This is about what I will call the squeeze-trim-endplay. It is of interest in itself, and the conceptual framework of an extended squeeze may help in understanding it.

In their book "Inspired Cardplay", Bird and Hoffman present this hand.

AJ4
AKQ53
1042
J2

KQ1065
7
K6
AK1086

You are in 6 spades. Lefty has overcalled an unusual no trump (at favorable vulnerability), suggesting at least 5-5 in the minors. The opening lead is the 2 of hearts.

You have many choices for how to play this hand. The heart lead, an obvious singleton, allows you to pitch your diamond losers. You have to do this after drawing at least two rounds of trump. (As it turns out, most of the ways of actually making this hand require a 3-2 trump break.)

You then have 10 winners, 11 after the queen of clubs is knocked out. You have a club threat in your fifth club, and you have an endplay situation in clubs.

You can lead towards the jack of clubs. If Lefty has the queen, which is likely given Lefty's bid and club holding, Lefty will probably pop the queen of clubs. That gives you 4 clubs and the contract. Lefty is likely to play the queen, that's a good way to play the hand. But what if Lefty doesn't?

Now you have a much better endplay situation in clubs. If Lefty has AQJ of diamonds, then you can endplay lefty in diamonds to lead away from Q9x of clubs, given you your fourth club trick. However, Righty could easily have a diamond honor. So the play that gives you problems is if lefty ducks.

Okay, let's say you do this club play and Lefty ducks. What now? If you could run your hearts and spades, you could come down to just AK108 of clubs in your hand. If Lefty saves Q9xx, lefty can be endplayed in clubs.

However, once you play your last trump, Lefty is relieved of this obligation to save a long club. So Lefty can come down to Qxx of clubs and the A of diamonds, or Qxx of clubs and a small diamond (assuming Righty has a diamond honor).

Okay, let's back up a trick. Suppose you come down to a trump and the AK108 of clubs. Lefty has to save 4 clubs -- it is not yet safe to through a small club -- and a diamond. If you could force Lefty to play a diamond on your last trump, you would have your endplay.

Fortunately, you can force Lefty to play a diamond -- if you lead a diamond from the dummy and trump it!

I think the best way to think of this is as "trimming" the exit cards from Lefty's hand. First, you squeeze out all of the exit cards exit one. Then you cash your winner in that suit, or trump that suit, leaving your opponent with no exit cards. Finally, you execute the endplay you were planning all along.

Of course, Lefty can prevent you from trimming out diamonds by saving two diamonds. However, there is no room in Lefty's hand to save both two diamonds and four clubs. If Lefty saves two diamonds and three clubs, you simply lose a club trick and win the rest.

So Lefty is squeezed at trick trick 8. There doesn't seem to be any terminology for this, so I will call it a squeeze-trim-endplay -- you squeeze all the exit cards out of your opponent except one, trim the final exit card, all as preliminary to executing your endplay.

Ignoring the trump, for the moment, you have a loser count of 3. But you have a genuine extended menace in clubs, and a pseudo extended menace in diamonds -- Lefty has to save two diamonds to avoid the endplay. Therefore, the loser count is right for a two-extended menace squeeze.

The squeeze-trim-endplay is easier to execute if you actually have the diamond ace. Then you don't have to worry about which hand you are ending up in. For example, the ending situation might be

    --
    xxx
    Ax
    x

--        --
--        J10
KJ        Qxx
Q9xx      x

    x
    --
    x
    AK108

Play of the last spade squeezes the untrimmable exit card out of Lefty's hand.

I don't find this situation so conducive to analysis as an extended menace squeeze. But consider this:

    --
    xxx
    AJ
    x

--        --
--        J10
KQ        10xx
Q9xx      x

    x
    --
    x
    AK108

Now we have a true extended menace squeeze. There is only one extended menace, so the squeeze operates with 2 losers. In this situation, the endplay configuration in clubs is irrelevant -- Lefty has to give up a trick, one way or another, on the last spade.

So the squeeze-trim-endplay is perhaps most like the extended menace squeeze with only on extended menace. It occurs with a loser count of 2. It is no coincidence that this is the same loser count as for a standard strip squeeze with endplay, because when you are done running your squeeze and trim, you still have a loser count of two and you execute your endplay. In the squeeze-trim-endplay, the endplay facility in the extended menace suit compensates for the lack of a true second menace. The opponent still wants to save two cards in that suit, not to prevent you from winning a trick, but to prevent you from trimming his/her hand and then executing an endplay.

Obviously, one of the requirements for a squeeze-trim-endplay is that you have a suit which you can set up a trick either if the opponent discards from the suit or if the opponent can be endplayed into winning a trick in the suit and having to return the suit. Most enplay combinations have this property. For example, if the king is offside and you have xxx opposite AQ9, you can lead to the 9 and make an endplay, or if your opponent discards down to Kx, you can simply lose a heart trick to set up your queen.

The second requirement is having the boss card in the suit you will want to trim. A third requirement is, usually, knowing the placement of some high card. And, you are going to have to know the distribution to figure out what your opponent has pitched -- do you trim and endplay, or duck a round of the endplay suit to set up your winner?

From That Elusive Extra Trick, by Reese and Bird:

Q1043
AK3
K543
K8

AKJ9562
K543
A3

You are in 6 spades. Even though you bid diamonds as your second suit, Lefty opens the 2 of diamonds. You decide it is a singleton diamond. How do you play the hand? God has not blessed you with very good spots in diamonds. But has he given you what you need?
Part 1: The Extended Menace Squeeze (Introduction)"
Part 2: Two Extended Menaces (Advanced)
A Squeeze-Trim-Endplay (Advanced)

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