Aug 21 2011
Maybe a Double, Maybe a Single, Maybe an Out
Playing in the local dup’s, my pard and i have had a good game despite some weird stuff. On the last round, i play the hand below in 3NT and make 11 tricks for what should be an average-plus score.
While we’re waiting for the results, my opponent from the last round comes up and asks, “Was there a double squeeze on that hand?” My reply is “No, not once you hop the spade King, though i was going to squeeze you if you hadn’t taken it.” He tells me he heard my Ex talking about the hand and how he should have played for the double squeeze. So i take another look.
BD: 12 S-J43 Dlr: W
H-J73 Vul: N-S
D-8
C-Q97542
S-Q52 S-A96
H-AK86 H-Q4
D-KQJT3 D-9764
C-T C-AK83
S-KT87
H-T952
D-A52
C-J6
I sat East and got the spade 7 lead. I played low from dummy, winning North’s Jack with my Ace in hand. I knocked out the diamond Ace, won the heart return in hand, and led a low spade toward the Queen. South hopped the King as noted above, and i claimed 11 tricks. If he hadn’t, i could cash all my minor suit winners, squeezing South in the majors.
But what if i play the spade Queen at trick 1? Now things get very interesting. There are three possible outcomes.
Option 1) Double – I knock out the AD and West returns a non-spade. We’ll say a heart, here, though a diamond or club would lead to the same thing. My will win the heart Queen, cash the club AK, then run diamonds, with this position remaining, with the last diamond still to be cashed.
S-J4
H-73
D-
C-Q
S-2 S-A9
H-AK8 H-4
D-3 D-9764
C- C-AK83
S-KT
H-T95
D-
C-
On the last diamond, North can throw a heart, my hand (West) will throw a low club, and South must pitch a spade (or else the hearts will run). The diamond squeezed South and he had to unguard spades. Next, i can cash the heart AK. North follows to one heart, but is squeezed on the second one. He will have to either pitch the club Queen, letting my 8 grow up, or bare down to a singleton spade, in which case my spade 9 will be good. This is a very pretty non-simultaneous double squeeze, because the defenders were squeezed on different tricks.
Option 2) Single – If instead, South exits with a low spade after winning the diamond Ace, a different end position emerges. The low spade will force North’s Jack, leaving South holding the sole guard in both major suits. A similar line of play to the above will produce the squeeze: cash all the diamonds and then the club AK. This will be the position after cashing the diamonds and the lead is in dummy:
S-3
H-J7
D-
C-Q97
S-5 S-9
H-AK86 H-Q4
D- D-
C-T C-AK8
S-K
H-T952
D-
C-J
Now it’s time to cash the club AK. South can follow to the first club, but on the second he must unguard one of the major suits.
Option 3) OUT – If, instead, South chooses to exit with the King of spades after winning the diamond, now there is no squeeze. Option 1 won’t work because your entry in spades was knocked out. Option 2 won’t work because North can now guard spades. There is no simple squeeze against North because South guards spades as well.
Such an interesting hand. This is one of the reasons bridge is such a wonderful game – look how many different possibilities there are, even on just one hand that seems fairly trivial.
At the table, i became enamored of the spade 9 at Trick 1, thinking it was correct to duck. South could have led from JT87 after all. But Lance has convinced me that most folks would lead the Jack with that holding. Playing the Queen also leaves potential squeeze possibilities open for 12 tricks when the King is onside. If it’s off, you still have a decent chance at the contract.
August 21st, 2011 8:52 pm
[...] is the way different and complex end positions can arise, depending on how you play or how the defenders play. Often the play of a single card can change things [...]