[twcho]

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You are south and you play in 7NT. Can you make against any distribution?

Please hide your answer if you think you find the solution.

[Flame]

This was my solution, but its wrong
play 3 diamonds to find out who has 4 of them, if west has 4 play AQ spade, if east has 4 diamonds play AK spade.
You either finnese the one with 4 spade or squeese the one with 44 spade diamond.

[shoeless]

not sure how to hide reply - can someone tell me?

[Flame]

shoeless, on Feb 25 2005, 09:26 PM, said:

not sure how to hide reply - can someone tell me?

when u are writing ur post, press the HIDDEN button before and after the text you want to hide.

[Free]

I count 12 sure tricks, I have lots of entries to both hands, so I'll play for a squeeze. It's actually just squeeze-skill on this hand, squeeze will be performed with the ♣s, but you have some preparation to do

[david_c]

I think I have it:

Spoiler

Cash ♥A, the three top diamonds, then all the clubs, pitching two hearts from dummy. Now cash ♥K, discarding the diamond. If eiher opponent shows out on the ♥K, you know the complete distribution, so can play spades accordingly. If both opponents follow to the ♥K, you know which of them is holding the last diamond, so this player can't have four spades.

[luke warm]

i'm with free... try for this

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you should know you you're squeezing in what on the last club

maybe that doesn't work maybe this

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is better

[fred]

How about this:
(unhidden)
Cash one of dummy's high spades, the Ace of hearts(!) followed by 3 rounds of diamonds and 4 rounds of clubs, discarding 2 hearts from the dummy.

Suppose the person 4 diamonds has 3 clubs. He will have to discard a heart on the 4th round of clubs. Now you cash the King of hearts and discard dummy's small diamond. If that person follows you will know that only his partner can have 4 spades (because he will be known to have 10+ cards in the other 3 suits), but if he discards then you will know he started with 4243.

If haven't gone through all of the possibilities, but I think this general line should work regardless of how the diamonds and clubs are distributed.

This isn't really a squeeze hand in the conventional sense of the word - it is what I would call an "information squeeze".

There is an easier solution if LHO is the one with diamond length (cash both dummy's high spades and play to squeeze LHO if he has length in spades as well as diamonds).


Nice problem!

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[Flame]

Was too hard for me, spent all day on this one. it looks too much like a squeese.
Well done to those who solved it.

[shoeless]

Actually this hand is easy for an economist - just assume you get a heart or spade lead and Bob's your uncle. Otherwise it causes nausea.

[twcho]

Well done for David_C and Fred. Though it looks like that you have all kind of squeeze possibilities, but it is actually an illusion. The right play is some sort of discovery play as indicated in David and Fred's response.

[luke warm]

ok, this was not an easy problem (at least for me), and david's and fred's line works... but i still don't quite understand something, so help me out... take a look at the two end positions in my post above... are they not possible, or is there some reason not to play for those? thanks

[fred]

luke warm, on Mar 2 2005, 12:21 AM, said:

ok, this was not an easy problem (at least for me), and david's and fred's line works... but i still don't quite understand something, so help me out... take a look at the two end positions in my post above... are they not possible, or is there some reason not to play for those? thanks

Not so easy to explain, but I will try:

Suppose you cash 3 rounds of diamonds early and learn that the person on your RIGHT guards that suit (as I explained in my earlier post, there is a relatively easy way to make the hand if LHO is the one with 4 diamonds).

Now suppose you cash dummy's AQ of spades. If the person on your right also guards spades you can take a spade finesse and claim, but if the person on your left is the one with the spades, there is no double squeeze position possible (because dummy will be squeezed before your RHO).

Suppose instead that you cash one of dummy's high spades followed by the King of spades in your hand. Now you can finesse if LHO has 4 spades, but if it turns out that RHO guards spades as well as diamonds, the entries are wrong for a simple squeeze against him. A 3-suit squeeze in which RHO is forced to come down to a singleton heart (and you can then play the HK and finesse with 100% confidence if the Queen doesn't drop) won't work either because, as before, dummy will be squeezed before RHO.

Hope this helps.

You are right that this is not an easy problem, but it wasn't that hard for me because I have seen a hand sort of like this before. If you want to see the hand I am referring to, log in to BBO, click Explore Bridge, Bridge Library, English, Deal of the Week, DOTW #393.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[cherdano]

luke warm, on Mar 2 2005, 12:21 AM, said:

ok, this was not an easy problem (at least for me), and david's and fred's line works... but i still don't quite understand something, so help me out... take a look at the two end positions in my post above... are they not possible, or is there some reason not to play for those? thanks

It's not quite clear what you mean by this end positions, i.e. whether you play for these no matter what happens in between. If so, they fail of course if RHO is guarding dummy's threats (red suits), and LHO is guarding spades.

Arend

[luke warm]

yes, thanks fred and cherdano, that helped a lot, i appreciate it... for some reason i was blinded into thinking there was a double squeeze, but there isn't (not necessarily)

[Flame]

As i see it, you have to be much better with squeeses inorder to decide there is no squeese, then you should be inorder to find a squeese, because for me it was checking every possible ending ,ofcourse in the process i checked each ending endless number of times, because i was sure im missing something, and also because like at the table i never remmber the lines i already checked (my biggest bridge problem i think).
Only someone who really understand squeeses can see why there wont be a squeese here and avoid it with spending only a small amount of time.

[luke warm]

yeah, that's why i added 'not necessarily' to my post...