[Laird]

Hello All

I was at Wayne's class on Sunday morning and had just finished making 3nt by a somewhat obscure route and was waiting for the verdict!
I knew what was coming...
John!...." Did you make a plan and if so what was it"?
I mean at that time on sunday morning my main plan was how to raise the cup of Tea without spilling it and keeping my eyes closed for another few seconds.
I managed to type out something about end playing and being concerned about the increasing vulnerability of the diamond suit .....
I thought,well its an answer.
Wayne doesnt let you off that easy..back came his reply....
"No! You didnt need to do that... just keep playing the hearts to force out the King and you always get back to north with the ace for the remaining hearts". :-[

At that another message appeared...
An invitaion from The Hog to play a few hands later....
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not one to tell tales out of class but some I feel may be of interest to our BBO commmunity...During the play in these games a couple of points emerged....

Orla managed to end play The Hog and he claimed to be most upset by this!

The other thing was squeeze avoidance play...

My questions are...

How do you avoid being end played?

How do you avoid being squeezed ?

How do you recognise when this is a possibility?

Does avoidance rely on partnership agreement regarding discards?

Kind regards
John

[the hog]

Orla managed to end play The Hog and he claimed to be most upset by this!

I wasn't really upset! lol
Orla played the hand really well. As for avoiding squeezes and endplays etc; if you are good at finding squeezes and endplays you will get good at trying to avoid them. Sometimes you can see that you will be endplayed if you hang on to a particular card, so you ditch it.
One example might be the following

Axxxx
AT
Kxx
Axx

KQxxx
xx
AJx
KQx

You are in 6S and get the K of H lead. You can draw trumps, eliminate C and try to endplay lefty with a H. He now gives you a ruff and sluff or has to lead a D. Well if lefty has KQxx of H and can see this coming, he needs to be careful to avoid winning the HT.

There are other hands for example where with xxx opposite Axxx or similar you cash the A really early in the play and try to endplay someone who has the doubleton K. The earlier these plays come the harder they are to avoid.

[Cave_Draco]

With regard to squeezes... there are four defences, since I am about to relocate my bridge books are in storage :'(, if I get one wrong... ty in advance all.

a) Discard problem cards early; don't wait & squirm.
Destroy entries.
c) Break up the menaces.
d) Don't allow declarer to rectify the count.

As to how to recognise an incoming squeeze? I agree with Hideous; if you play them, you see them, :-D.

[Laird]

Thank you for responding:
but from the answers a few more questions become apparent:-

In squeeze avoidance techniques Cave Draco mentions 4 areas ie
a) Discard problem cards
Destroy entries
c) Break up the menaces
d) Dont allow declarer to RECTIFY THE COUNT

Would it be possible to show an example hand where all 4 techniques are present and explain the significance of each.

Kind regards
John