A Missed Opportunity
Knowing how to execute rare squeezes is not vital to the long-term success of a bridge player for that very reason; they are rare. Still, they are fun when they do come up and sometimes can win you a lot of imps. See if you can do better than my partner did on this tricky hand.
Q4
AK942
Q3
AK43
AKJT72
T63
K7
T5
After partner opens 1 you respond 1. Partner rebids 2 and you bid 2 to establish a game force. Lefty Xs and this is passed back to you. You choose to suppress the heart fit and bid 2. Partner raises to 3, and you having done a lot already simply sign off in 4. Partner has other plans and bids 5 to ask for a diamond control. Since you have one you must bid 6.
LHO leads the 9 of clubs. Plan your play then read on.
One possible line is a simple squeeze. For this to execute against RHO, LHO will need a stiff club or else he can kill your entry to the board. You will not be able to cash the AK of hearts effectively after that as you will have no board entry so the squeeze will not operate against RHO. You also need RHO to have 5+ clubs for this line to work if he guards both suits.
Another line is just to try for the QJ of hearts onside. This is only 25 % though, and we can do better.
The best line is what's known as a trump squeeze. We need to be careful in preparation, though. The ending we need to reach is:
--
AK
--
43
2
T63
--
--
It does not matter if 1 less round of clubs has been played or not. If one hand has the club guard and the heart guard, they will have to unguard one suit. If they throw a club, play a heart to the ace, ruff a club, heart to dummy and cash your good club. If they throw a heart, cash the AK of hearts and ruff a club to cash your good heart.
Say we were to just pull trumps and then play a diamond. The defense can foil us by ducking. The count is not rectified, so we are forced to play another diamond. Now the defense can win the ace and play a club or heart locking us in dummy. The only way we can get off the board is ruffing a club which destroys the squeeze against RHO. So we must play a diamond immediately while we can still get off the board with a trump. The risk of a club ruff is negligible. LHO doubled 2 so is a huge favorite to have the ace of diamonds. He is the only one who can have a stiff given the lead, so a ruff is very unlikely.
Did you find this line of play? If not, don't feel too bad. You won't see this again for another 5 years.
Q4AK942Q3AK43AKJT72T63K7T5After partner opens 1
you respond 1. Partner rebids 2 and you bid 2 to establish a game force. Lefty Xs and this is passed back to you. You choose to suppress the heart fit and bid 2. Partner raises to 3, and you having done a lot already simply sign off in 4. Partner has other plans and bids 5 to ask for a diamond control. Since you have one you must bid 6.LHO leads the 9 of clubs. Plan your play then read on.
One possible line is a simple squeeze. For this to execute against RHO, LHO will need a stiff club or else he can kill your entry to the board. You will not be able to cash the AK of hearts effectively after that as you will have no board entry so the squeeze will not operate against RHO. You also need RHO to have 5+ clubs for this line to work if he guards both suits.
Another line is just to try for the QJ of hearts onside. This is only 25 % though, and we can do better.
The best line is what's known as a trump squeeze. We need to be careful in preparation, though. The ending we need to reach is:
--AK--432T63----It does not matter if 1 less round of clubs has been played or not. If one hand has the club guard and the heart guard, they will have to unguard one suit. If they throw a club, play a heart to the ace, ruff a club, heart to dummy and cash your good club. If they throw a heart, cash the AK of hearts and ruff a club to cash your good heart.
Say we were to just pull trumps and then play a diamond. The defense can foil us by ducking. The count is not rectified, so we are forced to play another diamond. Now the defense can win the ace and play a club or heart locking us in dummy. The only way we can get off the board is ruffing a club which destroys the squeeze against RHO. So we must play a diamond immediately while we can still get off the board with a trump. The risk of a club ruff is negligible. LHO doubled 2 so is a huge favorite to have the ace of diamonds. He is the only one who can have a stiff given the lead, so a ruff is very unlikely.
Did you find this line of play? If not, don't feel too bad. You won't see this again for another 5 years.
Labels: hand
posted by Justin Lall at
8:30 AM
6 Comments:
Actually trump squeezes aren't infrequent. I bet one turns up about once per month if you play often. They are really satisfying though, since it's not like a simple squeeze where you can almost do it accidentally. If you pull off a trump squeeze, you knew what you were doing.
Weren't you supposed to bid 5NT instead of 6S with Kx of diamonds? Partner could have had Qx AKQxx xx Axxx or something. Otherwise, good auction though.
By
Josh, at 1/4/06, 12:02 PM
Oops I rescind the bidding comment. You ended in spades not hearts. I need an undo partner.
By
Josh, at 1/4/06, 12:03 PM
I disagree with you about how common trump squeezes are, but whatever. 5N is the typical response with Kx, but I don't think it's necessary here because he was playing the contract anyways.
By
Justin Lall, at 1/4/06, 3:57 PM
try a pisco squeeze
By
hechizZERO, at 1/5/06, 2:17 AM
Trump squeeze only once every 4 years? I had one just a couple of days ago!
Just when I was going to post this, I recalled it was in Pavlicek's December play contest... :))
Arend
By
Anonymous, at 1/5/06, 10:00 AM
They are probably not that infrequent, but the most important thing is to recognize them, when to play the had as a trumps squeeze or something else. Also, you need to read the end position well, the squeeze actually occurs on next to last trump.
By
Anonymous, at 1/9/06, 8:07 AM
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home