Thursday, November 1, 2012

Jennbridge: Executing the Squeeze

My partner, Larry Hansen, executed a couple of nice squeezes in a club game recently and I'll present the first one here. On the first board of the day, I seized the opportunity to kick off the action with a non-textbook 2♠ bid:

♠ QJ10764
10865 
 
♣ K43

Larry bid 2NT, asking for a feature and I responded 3♣.  He then bid 3NT which I passed (a little nervously, hoping we weren't missing a 4-4 heart fit). 

♠ QJ10764
10865 
 
♣ K43

♠ K5
KJ9 
KJ97
♣A1085

The 6 was led and he won the queen with the king.  He then started on spades by leading the king out of his hand, followed by the 5 to the queen which RHO won with the ace as LHO showed out.   The 8 was returned, covered by the 9 and won by the 10 on his left.  LHO now cashed the A and returned  the 3 which he won with the jack, RHO showing out.  LHO started with 6 diamonds.

Now watch what happens as a club is led to the king and the spades are played.  RHO is unable both to guard clubs and hold on to the ace of hearts.  Here are the last 3 cards, and as Larry points out: We are now down to the following, where the 6♠ will be the Squeeze Card.

      6
T
     --
         4
-- --
Q7           A
--     --
Q            J9
--
      K
--
      AT

As the 6♠ was played , RHO had no answer.  If he discarded the ace of hearts Larry's king would be good and if he discarded a club, Larry would discard the king of hearts and the clubs would be winners.  

The score of 630 was worth all the matchpoints.

Here is the entire hand:

Larry's Squeeze #1  10/26/12

Board 13
North Deals
Both Vul
♠ Q J 10 7 6 4
10 8 6 5

♣ K 4 3
♠ 8
Q 7 3 2
A 10 6 5 4 3
♣ Q 2
N
W
E
S
♠ A 9 3 2
A 4
Q 8 2
♣ J 9 7 6

♠ K 5
K J 9
K J 9 7
♣ A 10 8 5
WestNorthEastSouth

2 ♠Pass2 NT
Pass3 ♣Pass3 NT
All pass
3 NT by South

See you at the table!

2 comments:

Jo Ginsberg said...

Hi Jenn! I must point out that had West returned a heart after cashing his two diamonds, you would have been plus only 600, which is not as good as plus 620 for 4S making. Most likely, had you not opened 2S, you would have arrived in 4S, which is a favorite to make. It looks like West perpetrated a fratricide squeeze by cashing the diamond ace and playing another diamond instead of returning a heart. But that does not take away from the nice squeeze executed by your partner :)

Anonymous said...

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