[dcvetkov]

---

I kibitzed this hand today and found it interesting, You are North playing in 7D and receive a small spade lead. Any thoughts on the best line of play and why?

[cherdano]

Jlall, on Oct 4 2005, 03:26 AM, said:

If I'm playing a solid citizen, I would play:

win, cash a spade pitching a heart, ruff a spade with the 9. If no queen drops I'd pull trumps, cash the CA, and run all my trumps coming down to Kx of clubs and a heart opp the HA, CJ, and SJ. Hopefully the SQ will have 4+ clubs.

In the off-chance that you find out opening leader has the ♠J (say, his partner shows out on the second spade), I am sure you would change that line. You can play his partner to have 4 clubs with a double squeeze: come down to ♠J ♥Ax opposite ♥x ♦x ♣x and lead the last diamond, throwing the ♠J if opening leader keeps his queen.

[TheoKole]

I would play for a simple squeeze played as a double

Win the A ♠, cash the K ♠ throwing a ♥, then ruff a ♠ with the diamond 9 ♦. If the Q ♠ doesn't fall then...

If my LHO shows out of spades, or if I feel he doesn't have the Q ♠

Pull trumps, run all the ♦ but one then the A, ♣ coming down to
x ♥, x ♦. Kx ♣

Dummy will have
J ♠, A ♥, Jx ♣

On the last diamond I will throw a a small ♣ from dummy, then a ♥ to the A will squeeze him if he has the Q ♠ and 4 clubs.


If my RHO shows out of spades, or if I feel he doesn't have the Q ♠


Pull trumps, run all the ♦ but one then the A,K ♣.
Even if the squeeze isn't on they may discard ♣, but not if you cash the AK ♣ first.

Watch for the Q ♠ and count the ♣ carefully...

My last 3 cards will be x ♥, x ♦, x ♣
Dummy will have J ♠, Ax ♥.

Play my last ♦, throwing the J ♠, if the Q ♠ hasn't shown up.

If the x ♣ isn't good, then play a ♥ and hopefully cash the last ♥ in dummy

Theo

[PMetsch]

I would play: Win the spade lead and ruff a spade, then ♦A.

If the ♦J drops, then ♣AK, ♦T, ♠K discarding a club and ruff a ♣ high.

If the ♦J does not drop, then play for a ♣♠squeeze.

[dcvetkov]

Jlall, on Oct 3 2005, 08:26 PM, said:

What was the auction and what is the caliber of the opening leader? Is he prone to trickiness? This will change my play.

If I'm playing a solid citizen, I would play:

win, cash a spade pitching a heart, ruff a spade with the 9. If no queen drops I'd pull trumps, cash the CA, and run all my trumps coming down to Kx of clubs and a heart opp the HA, CJ, and SJ. Hopefully the SQ will have 4+ clubs.

If the auction made it clear dummy had the AK of spades, or if I showed short spades and am playing an expert, or if I'm playing someone prone to tricky behavior I'd just hook it.

Bidding

South North
1C 1D
1S 2H
2NT 3D
3H 4C
4S 4NT
5H 5NT
6C 7D

4 Clubs and 4S alerted as Cuebids. Opposition silent. Declarer was a star player from Egypt and opps experts.

I guess the problem was not that difficult, but looks you have to decide which squeeze to play for , before lets say trick # 10. One is automatic squeeze for either defender holding Q♠ and 4 clubs,and the other one is double squeeze with heart as a pivot suit, where LHO has to keep spades and RHO clubs.
So if you bare ace♥ in dummy, double squeze is no longer available.
Any guidance or winning percentage?

Line where you gain extra dummy entry with 10 of D and trying to ruff out Q♣ certainly have some merit.

[dogsbreath]

hi
i dont think any of that stuff works if the trumps are 4-0 ..not mentioned by anyone so far.. I'm suspicious of no red-suit lead and think the trump hook must be considered.
Rgds Dog

[whereagles]

If you need a trump hook, then you have to break the squeeze heart communication, so you're pretty much left with a trivial hand: try to ruff out SQ or finding out doubleton club queen

Incidently, I don't think the hook at trick 1 is good play. It's probably less than a 50% shot, even if LHO is a tricky player. I haven't checked the odds, but the compound of SQ ruffed out + doubleton CQ is probably more than 50%.

[inquiry]

♠AK, throw a heart,
Ruff ♠ with ♦9
play all but one trump from the top
club AK
AT this point options are... club towards the jack or last trump playing double squeeze.

This line makes with ♠Q, Qx, Qxx before the last trump
Makes with ♣Q, Qx, Qxx any hand or club Qxxx(x) with EAST if you save a trump.

The extra chance is if it becomse clear that EAST has ♠Queen after all, you can play for a double squeeze, with the club threat in your hand, the spade threat in dummy and hearts the double threat. So it can make when WEST has four clubs to the QUEEN and east has four/five spades to Q and you correctly read the position. On all those diamonds, the chances of reading the position is improved.

[FrancesHinden]

dcvetkov, on Oct 4 2005, 05:16 PM, said:

I guess the problem was not that difficult, but looks you have to decide which squeeze to play for , before lets say trick # 10. One is automatic squeeze for either defender holding Q♠ and 4 clubs,and the other one is double squeeze with heart as a pivot suit, where LHO has to keep spades and RHO clubs.
So if you bare ace♥ in dummy, double squeze is no longer available.
Any guidance or winning percentage?

I haven't looked at this hand in particular, but in general a double squeeze is better odds than a simple squeeze.

A simple squeeze needs the same hand to hold length/key cards in two suits.

A double squeeze usually has different hands holding length in two suits, and often makes with them in the same hand anyway ('simple played as double').

The second of these is more likely.

(On any given hand this may not be true, because of the auction, or because of entry difficulties or whatever)

[Trpltrbl]

♠AK pitching a ♥.
Pull trump, play AK♣ and run all my trump.

GBB

[dcvetkov]

Scoring: IMP

---

OK, so these were the closed hands... Declarer had a long agonized thought,,, and after 5 minutes, finessed in spades and claimed;)))

So in this case East can be squeezed in spades and clubs,and double squeeze fails?
Probably , when you see East with singleton club, odds are improved that he also holds 4 clubs...Interestingly enough, when clubs are 3-3 all the time, you can make if you ruff out Q of clubs, but fail playing on simple squeeze

[Fluffy]

Jlall, on Oct 4 2005, 01:26 AM, said:

What was the auction and what is the caliber of the opening leader? Is he prone to trickiness? This will change my play.

If I'm playing a solid citizen, I would play:

win, cash a spade pitching a heart, ruff a spade with the 9. If no queen drops I'd pull trumps, cash the CA, and run all my trumps coming down to Kx of clubs and a heart opp the HA, CJ, and SJ. Hopefully the SQ will have 4+ clubs.

If the auction made it clear dummy had the AK of spades, or if I showed short spades and am playing an expert, or if I'm playing someone prone to tricky behavior I'd just hook it.

If you are giving up ♥ menace anyway why do you cash ♠K to risk a trump loser? It is the ♥A the squeezing card after all isn't it?

[dcvetkov]

Fluffy, on Oct 6 2005, 07:48 AM, said:

Jlall, on Oct 4 2005, 01:26 AM, said:

What was the auction and what is the caliber of the opening leader? Is he prone to trickiness? This will change my play.

If I'm playing a solid citizen, I would play:

win, cash a spade pitching a heart, ruff a spade with the 9. If no queen drops I'd pull trumps, cash the CA, and run all my trumps coming down to Kx of clubs and a heart opp the HA, CJ, and SJ. Hopefully the SQ will have 4+ clubs.

If the auction made it clear dummy had the AK of spades, or if I showed short spades and am playing an expert, or if I'm playing someone prone to tricky behavior I'd just hook it.

If you are giving up ♥ menace anyway why do you cash ♠K to risk a trump loser? It is the ♥A the squeezing card after all isn't it?

You dont lose anything by discarding a heart. You still have a heart in hand and dummy will have Ax, enough for a double threat