Introduction

	A109
	AJ
	--
	--

KQJ
KQ
--
--

	xx
	x
	---
	AK

In the above card position, the dummy happens to have an "extended menace" in spades, though it is irrelevant to the simple squeeze. The 10 is the threat against LHO, but the 10 is accompanied by the 9. On the first club, LHO had to pitch a spade, which essentially made the 9 good. Of course, to actually withdraw that 9 from the bank, you would have had to first lose a spade trick. Because you already had enough winners to win all of the tricks but one -- your goal was to win all of the remaining tricks -- it did not help you when LHO was forced to unguard your extended menace.

The other point to notice, which is critical to understanding extended menace squeezes, is the squeeze on the extended menace operated one trick sooner than the simple squeeze. Essentially, the need to guard the extended menace put an extra busy card in LHO's hand.

The Simple Extended Menace Squeeze

Okay, let's take away a club winner.

	A109
	AJ
	--
	--

KQJ                     ---
KQ                      ---
--                      ---
--                      KQxxx

	xx
	x
	---
	Ax

So, you lead your ace of clubs, and LHO is squeezed. If LHO discards a heart, your jack of hearts is good; if LHO discards a spade, you duck a round of spades and now your nine of spades is good. You had to lose a trick to make your extended menace good, but that's all right -- you started out with two losers and a goal of just losing one of the remaining tricks.

Extended Menace Squeeze Vs. Simple Squeeze

In the above hand, you could have led a small club, rectifying the count for a simple squeeze. Then on RHO's forced club return, you would win the ace of clubs and have a simple squeeze. In general, if you can rectify the count for a simple squeeze, you should choose the simple squeeze over the extended menace squeeze. This is because you can usually run a simple squeeze so that you do not have to guess what people have saved (though not in the above example). In the extended menace squeeze, you have to peer into the opponent's distribution. In the above example, what you lead after the squeeze card depends on what you guess LHO has unguarded. Most players wait until the squeeze card to make the critical discard. A good player might try to trick you, which is rarely a problem, but a bad player simply might not understand which cards are valuable.

Of course, if we give RHO a diamond, RHO has a winner to cash and you cannot afford to let RHO win a trick; if we give RHO a spade or heart, RHO can return that suit and ruin your squeeze. So it is often the case that you cannot afford to lose a trick to rectify the count for a simple squeeze. If you have only single menaces, you have to try to rectify the count; if you have an extended menace, you can run the extended menace simple squeeze.

Control in the Short Suit

In a simple squeeze, you have to have at least one winner in the threat suits after you play your squeeze card (last "free" winner). This is a communication thing. If your squeeze card is in your hand and you don't have any winners in the dummy, then the defenders can safely unguard that suit, because you can't get to your threat. The extended menace squeeze has the same feature -- the hand with the extended menace must have a winner, so that there is some way of getting to the good extended menace.

But the extended menace squeeze as another requirement -- you must have the top card (or at least a control) in the other suit. If you don't, the opp cashes the winner in that suit. For example:

	A109
	J
	--
	--

KQJ                    ---
Q                      ---
--                     ---
--                     KQxx

	xx
	x
	---
	A

On the other hand, a winner in the extended threat suit, which often very useful, is not necessary. This extended menace squeeze works fine:

	109
	AJ
	--
	--

QJ                     ---
KQ                     ---
--                     ---
--                     KQxx

	xx
	x
	---
	A

Difficulties

There are three things that make the extended menace squeeze more difficult than the simple squeeze. The first, already mentioned, is that you can usually arrange your simple squeeze so that you do not have to guess what distribution your opp started with. For the extended menace squeeze, you always have to know your opps distribution to know what suit to lead after the squeeze is completed.

The second is that you need an entry to the extended menace even after a trick has been lost in that suit. So, for example,

	A109
	J10
	--
	--

KQJ                     ---
KQ                      ---
--                      x
--                      KQxx

	x
	Ax
	---
	Ax

	A109
	J10
	--
	--

KQJ                     ---
KQ                      ---
--                      x
--                      KQxx

	xx
	Ax
	---
	A

The third problem is this. In the simple squeeze, if one opp cannot stop either of the two threats, that opp is out of the picture. In the extended menace squeeze, you have to lose a trick to make your extended menace good. If the second opp can win this trick, the second opp has to be considered. For example:

	A109
	J10
	--
	--

KJx                     Q
KQ                      ---
--                      x
--                      KQx

	xx
	Ax
	---
	A

Triply-Extended Menaces

Okay, what if you have a triply extended menace? Now the squeeze works with 3 losers, and you have to have two winners in the short suit:

	A987
	AK9
	--
	--

KQJ10                     ---
QJ10                      ---
--                        ---
--                        KQxxxxx

	xx
	xx
	---
	Axx

	A9876
	xx
	--
	--

QJ10xx                 ---
KQ9                    ---
--                     ---
--                     KQxxxxx

	Kxx
	AJ108
	---
	Axx