[hautbois]

I found a hand I played today rather cute for the squeeze position.

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Quick note about the auction: We play Walsh and I'm aware 1♦ is a bit of a lie. (I'd like opinions on that.) 2♣ denies four spades as 1♠ would have shown 5+ clubs.

The lead is a ♦ to the K from East. Clubs will break 2-2.

[inquiry]

hautbois, on 2013-August-18, 20:48, said:

I found a hand I played today rather cute for the squeeze position.

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Quick note about the auction: We play Walsh and I'm aware 1♦ is a bit of a lie. (I'd like opinions on that.) 2♣ denies four spades as 1♠ would have shown 5+ clubs.

The lead is a ♦ to the K from East. Clubs will break 2-2.

I would respond 1♦ with south without concern. I am not sure what you think the lie was.

You have one top diamond, six clubs, one top heart for eight tricks. We can assume you knocked out the ♠A and in theory they can take two diamonds (QJ), for three tricks for them while you have 10 top tricks (1♥, 1♦, 2♠, 6♣) and if and when they take their second diamond, you get an 11th winner, sadly they have already taken three tricks, limiting you to the 10 tricks you had in hand. So it is not exactly clear what squeeze you pulled off. Perhaps, with diamonds looking hopeless, when they won the spade ACE, they didn't cash their winners.

So let's look at what squeeze ending might exist. It seems highly unlikely that dummy's ♦4 will be a threat card, so the only threat cards (♠9, ♥Q, ♦T) are in South's hand, making East the most likely victim of the squeeze (no routine squeeze against WEST for lack of a threat in the upper hand). **note, there are some squeezes that work with two or more losers where you don't have to have a threat in the upper hand... For instance on this hand, you could squeeze West down to ♦QJ ♥Kx and he has to pitch a card, then you throw him in with a diamond for a heart lead away from his king.

It looks like West has the ♦Queen (from the play of the ♦K at trick one), so the diamond threat can hardly be in East's hand. If East has the ♥K or the ♠Txxx you can simply finesse him for those honors. So a typical squeeze seems highly unlikely (and not just because they can grab their top tricks when you play a spade).

So instead of us trying to work out the squeeze from the 11 card ending, perhaps you should tell us how the play in spades went at trick three and what they might have returned to trick four if they won their Ace. The defense has to make a mistake of one sort or the other for you to get more than 10 tricks (unless diamonds block, where you are back in the game for 11 tricks). Telling us something about the spot card played at trick one by West might help us decide if diamonds are 4=3 or 5=2.

[hautbois]

inquiry, on 2013-August-18, 21:35, said:

So instead of us trying to work out the squeeze from the 11 card ending, perhaps you should tell us how the play in spades went at trick three and what they might have returned to trick four if they won their Ace.

Oh, I was being intentionally obtuse so people would look for a way to produce an 11th trick rather than compress down to 9.

I may have misanalysed the hand, in which case I apologize, but I believe dummy will squeeze declarer on the 6th club unless spades are worked on first. You're still safe up to the 5th club. Of course you should switch to a spade (I think low to the Q is best) once you discover the clubs will cash.

[gszes]

I am sure I am missing something but just in case here is the lop I would


trick 1 dia A (cannot leave rho on lead when a heart shift may
rip my contract to shreds before I have a chance <danger hand>)

trick 2 club toward club K (if lho play Q duck) keeping rho off lead <danger hand>
trick 3 club to A discover 22 split
trick 4 low spade assuming no A
trick 5 low spade to K if no ace again run clubs and take heart A (ten tricks)
trick 6 opps win the spade and take only 1 dia for whatever reason you might
now have a shot at 11 tricks via a show up squeeze by cashing the top spade
and if suit does not split 33 run clubs reducing your hand to spade and AQ hearts
pitching after rho if your spade is no good then toss it and lead H and play A this will
work for 11 tricks if rho started with 4+ spades and heart K and rho never gets a
chance to lead hearts.

[johnu]

hautbois, on 2013-August-19, 07:40, said:

Oh, I was being intentionally obtuse so people would look for a way to produce an 11th trick rather than compress down to 9.

I may have misanalysed the hand, in which case I apologize, but I believe dummy will squeeze declarer on the 6th club unless spades are worked on first. You're still safe up to the 5th club.

What level of player do you think would run 6 rounds of clubs without setting up spade tricks? If you did run clubs first, what do you think you should pitch on the 4th club?

[hautbois]

johnu, on 2013-August-19, 22:52, said:

What level of player do you think would run 6 rounds of clubs without setting up spade tricks? If you did run clubs first, what do you think you should pitch on the 4th club?

Intermediate players. Maybe it belongs in the beginners forum. Beginners might also duck trick one using rule of 7.

I posted the hand not because I don't know how to play it, but because it's a good lesson in technique that some players don't yet possess. There's a reason you're not cashing your clubs. You're going to squeeze yourself.

You should be able to pitch one spade and one heart on clubs and still make 10 tricks.

[Phil]

Wrong forum.

[lowerline]

hautbois, on 2013-August-20, 07:54, said:

Intermediate players. Maybe it belongs in the beginners forum. Beginners might also duck trick one using rule of 7.

I posted the hand not because I don't know how to play it, but because it's a good lesson in technique that some players don't yet possess. There's a reason you're not cashing your clubs. You're going to squeeze yourself.

You should be able to pitch one spade and one heart on clubs and still make 10 tricks.

What is the rule of 7?

Steven

[inquiry]

lowerline, on 2013-August-21, 01:44, said:

What is the rule of 7?

Steven

It is a crutch to tell people how long to "hold up" their winner. You count your cards in a suit, and subtract that number from seven. For instance if you have five cards in a suit that they lead against notrump, the rule says to hold up twice (7-5 = 2). On this hand, you hold six diamonds so the rule of seven says to hold up once (7-6 = 1). Really, the rule of seven is crap, one needs to think about and consider the hand not apply this "simple rule". Here, it is absolutely clear not to hold up for reasons already stated (heart switch).

[gwnn]

Wasn't it 8-(cards+stops), or something like that?

If we have Axx opp Kx (or x opp AKxx) we want to hold up once, assuming no switch is harmful. Of course it's not a great tool since it depends a lot on what you want to do. Maybe you want to hold up once also with Axx opposite Kxx, if you want to stop them from getting the 4th trick from a 4-3 split (as opposed to stopping the 3rd, 4th and 5th tricks from a 5-2 split).