[Mosene]

The contract is 6 hearts (declarer is south - with AQ65 of hearts etc...). The opening lead is the Q of clubs. When (if?) you play hearts they turn out to be 4-1, with LHO having 4. Plan the play. You can make this hand as the cards actually were, and it is a pretty neat ending.


♥K432
♠32
♦A2
♣AKJ84



♥AQ65
♠AKQ6
♦Q964
♣10

[Fluffy]

♣A, club ruffed, ♥AQ going to claim.... oh no!.

At this point ♠AKQ discarding club, ♥ to dummy and run the clubs hopin that LHO has 3 spades.

[Apollo81]

♣A, ♥AQ, ♠AKQ pitching a club, ruff 4th spade, ♥K, cash high clubs, ruff last club. If at any point LHO ruffs in while playing clubs, he will be endplayed in diamonds if he started with 3-4 spades and the ♦K.

[Fluffy]

That line looks better than mine

[Apollo81]

Fluffy, on Jan 7 2009, 03:12 PM, said:

That line looks better than mine

Better when LHO has 1 club (pretty much 100% imo) or 4 spades

[Mosene]

What if you were 100% certain that RHO had the diamond K - what would you do?

[y66]

Club ace, HA, HQ, top 3 spades pitching club, heart to king, CK, CJ, ruff club hoping that whenever LHO overruffs, he has to lead away from his diamond king.

This works when LHO has 3 spades, 4 hearts, 5 diamonds and a singleton club but not when he is 4=4=4=1.

Apollo's line works either way. Very nice.

re-edit: If I know RHO has DK, I hope LHO is 4=4=4=1. Club ace, HA, HK, top 3 spades pitching club, ruff spade, heart to queen then heart to LHO's jack squeezing RHO to DK and 3 clubs or Kx of diamonds and 2 clubs.

[Mosene]

Y66 - What do you discard from dummy on the last heart lead? (in other words - I think it does not work b/c you have to pitch from dummy first). Please tell me if I am wrong.


FYI - absent other information, I think the Apollo81 line is probably best, but the hand is very interesting if you assume RHO has the diamond K.

[y66]

You are right Mosene. That line is a dead end.

Think I'll play RHO for Kxx in diamonds and try to ruff out his king instead.

[Benoit35]

Brain cramp.

[Apollo81]

IF RHO is 4126 or 4135 with the ♦K we can just ruff a club and draw trumps, which squeezes him. Aside from that I don't see a way to make the hand if RHO has 2+ diamonds and only one heart, unless that heart is the jack. Neither of these are as good as my original line.

[Mosene]

This is RHO's hand:

♥X
♠XXX
♦K10XX
♣98765

It turns out RHO gets squeezed without the count with 4 cards left (if that is what you call it). At trick 4 you must play a heart to the K in dummy, ruff a club, and then play off 4 spades, pitching a diamond from dummy and then ruffing to dummy with a spade.

This leaves dummy with

♥-
♠-
♦A
♣KJx


RHO Has:

♥-
♠-
♦K - having pitched the diamond 10 previously
♣987

You then must play the Ace of diamonds - dropping the now singleton king - and start playing clubs. LHO can (and really should) ruff in on the first club, but then has to lead into your Q9 of diamonds. (If RHO has pitched a club at some point, then you start on clubs and the diamond ace is an entry to hand once LHO ruffs in).

I did not quite play it like that (made it anyway due to mis-defence) but wish I had.

[Benoit35]

When missing the entry do do the squeeze, get an opponent to give it to you... nifty.

[nige1]

Mosene asks us to play 6♥ by South, assuming RHO has ♦K. West leads ♣Q. When you play trumps they turn out to be 4-1, with LHO having 4.

IMO, if the cards lie roughly as Mosene says, then you don't always need a squeeze:
♣AK chucking ♠x. ♦A, ♠AKQ throwing ♦, ruff a ♦, ♥KA, ruff a ♦, ♣J discarding last ♦. Claim.

---

[nige1]

Mosene's squeeze in a reduced diagram:
6♥ by South. West leads ♣K.
A winning line:
♣A, ♥AQK, Ruff a ♣, ♠AKQ throwing ♦, ruff the last ♠, squeezing RHO

• If RHO keeps 2 or more ♦ then dummy's ♣ are good, so run them until LHO ruffs. But then LHO must lead a ♦ to dummy's ♦A.
  
• If RHO bares ♦K, then cash ♦A, and lead ♣J. LHO ruffs but must lead into declarer's ♦ tenace.

Thank you Mosene. This is the first time I've encountered your pretty squeeze.

---

[Benoit35]

nige1 said:

♣AK chucking ♠x. ♦A, ♠AKQ throwing ♦, ruff a ♦, ♥KA, ruff a ♦, ♣J discarding last ♦. Claim.

Nice. Even better than the squeeze, which fails if West holds ♦J10.

However, this line won't work if we cashed hearts (no matter which two) at tricks 2 and 3 - we have to anticipate the 4-1 break. The best players will do this, of course.

[Mosene]

Thanks all for the responses. I like the pure squeeze shown by Nige1. I, of course, did play off 2 hearts at trick 2 and 3 and therefore the squeeze, as the cards actually were, was the only chance.