[kgr]

...hope answers to this post will give me more inside in when playing for throw in and when finessing.

Scoring: IMP

---

Bidding is not really important for this post:
2♦!-2♠!
2NT-3♣!
3♥!-3♠!
3NT-4NT
6♣-6NT
-
2♦ is multi and 2NT shows 22-24 HCP. Partners 2♠ sould show ♥'s (3 or 4 ♥ would have been better bid).
3♣ is kind of puppet and 3♥ denied a 4 card Major.
3♠ denied 5 card ♠ and 4NT was quantitative.
-
I played 6NT:
LHO lead a small Heart. I took this with ♥Q (Hoped this would give a better chache to get no ♠ back if ♣K was wrong??).
Now I let run ♣9 followed by a succesful finesse of the ♣Q.
RHO did play high-low on the ♣'s and I can tell you he really had a 4 card ♣.
My table feel also showed that RHO had ♠A. (which was not true ).
Question:: Can strip and throw-in work if RHO has ♠A(xxx) and ♣Kxxx?
and if not: Why does it not work and can I easily see that it will not work?

[gnasher]

From the position you've reached, you can still make it on a strip squeeze if East started with four spades and not four diamonds. Cash the red suit winners to reach this position:

---

East has already been squeezed out of his long spade, and is now forced to throw another one; you throw a club. When you lead a spade from dummy he has to play the ace to avoid being endplayed, but you unblock the queen and make either three spade tricks or two clubs and one spade.

This is an interesting position, but one that you could have avoided. If you are going to play East for ♣Kxxx and ♠A, after ♣9 holds you should lead a spade to the queen, then run the red suits to reach

---

Now the heart forces him to bare ♠A, and after a club finesse you endplay him with a spade.

Note that I'm not recommending either of these lines. I wouldn't choose to play this way unless I had actually seen ♠A in East's hand, and also checked the back of his cards to make sure that they were all the same colour.

My line would be to test the clubs, and if they didn't break to play West for ♠AJ. Unfortunately, you can't delay this decision - if you play a spade to the queen at trick 3 and it loses to the ace, they will play a spade back, putting you to a guess.

[gnasher]

gnasher, on Mar 1 2008, 12:22 PM, said:

if you play a spade to the queen at trick 3 and it loses to the ace, they will play a spade back, putting you to a guess.

If that did happen, you'd probably win the king and play to squeeze East in the black suits.

West might also try ducking when you play a spade to the queen. Then you might play for the strip squeeze against East, but get a nasty surprise in the ending when West wins ♠A and cashes a diamond.

[uday]

Quote

Question:: Can strip and throw-in work if RHO has ♠A(xxx) and ♣Kxxx?
and if not: Why does it not work and can I easily see that it will not work?

This form of end play will always work provided that

- you have exactly 2 losers at the point of the throw in
- you can cash winners ending in a hand with the throw-in card
- that hand has an entry to the other suit

In other words, just like a simple squeeze but with two losers instead of one.

[kgr]

uday, on Mar 1 2008, 09:21 PM, said:

Quote

Question:: Can strip and throw-in work if RHO has ♠A(xxx) and ♣Kxxx?
and if not: Why does it not work and can I easily see that it will not work?

This form of end play will always work provided that

- you have exactly 2 losers at the point of the throw in
- you can cash winners ending in a hand with the throw-in card
- that hand has an entry to the other suit

In other words, just like a simple squeeze but with two losers instead of one.

Refering to gnasher's 1st diagram:
- What do you mean with entry to the other suit? Is it an netry to ♠ in that diagram?
- Also: Only the hand that is thrown in should be have some control in both suits? If West has a Spade stopper then East takes Ace an returns a Spade.
- And the hand that is trhown in should have no exit card in a 3rd suit.
Thanks,
Koen
PS: Also tx to gnasher for his reply.
PS2: The best player of the club was bye and kibitzing at our table. I had to try something special and it would have been great if it had worked.
PS3: I thought Ben was specialized in these squeeze related things....Not sure if this was already covered in his articles. Maybe I should re-read them again.

[gnasher]

kgr, on Mar 2 2008, 06:51 PM, said:

Refering to gnasher's 1st diagram:
- What do you mean with entry to the other suit? Is it an netry to ♠ in that diagram?
- Also: Only the hand that is thrown in should be have some control in both suits? If West has a Spade stopper then East takes Ace an returns a Spade.

I think it's hard to make rules about this sort of ending, because there is so much more variety than with no-loser squeezes.

My first diagram is unusual, because the the entry to the clubs is in spades rather than in clubs itself, the squeeze occurs before declarer has set up his 11th trick, and there is an endplay threat in both suits.

The second diagram is more typical, and probably corresponds more closely to what Uday was describing. In the second diagram, ♠10 could be a small card and the endplay would still work.

Quote

- And the hand that is trhown in should have no exit card in a 3rd suit.

In the first diagram, if East had been able to keep a diamond, that would have beaten it. In the second diagram, East can't keep a red-suit winner, because he will be squeezed out of it when the last heart is cashed. The difference is that declarer has already scored his spade trick, so East has one fewer card.

Quote

PS2: The best player of the club was bye and kibitzing at our table. I had to try something special and it would have been great if it had worked. 

And what does he think of you now?

[kgr]

gnasher, on Mar 2 2008, 09:41 PM, said:

kgr, on Mar 2 2008, 06:51 PM, said:

Refering to gnasher's 1st diagram:
- What do you mean with entry to the other suit? Is it an netry to ♠ in that diagram?
- Also: Only the hand that is thrown in should be have some control in both suits? If West has a Spade stopper then East takes Ace an returns a Spade.

I think it's hard to make rules about this sort of ending, because there is so much more variety than with no-loser squeezes.

My first diagram is unusual, because the the entry to the clubs is in spades rather than in clubs itself, the squeeze occurs before declarer has set up his 11th trick, and there is an endplay threat in both suits.

The second diagram is more typical, and probably corresponds more closely to what Uday was describing. In the second diagram, ♠10 could be a small card and the endplay would still work.

Quote

- And the hand that is trhown in should have no exit card in a 3rd suit.

In the first diagram, if East had been able to keep a diamond, that would have beaten it. In the second diagram, East can't keep a red-suit winner, because he will be squeezed out of it when the last heart is cashed. The difference is that declarer has already scored his spade trick, so East has one fewer card.

Thanks again..interesting.
Does that squeeze in your 1st diagram has a name?...A double throw in..?

Quote

Quote

PS2: The best player of the club was bye and kibitzing at our table. I had to try something special and it would have been great if it had worked. 

And what does he think of you now?

I guess: Nice try, but still to learn a lot.

[gnasher]

kgr, on Mar 2 2008, 11:28 PM, said:

Does that squeeze in your 1st diagram has a name?...A double throw in..?

Probably not.

"Double throw in" might imply that both opponents are thrown in, or threatened with a throw in, in the same way that "double squeeze" implies that both opponents are squeezed.