Some “Love”ly help from a reader

My attention was drawn to a rather nice problem in the  Bridge Squeezes Complete when I received an email from reader Dave Dunstan.  He immediately grabbed my attention because he obviously enjoyed the book and was working through it problem by problem.  I hope he doesn’t mind if I quote him; ” I never knew squeezes could be so much fun to read about, hope to spot a few at the table. The more I read, the better I get at guessing the best way to go.”

Anyway Dave reported a mistake and I had a look at the deal.  It is fairly complex and only read on if you are well versed in squeeze theory as Dave now is. The problem is presented double dummy in the book but here it is single dummy for you to try.

Dealer: Vul:	North ♠ 4 ♥ AJ4 ♦ AJ97 ♣ AQ983
West ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣		East ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣
	South ♠ AKQJ1095 ♥ 6 ♦ K62 ♣ J4

You have arrived in 7NT after East opened the bidding with 1♦ and are two tricks short.  The opening lead is ♦3.  You have eleven top tricks and it seems certain on the auction that the club finesse will fail.  This is one of those hands were you must think things through before playing to trick one.

………………………………………………..

If as seems likely East guards all the other suits then you can make the hand with a repeating squeeze.  Your plan is to run all the spades.  East will have to unguard one of the suits. Then when you cash winners in that suit East will be squeezed again.  There is one issue however you must be careful to keep communication to the South hand after the first squeeze has operated.  So although it seems natural to win the diamond in hand you must win the ♦A in dummy at trick one.  (More about that later).  Now you run all of the spades.  After playing six rounds of spades this is the position.

Dealer: Vul:	North ♠ – ♥ AJ ♦ J9 ♣ AQ
West ♠ irrelevant ♥ ♦ ♣		East ♠ – ♥ KQ ♦ Q10 ♣ K10
	South ♠ 5 ♥ 6 ♦ K6 ♣ J4

When you lead the last spade East will be squeezed in three suits.  The question is what card to throw from dummy.  Obviously you must hold onto the hearts.  Let’s suppose you discard the ♣Q as suggested in the book.  Your idea is to use the ♣J in hand as the threat against East’s ♣K.  If East discards a heart you cash dummy’s hearts and the ♣A.  Now you have a diamond-club squeeze against East who has to pitch before South.  If East discards a club  then you cash the ♣A.  You cross back to hand with the ♦K and cash the ♣J throwing the last diamond from dummy.  East is squeezed in hearts and diamonds.  But suppose East discards a diamond.

A funny thing happens on your way to 7NT, as Dave noticed.  To operate the squeeze you have to cash out diamonds.  When you cash your second diamond you will be in dummy with no way back to your hand.  If South had a diamond spot higher than North’s the squeeze would work.  Suppose we reverse the ♦6 and the ♦7.  Now if you make sure to unblock the ♦9 at trick one the squeeze will again operate! If South throws a diamond you cash the ♣A and then play diamonds.  You are in hand on the last diamond to cash the ♣J if East has unguarded it or win the last two tricks in dummy with hearts.  But since your highest diamond spot the ♦6 is lower than North’s lowest diamond spot the ♦7, the squeeze will not operate if you throw the ♣Q on the last spade.  You have to throw a diamond instead.  Assuming East has at least four diamonds then the squeeze operates (otherwise West can guard diamonds with 8xx).  Now the squeeze works no matter what East throws because in effect you have unblocked diamonds.  You do need to make sure to cash the ♣A ( a kind of Vienna Coup) if East throws a diamond since you will have to discard the ♣Q on the second diamond.

Here is the actual hand:

Dealer: Vul:	North ♠ 4 ♥ AJ4 ♦ AJ97 ♣ AQ983
West ♠ 8732 ♥ 1098532 ♦ 3 ♣ 65		East ♠ 6 ♥ KQ7 ♦ Q10854 ♣ K1072
	South ♠ AKQJ1095 ♥ 6 ♦ K62 ♣ J4

I think this is a very pretty hand with lots of interesting components.  But then again, I love squeezes.  Thanks Dave.  Other readers are invited to send in comments or corrections on the book too.  I do appreciate it.