[akwoo]

---

IMPs, 20 board knockout match. This is just after the halfway break at which we were up 7 IMPs against a stronger team.

1♥ is 10-15, 2♥ is a less-than-constructive raise.

The opening lead is the Q♦ (Rusinow), followed by a low diamond to the 9 and A which is ruffed.

I can make it at this point, but I got the timing wrong even after having figured out the basic idea.

1) You figure it out.

2) How do I get this right at the table even remotely consistently?

3) In actuality, one of the club honors was to my right and it didn't matter.

[mikeh]

I strongly recommend Clyde Love’s Bridge Squeezes Complete, one of the (imo) essential books for anyone aspiring to be a good declarer. I think you can find a copy pretty cheaply online, if no local used bookstore has a copy.

As for this hand, a simple rule, that works when trying to squeeze one player, is to ‘rectify’ the count. You need 11 tricks. You have 10 easy winners, given that you know where the heart Ace lies and you’ve lost one trick already. For (most) simple squeezes, you need to lose a second trick fairly early.

There is zero danger of anything going wrong if you lead a heart towards the King at trick 3. That sets up your 10th trick.

Most west’s will fly the Ace. If they do, they will usually return another heart, but (if they don’t) you need to cash that heart king before running the spades.

Love is excellent in explaining the correct order of cashing winners when inflicting various forms of squeezes.

Basically, once you have a better understanding of the principles involved, your visualization will improve. When in a challenging contract, assume the cards sit as you need them to sit, and try to picture what the hands will look like if you win ALL of your trumps but one...when, in other words, you are down to x void void 10xx and in dummy have void void J AKx

Ok...what does west have?

He has to have void void Q QJx.

You lead your last spade....what can he do?

If he pitches the diamond Queen, your Jack is good and you pitch a club and claim.

So he has to pitch a club....which sets you if his partner has the club 10, so he isn’t giving up. However, when you have 10xx, you can pitch the now useless diamond, cross your fingers (and anything else convenient) and hope the club AK draw the QJ.

Note that, on the layout you give, west made a bad play at trick 2.

He knows his partner holds the diamond Ace, since you’d win with the Ace, in order to be able to lead a diamond towards the Jack.

Therefore a good player would cash the heart Ace and then lead either another heart or the diamond King. A low diamond is a non-thinking play.

[akwoo]

I saw the squeeze at the beginning. But for some inexplicable reason I decided to try to ruff out the K of diamonds before taking the heart finesse, and now that lets West get out of the squeeze by exiting with a diamond.

ETA: Over 60 boards this past weekend, there were 4 boards (twice declaring, twice on defense) including this one where I figured everything out and then blundered.

[nige1]

Akwoo 'IMPs, 20 board knockout match. This is just after the halfway break at which we were up 7 IMPs against a stronger team.
1♥ is 10-15, 2♥ is a less-than-constructive raise.
The opening lead is the Q♦ (Rusinow), followed by a low diamond to the 9 and A which is ruffed.
I can make it at this point, but I got the timing wrong even after having figured out the basic idea.
1) You figure it out.
2) How do I get this right at the table even remotely consistently?
3) In actuality, one of the club honors was to my right and it didn't matter.
+++++++++
With the diagram layout, Declarer can drive out ♥A and run trumps to squeeze West in the minors

---

[akwoo]

mikeh, on 2021-May-24, 18:49, said:

Note that, on the layout you give, west made a bad play at trick 2.

He knows his partner holds the diamond Ace, since you’d win with the Ace, in order to be able to lead a diamond towards the Jack.

Therefore a good player would cash the heart Ace and then lead either another heart or the diamond King. A low diamond is a non-thinking play.

On the actual layout, West had Q64 of clubs, and a small diamond is still a bad play since I could easily have the J of clubs.

East-West are a pair that more often than not makes the third day of a 3 day NABC pairs event. Just goes to show that experts make lots of mistakes too, especially mistakes that aren't going to be punished except by pretty good players.

[nige1]

Variation, where both defenders guard clubs.
7♠, on any lead

---

[Cyberyeti]

nige1, on 2021-May-25, 00:28, said:

Variation, where both defenders guard clubs.
7♠, on any lead

---

Spoiler

Reduce to this sort of position

---

Now on the last heart, neither E nor W can afford to discard a diamond or you can make via ruffing them out or 2 ruffing finesses and clearly they can't both discard clubs either. If an opening club lead removed one of your clubs earlier you simply force a cover on another high diamond in the middle of the play to compensate for being an entry down

This one is even doable at the table with a slight variation, give E ♠ QJ and ♣ Q rather than J and have him open a 14-16 1N, now with the ♥ Q having to be right, now you know he has all 3 diamond honours.

[Winstonm]

akwoo, on 2021-May-24, 17:52, said:

---

IMPs, 20 board knockout match. This is just after the halfway break at which we were up 7 IMPs against a stronger team.

1♥ is 10-15, 2♥ is a less-than-constructive raise.

The opening lead is the Q♦ (Rusinow), followed by a low diamond to the 9 and A which is ruffed.

I can make it at this point, but I got the timing wrong even after having figured out the basic idea.

1) You figure it out.

2) How do I get this right at the table even remotely consistently?

3) In actuality, one of the club honors was to my right and it didn't matter.

This is actually a fun hand and quite instructive on many levels. First is defense. Note that if West, after cashing the diamond Q, switches to the heart ace and another heart that there is no way to make. Good argument for playing count rather than attitude signals.

The second clever part is that if the opponents continue diamonds in any way, the contract is unbeatable. The best of the worst defenses would be for West to continue with the diamond king - thinking that if he transfers the control to his partner's ace there can be no squeeze. But note what happens after the ruff and playing to the heart king. Once in with a heart, West can't play a third diamond without losing a trick so at best can exit with a heart. Now the run of the spades leads to a clever 4-card ending where West must hold the QJx of clubs and only 1 diamond, the 10. Declarer has 1 spade and the 10xx of clubs. Dummy the AK of clubs and J9 of diamonds. East hold Ax of diamonds and xx in clubs. Now by crossing in clubs and leading the J of diamonds, the 10 is pinned. Second, if West continues with a small diamond, the 9 forces the ace and a simple squeeze is available.

I know that Clyde Love recommended watching for a specific card and ignoring the rest, which is fine with the simpler squeezes. But the best way I know to untangle a more convoluted squeeze position is to visualize the end positions - work out mentally what the hands look like when only 3 or 4 cards are left.

[nige1]

Variation, where both defenders guard clubs.
7♠, on any lead

---

CyberYeti solved it again.
On any lead, you can use dummy's entries to lead ♦J and ♦T, ruffing out two of East's top ♦s.
Now, you cash all but one of your trunps discarding 2 ♣s, and cash ♥A.
In this 4 card ending, you cross to ♥K, executing a double squeeze.
1. If East discards a ♦, then you ruff ♦3, to set up dummy's ♦9.
2. If West discards a ♦, then you lead ♦9 covered by East, to set up dummy's ♦3.
3. If both defenders keep ♦s, then you cash ♣A, ruff a ♦, and ♣6 is good.

---