Glenfield
Technical Library
Squeeze
Last Updated on 19th March 2008
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A simple
squeeze applies to one opponent only and relies on a favourable distribution of
the outlying cards, whereby the opponent holding the key cards has to discard
before the hand holding the menaces.
This example of the Simple Squeeze
occurred in the Hyman Crammer on 7th April 2002. |
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North ª AQ5 © K632 ¨ QJ72 § A7 |
Dealer South EW Vul |
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West ª KT987 © JT74 ¨ AK4 § T |
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East ª 32 © 98 ¨ 86 § Q986542 |
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South ª J64 © AQ5 ¨ T953 § KJ3 |
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When both hands
contain menaces and the entries allow it is possible to execute the squeeze
regardless of the position of the outlying cards. This is called a double
squeeze. This example comes from the
final of the 2002 Gimson. |
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North ª 873 © T972 ¨ T74 § 964 |
Dealer West Game All |
West opened one
diamond, East replied one
spade and West rebid one
no trump showing 15 to 18 points. Personally, I think this is a risky choice
with the singleton spade and such a poor diamond suit and would have chosen
two clubs. However, East bid two
clubs, the Crowhurst
convention. West bid two no trumps
showing less than four hearts, less than three spades and 17-18 points. East
then bid four no trumps which was intended to be quantitative, asking West to
bid six no trumps with 18 points.
However West interpreted the bid as Blackwood
and bid five spades to show three Aces.
With little better to do East then punted six no trumps. As it turns out this is not a bad spot
requiring either the king of hearts right and diamonds no worse than 4-2 or
clubs 3-3. North gave declarer a good start by leading
the ten of hearts
to the Queen. Declarer, with just twelve tricks to play
for, maximised chances by ducking a club.
With diamonds 3-3 that gave tricks to spare. It is better to play the Ace and Queen of diamonds. If either hand discards on the Queen of diamonds
we can then duck a club. When both
hands follow to two rounds of diamonds, our slam is certain. We return to hand with the Ace of spades and
play the King of
diamonds, throwing a spade from dummy.
Had either opponent discarded on the third diamond we would have
simply given up a diamond trick. As
it is we cash two more diamonds.
North can throw two useless spades but South is already in trouble and
has to throw the eight
and king of hearts. Now we play the Ace of hearts and
it is all over for south. He cannot
guard both clubs and spades. Note
that this line of play is not a double squeeze as North is under no
pressure. Had North had either the queen or jack of clubs, West
would have been restricted to twelve tricks.
There is, however, a line of play that does
result in a double squeeze. It
assumes that diamonds are three – three and would result in just eleven
tricks if they were not so it is not a sensible line to adopt in six no
trumps. However, had seven no trumps
been bid, and it wouldn’t have taken an auction very much worse than the one
described above: West must now cash the Ace of spades at
trick two and then play the Ace and Queen of diamonds
and the King and
Queen of spades
throwing two clubs. Then we cross to
the Ace of clubs
and play off our diamonds, throwing two hearts from dummy (this is the risk –
if one defender started with four diamonds and four spades only eleven tricks
will be made). As it happens, both
follow to three rounds of diamonds and then have to find two discards. North must throw two hearts to keep the
clubs guarded. South can throw one
heart but their second discard will leave one of the suits unguarded. This then is a double squeeze as it
applies to both opponents. |
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West ª A © AQ6 ¨ K8632 § AT85 |
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East ª KQ954 © J53 ¨ AQ § K72 |
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South ª JT62 © K84 ¨ J95 § QJ3 |
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The Winkle squeeze occurs when opponents are forced to
either unblock or be thrown in.
Either play costs a trick. |
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North ª AT92 © Q ¨ – § - |
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This
position occurred in the match between Glenfield
A and Blaby B on 18th December 2002. East
is on lead, hearts are trumps and east needs to make three tricks. The
ten of hearts is
led, the diamond is thrown from dummy.
North wins and must lead a spade.
If a low spade is led east wins the king and plays another spade. If south is allowed to win then he must
allow dummy’s king
of clubs to take a trick. If
north overtakes then dummy’s jack of spades
takes a trick. Similarly
if north cashes the ace
of spades after winning the queen of hearts
then east’s king
will drop south’s queen
again providing the vital trick with dummy’s jack of spades. Click
here
for the full deal. |
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West ª J53 © - ¨ 8 § K |
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East ª K75 © T3 ¨ – § - |
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South ª Q8 © - ¨ - § J97 |
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The ruffing power of the trump suit plays a key part in
some squeezes. These are called trump
squeezes. This example comes from
Glenfield Bridge Club on 20th August 2003. |
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Board
1 Dealer
N Love
All |
North ª KQ964 © J97 ¨ AK63 § 4 |
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North
opened one
spade. East overcalled four
hearts and South bid four spades.
West bid five hearts and after two passes South persisted with five
spades. This was passed round to East who, with three aces, doubled. East led
the ace of clubs
and continued with a second club, ruffed
by North. Declarer led a spade,
which was won by East who tried the ten of diamonds. Declarer then played another round of
trumps upon which West could postpone his agony by discarding a heart. Declarer then ruffed
a heart, ruffed
a club, ruffed
a heart, ruffed
a club and ruffed
a third heart. West had no answer to
the third heart. If he discarded a
club dummy’s jack of
clubs would provide the eleventh trick, if he discarded a diamond that
honour would fall to declarer’s six. Congratulations to Peter Neville & Tim
Glover, Cynthia & David McCloughlin and
Mary France & Pam Leeson who all made eleven tricks in spades on
the North/South cards; the first two took the match points by virtue of being
doubled. Six
hearts by East will only be beaten if South finds the unlikely diamond lead. Indeed, of the six pairs who played in
four or five hearts, three made twelve tricks. Does that mean that three South’s found the killing lead? No.
One East made thirteen tricks; presumably when South discarded two
clubs on the trumps. Which leads me
on to the next type of squeeze . . .
. |
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West ª 7 © 653 ¨ J987 § KQ973 |
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East ª AT © AKQT842 ¨ T2 § A6 |
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South ª J8532 © – ¨ Q54 § JT852 |
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The situation can arise where a played thinks they may be
squeezed but are not in practise. This
is called a pseudo squeeze. This
example occurred at Glenfield Bridge Club on 20th August 2003. |
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Board
6 Dealer
E EW
Vul |
North ª 8 © AQ852 ¨ AQJ654 § 4 |
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East
opened one
club, South passed and West bid one spade. North overcalled two diamonds and East
bid two spades. South scraped up a
bid of three diamonds. Now there was
no holding North as he leapt to five diamonds. The ace
of spades was led
followed by a switch to a trump.
Dummy’s king
won and the jack of
hearts was advanced to East’s king. East led a second trump whereupon declarer
played off his red suit winners and East and West had to decide whether
North’s shape was 2-5-6-0 or 1-5-6-1; i.e. should they throw all their clubs
to keep a spade or throw all their spades to keep a club? In the event they both threw all their
clubs and declarer scraped home in this contract. The
better contract, is of course, four hearts.
Congratulations to Terry Downs and Laurence Popple who not only bid
and made game in hearts but also played the pseudo squeeze for an
overtrick. (An alternative defensive
disaster is for East to attempt to cash the king of spades at
trick two) Even
that wasn’t the top North/South score which went to Mary France and Pam
Leeson who were doubled
in four diamonds and also made an overtrick.
Most other North/South’s played in diamond part scores although Jim
Wilde and John Morrey racked up a decent score by allowing their opponents to
play three spades and taking it two down. To
go back to the contract of five diamonds, though. Ray Sherwood and Thomas O’Rourke knew what to do when it was
bid against them. They doubled
and took it one down to achieve the only plus score of any East/West pair on
this board. |
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West ª JT93 © 743 ¨ T9 § AJT8 |
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East ª AK62 © KT9 ¨ 72 § KQ75 |
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South ª Q754 © J6 ¨ K83 § 9632 |
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All squeezes
rely on “rectifying the count”. This
is a technique where the number of losers left in the hand are reduced to
one. LCBA Division 3 match on 25th September 2002. |
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North ª T53 © 87 ¨ 8653 § QT62 |
Dealer North EW Game |
After two passes south, not playing weak
twos, tried the effect of a light opening
one heart. West, not having heard
the opening bid, bid two no
trumps. East alerted and
explained the bid as unusual. North passed and east bid three
diamonds. South passed and west bid
three no trumps. All passed. North led
the eight of hearts,
which ran to west’s king. West crossed to the king of clubs and
led a spade. South ducked
and the queen
won the trick. Declarer then cashed
five diamonds. By the time the fifth
diamond was led south had discarded three hearts and west had discarded the
three of hearts. On the fifth diamond
south was able to discard the jack of clubs. West and north also discarded clubs. East then led another spade. South ducked
again. West was able to cash the ace of clubs and ace of hearts but
had to concede the last two tricks to south’s ace and jack of spades. Let’s rewind to the fourth diamond. If declarer discards a club here, then
south is in real difficulty on the fifth diamond. If south discards a major, west discards in the same suit and gives
up a spade for twelve tricks. If
south discards a club, west has to discard a spade or a heart. Then, when west plays the ace of clubs south
simply discards whichever major west had discarded. South can escape the squeeze because the count had not been
rectified. Let’s rewind further to trick two. West should play diamonds first. By the time the fourth diamond is played,
south will have discarded three hearts while west can discard a club. West should not play the fifth diamond
because it is uncertain what should be discarded. Instead a spade is led.
South ducks and west can win the queen. West now plays the ace of clubs and king of clubs and
now plays the fifth diamond. South
now has to discard either a heart or a spade. West discards in the same suit and leads a spade. South can take the ace but that is his
only trick. Interestingly the play is fairly natural in diamonds but feels very strange in no trumps. Perhaps that is why south didn’t protest too much about east’s pass of three no trumps. I don’t think it was on east west’s convention card that an overcall of two no trumps followed by a rebid of three no trumps shows a balanced 20-22 points. At the other tables, three no trumps was
declared twice, making ten tricks, and five diamonds was declared once,
making eleven tricks. Perhaps another
reason for south’s failure to protest is that his stupid opening bid had
marked him with length in hearts and the ace of spades,
giving declarer the clue that it might be safe to cash the ace and king of clubs
before leading the second spade from dummy.
Without south’s opening bid, north will lead
a club and it would be most unwise to cash a second club before conceding the
ace of spades
as, if north had the AJ of spades, three no trumps minus one on this board
would take a lot of explaining to your team mates. |
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West ª KQ74 © AK3 ¨ KQ4 § A97 |
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East ª 98 © 92 ¨ AJ972 § K854 |
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South ª AJ62 © QJT654 ¨ T § J3 |
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North was squeezed on this deal (board 18) from the match against John Storer
House on 9th October 2002, enabling east to make a slam. |
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North ª Q94 © 3 ¨ K9653 § JT86 |
Dealer
East NS
Game |
At
our table East opened a weak
two hearts. West bid two no trumps and east bid three diamonds to show a weak
hand with good trumps. Perhaps west
should do more now but, in practise, he settled for four hearts. I led
the ten of diamonds. Declarer won the ace and ran the queen of hearts. I allowed
this to win, hoping to create entry problems for declarer. Declarer then ran the four of hearts and,
when north, Judith Taylor, discarded a diamond, played the ace. Then came the jack of hearts,
which I won; Judith discarding a spade.
I switched to the jack of spades. Declarer won the Ace and now had to
get back to hand. He made the correct
choice by ruffing
a spade. Declarer then drew the last
trump. Judith had to throw a third
diamond on this. Declarer could now
cross to the king of
clubs ruff
out Judith’s king of
diamonds with his last trump and get back to the ace of clubs to
claim the remainder of the tricks with dummy’s diamonds. I could, of course, have held declarer to
eleven tricks by either leading
or switching to a club. This leaves
declarer with insufficient entries to draw trumps before ruffing
out the diamonds. Peter
and Lesley Neville, not playing weak
twos, reached the slam
quite easily after west opened
two no trumps. However, the
defence found the club switch and now declarer had to ruff
out the diamonds before drawing trumps.
With the unfortunate position in the red suits Lesley was unable to
prevent a trump
promotion for south. The
slam was bid and made against Jim Wilde and John Morrey while Ken Skinner and
Barbel Sandhu stopped safely(!) in five no trumps. This probably makes quite easily on the likely fourth
highest diamond lead
from north. The queen of diamonds
takes the first trick. A heart is led
towards the queen. South must duck. Declarer then plays a club to the king and leads the ace of diamonds
followed by the jack. North wins the king and might
switch to a club. Declarer wins the ace of clubs and
plays the eight of
diamonds. North takes the nine but declarer’s
diamonds are now good and the ace of hearts still
provides an entry to discard the losing spade on the queen of clubs. Interestingly, five no trumps would have
no chance if hearts were 3-2 as north would be able to switch to a heart
after winning the first diamond. |
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West ª AK5 © Q4 ¨ AJ8742 § AK |
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East ª 2 © AJT752 ¨ Q § Q9752 |
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South ª JT8762 © K986 ¨ T § 43 |
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Tim’s Statistics MPs |
Partner |
Squeeze |
MPs |
Top |
% |
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Peter
Neville |
1 |
21 |
24 |
87.5 |
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Total for 2006 |
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1 |
21 |
24 |
87.5 |
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Peter
Neville |
1 |
16 |
18/20 |
84.21 |
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Total for 2006 |
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1 |
16 |
18/20 |
84.21 |
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Total |
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2 |
37 |
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86.05 |
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Site Map Last Updated 12th February
2006 |
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1. Home Page |
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2. Newsletters, Photos and Correspondence |
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3. Competitions |
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5. Statistics |
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6.1 Bidding |
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6.1.1 Hand Evaluation |
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6.1.2 Opening Bids |
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6.1.3 Responding to an Opening Bid |
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6.1.3.1 Responding to 1NT |
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6.1.3.2 Responding to 2NT |
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6.1.4 Conventions |
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6.1.4.1 Conventional Opening Bids |
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6.1.4.2 Competitive Conventions |
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6.1.4.3 Slam Conventions |
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6.1.5 Doubles |
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6.1.6 The Protective Position |
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6.2 Declarer Play |
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6.2.1 General Technique |
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6.2.2 Trump Management |
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6.3 Defence |
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6.3.1 Defensive Tactics |
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6.3.2 Opening
Leads |
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6.3.3 Plays in Third Hand |
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6.3.4 Entry Management |
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6.4 Probability |
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