
|
Me | LHO | Pard | RHO
| 1![H](../img/H.gif) | Pass | 1![S](../img/S.gif) | Pass
| 4NT | Pass | 5![C](../img/C.gif) | Pass
| 5![H](../img/H.gif) | Pass | Pass | Pass
| Lead: K.
| LHO continues A, and switches to 5.
|
|
This was
not exemplary bidding. Oh, well. Let's
see ...
we have 10 tricks here, but can we squeeze out an eleventh ?
We draw the outstanding trumps, and play
♦A,
♦K,
and then ruff one. Without a 3-3 Diamond break, the best we can do is isolate LHO to guard
against the
♠Jack becoming good while RHO will take care of
the Diamonds. But wait ! If LHO is guarding Spades and RHO
is covering the Diamonds ... who will be keeping
Clubs ?
| Pard
|
| J
|
| —
|
| 10
|
LHO | K 10 | RHO
|
Q | | —
|
— | | —
|
— | | Q
|
J 8 5 | Me | Q 4 2
|
| —
|
| 6
|
| —
|
| A 7 6
|
When we play our last Heart, LHO will have to part
with a Club, lest the
♠Jack be promoted. The Spade
Jack has done its job. We will now discard it. Were
RHO to toss
♦Q, then our
♦10 would be a winner, so
RHO will also pitch a Club. At this point, we can claim;
our 3rd club will be our 11-th trick!
--------- The Trump Squeeze ---------
Like the Double Squeeze, the Trump Squeeze
requires entries to
Both hands. These entries are
not high cards, generally, but trumps. In its purest
form, the Trump Squeeze is like a cross ruff, except
that we are usually ruffing with our extra trumps
(i.e., after drawing those of the opponents) in order
to isolate an opponent. We are
still going to be one
trick short of our goal
unless someone is forced to
pitch something. Consider this hand with Hearts
as trump:
This one works.
| Pard
| | A J
| | 5
| | 2
| LHO | — | RHO
| K Q | | —
| — | | —
| — | | J
| A J | Me | Q 8 2
| | 5
| | 6
| | —
| | K 7
|
|
|
This one fails.
| Pard
| | A J
| | 5
| | 2
| LHO | — | RHO
| K Q | | —
| — | | —
| — | | J
| Q 8 | Me | A J 2
| | 5
| | 6
| | —
| | K 7
|
|
In our left hand, we can
take the remainder of the tricks here by leading
the
♣7 and ruffing it in Partner's hand. When we
now ruff a Diamond in our hand, LHO is squeezed;
tossing the
♣Ace would promote our
♣King, while
shedding a Spade will promote our Partner's
♠AJ.
The example on the right happens to fail
because we cannot isolate LHO with both black
suits; RHO has the Club Ace. When we ruff that
Diamond in our hand, LHO will be able to pitch
the
♣Queen. Still, the trump squeeze was our
only chance here.
Often we will trump in order to isolate one
opponent with the responsibility of guarding that
suit. Consider this hand:
The Start
| Pard
| | Q 5 4 2
| | 6 4 2
| | K 10 7 4
| LHO | A 5 | RHO
| 8 7 | | J 10 9
| J 10 9 8 | | 5 3
| Q 9 8 6 | | J 3 2
| J 10 9 | Me | Q 8 4 3 2
| | A K 7 6 3
| | A K Q 7
| | A 5
| | K 7 6
|
|
|
The Finish
| Pard
| | 5
| | 6
| | 10
| LHO | — | RHO
| — | | —
| J 10 | | —
| Q | | —
| — | Me | Q 8 4
| | —
| | Q 7
| | —
| | 7
|
|
Against our 7
♠, LHO leads a trump. We need
to draw trumps, so on a 3-2 Spade break, we can
envision 5 Spade tricks (3 top tricks, 2 ruffs),
3 Hearts, 2 Diamonds and 2 Clubs for 12 tricks.
After drawing trumps, we will play
♦A,
♦K, and ruff a Diamond, so that only
LHO can guard Diamonds.
We now play two top
Hearts and then
♣A and
♣K to get to
the
"Finish" position above. Now when we ruff
a Club, LHO is overloaded. If LHO pitches
♦Q, then
Dummy's
♦10 is good. Otherwise, our
Hearts will be good.
Here are some things to look for in spotting
a Trump Squeeze:
- Trumps and shortnesses in both hands.
Hence,
a 4-4 fit is much better than a 5-3 fit.
- One trump and One trick short of a full cross ruff.
- One non-trump entry between the hands (to be
saved for last).
- Opportunities to ruff a suit — even if we can't
expect to establish it — in order to isolate
one opponent there.
----------- Quiz #4 --------------
-
| Declarer:
| ♠ 5 4 3 2
| ♥ A K
| ♦ 4 3 2
| ♣ A 9 5 4
|
| Dummy:
| ♠ J 7
| ♥ 9 8 4 2
| ♦ A K Q 10 7
| ♣ K 3
|
In 5♦, the LHO leads ♠AKQ, the RHO pitching
a Club as you ruff the third Spade. We will
assume that Diamonds break 3-2.
- Whom do you hope to squeeze, and in which suits?
- Assuming Hearts are split 4-3, how do you plan
to isolate an opponent in the Heart suit?
- After playing ♦A, cashing the ♥AK,
coming back to our hand in trumps (both following),
ruffing one Heart in Dummy, returning to our ♣K
and running all our Diamonds, what will Dummy's last two cards be ?
The Whole Hand
| Pard
| | 5 4 3 2
| | A K
| | 4 3 2
| LHO | A 9 5 4 | RHO
| A K Q 10 6 | | 9 8
| J 10 3 | | Q 7 6 5
| 9 8 | | J 6 5
| Q J 7 | Me | 10 8 6 2
| | J 7
| | 9 8 4 2
| | A K Q 10 7
| | K 3
|
|
|
The Ending
| Pard
| | 5
| | —
| | —
| LHO | A 9 | RHO
| 10 | | —
| — | | Q
| — | | —
| Q J | Me | 10 8
| | —
| | 9
| | 10
| | 3
|
|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
|
LHO
| [ A]
| [ K]
| [ Q]
| 3
| 3
| 10
| 9
| 6
| 7
| 6
| J
| Q
| 10
|
Pard
| 2
| 3
| 4
| 2
| A
| [ K]
| [ 3]
| 4
| 4
| 5
| 5
| [ A]
| [ 9]
|
RHO
| 9
| 8
| 2
| 5
| 7
| 5
| 6
| J
| [ 6]
| J
| 8
| 10
| Q
|
Me
| 7
| J
| 7
| [ A]
| [ 2]
| 4
| Q
| [ 8]
| K
| [ K]
| [ 10]
| [ 3]
| 9
|
- How do we keep track of all these cards ?
-------- The Squeeze Endplay --------
In all of the above examples, we lose our tricks early
and then take the rest. Sometimes, though, our plan is to
squeeze a certain opponent out of their exit cards with the
idea of throwing them in as part of an endplay.
|
Pard
| | A J 9 4 | N-S Vulnerable.
| | Q 6 | MPs.
| | 6 4 3
| Moogal | K 7 4 3 | RHO
| 3 | | Q 10 7 5 2
| 10 9 8 5 4 | | A K J 3 2
| 8 7 5 2 | | 10
| 8 6 5 | Me | Q 2
| | K 8 6
| | 7
| | A K Q J 9
| | A J 10 9
|
|
RHO | Me | LHO | Pard
| 1![S](../img/S.gif) | Dble | Pass | 2NT
| Pass | 4![C](../img/C.gif) | Pass | 4
| Pass | 6![D](../img/D.gif) | Pass | Pass
| Pass
| Lead: 3
|
|
RHO's
♠10 forces our
♠King. We draw trumps and decide
to play RHO for
ALL of the outstanding HCPs for hir opening
1
♠ bid. We finesse through RHO in Clubs and play
ALL of
our minor suit cards, pitching the
♥6 and
♠9 from dummy.
| Pard
|
| A J
|
| Q
|
| —
|
LHO | — | RHO
|
— | | Q 7
|
10 9 8 | | A K
|
— | | —
|
— | Me | —
|
| 8 6
|
| 7
|
| —
|
| —
|
Again, we see RHO with one card too many here !
When we cashed our last Diamond, RHO had a problem.
If RHO were to toss a Spade, our
♠AJ would be the two
tricks we need to make 6
♦. Instead, RHO would likely
pitch a top Heart. This will allow us to exit with
the
♥7 to RHO's remaining Heart winner. RHO is now
"endplayed", forced to lead from hir remaining
♠Q7
into dummy's
♠AJ. Making 6
♦ !
6
♣ would have been
much easier on this one.
Oh, well. At least they didn't find the Heart lead !
--------- Final Quiz ---------
- What is a "threat" card ?
-
- Before cashing all of our winners in the
"squeezing" hand, how many entries do we hope
to retain to the other (i.e., "threats") hand ?
- If we have more than one entry to the threats
hand, what do we do with those extra entries
before coming into our squeezing hand ?
- If we have two entries to the threats hand,
one of which is a singleton Ace while the
other has some threat cards in that suit,
which of these two entries should we cash
before coming to our squeezing hand ?
- In which type(s) of squeeze do we need to retain
an entry back to the "winners" hand in order
to end up there ?
- In a Trump Squeeze will the final entry to the
"threats" hand usually be a ruff or a high card ?
- In your 7NT contract, the LHO leads ♠K.
Dummy:
| ♠ A J
| ♥ A 10
| ♦ J x x
| ♣ Q J x x x
|
Declarer:
| ♠ x
| ♥ x x x x x
| ♦ A K Q x x
| ♣ A K
|
-
Assuming that the LHO has the ♠Q,
what Heart holdings in LHO's hand will allow us to make 7NT ?
- At trick 11, when we cash our last Diamond
in our hand, what will we pitch from Dummy
if LHO tosses a Spade ?
- At trick 11, on our last Diamond, what will
we discard from Dummy if LHO pitches a Heart ?
--------- A Hand from Tourney Play ---------
|
North
| | K 10 8 7 3 | E-W Vul.
| | 10 | Match Points.
| | 8 6 5 2
|
West | Q 8 2 | East
| Q J 2 | | 9 5 4
| K 9 5 3 2 | | J 8 4
| J 10 3 | | A 9 7 4
| K 3 | South | 10 7 5
| | A 6
| | A Q 7 6
| | K Q
| | A J 9 6 4
|
|
Auction
West | North | East | South
| | | Pass | 1
| 1![H](../img/H.gif) | 1![S](../img/S.gif) | Pass | 2
| Pass | 2![S](../img/S.gif) | Pass | 3NT
| Pass | Pass | Pass
| Lead: J
| Result: Making 3NT.
|
|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
|
W:
| [ J]
| 10
| 3
| K
| 3
| 2
| 3
| 5
| 2
| 9
| K
|
N:
| 2
| 5
| 2
| 8
| 8
| 6
| 10
| Q
| [ 3]
| 7
| 8
|
E:
| A
| [ 4]
| 5
| 7
| 9
| [ 7]
| [ J]
| 10
| 4
| 5
| 9
|
S:
| Q
| K
| [ A]
| [ 4]
| 6
| 7
| A
| [ 6]
| A
| [ J]
| [ 9]
|
On a diamond lead, Declarer attacks Clubs.
The opponents
cash their Diamonds and switch to a Heart.
Too late ! Declarer wins
♥A,
rattles off the Clubs and ends up with
♥Q and
♠6 opposite
♠K10.
LHO cannot keep
♠QJ and the
♥King.
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