The Squeeze-Trim-Endplay: Hand
From Adventures in Card Play, by Ottlik and Kelsey. This is perhaps my favorite bridge book of all time.
 Q1073
 K93
 J8742
 9
K65
AQJ1075
A
AQ4
The contract is 6. This looks like a simple finesse for the J. But Righty opened 2, a weak two. So, the good news is that you know where the spade honors are. The bad news is that the J is not onside.
The opening lead is a small heart. Righty shows out. How would you play this hand? (If this seems too difficult, think "squeeze-trim-endplay".
You are fifty miles away from setting set up dummy's long diamond. If Righty has KQ doubleton of diamonds, you can set up the J for a spade pitch.
If Righty has both diamond honors, you can |
to run a criss-cross extended menace squeeze? You can come down to this:
Q10x
--
Jx
--
AJ9
--
KQ
--
Kxx
Q
A
--
If Righty throws a diamond, you can cash your ace of diamonds to make your jack good. But dummy is squeezed first. If you pitch a spade, to keep your soon-to-be-good J, you have no entry to the J.
Of course, Righty might incorrectly discard a spade, in which case you can set up your long spade. That seems like a better chance than hoping Righty has the KQ doubleton of diamonds.
What about an endplay in spades? The spade suit of course is ripe for endplay. You can lead to your queen of spades, or if you are in dummy, simply lead the queen of spades. Righty has to take the ace (otherwise you simply lead to your king). If Righty has only spades left, Righty has to lead a spade which you can let ride around to the 10.
However, you cannot eliminate Righty's side suits. You cannot squeeze them out because Righty has a control in spades, so when you cash your last trump to hopefully squeeze Righty, Righty pitches a spade and saves AJ of spades and a minor suit winner.
Of course, all this cries out for a squeeze-trim-endplay. If Righty had only 3 clubs, so that they could be eliminated by ruffing, you could come down to
Q10x
--
Jx
--
AJx
--
K10
--
Kxx
Q
A
--
On the lead of the queen of hearts, Righty is squeezed. If Righty throws a spade, you attack spades to set up your long spade; if Righty throws a diamond, you cash your A and run your endplay.
There are two problems with this plan. First, Righty might have four clubs. If Righty saves the fourth club, then the squeeze part of the squeeze-trim-endplay doesn't work -- Righty saves a club, which you cannot trim. I rate this as a small problem -- even if Righty has four clubs, Righty is likely to voluntarily pitch them.
The more serious problem is that you can't get to this position. Suppose you play your ace of clubs then ruff a club. How do you get back to your hand? Lefty is ruffing spades, so you can lead that suit. Getting back to your hand in hearts removes the last trump from the board. And, while you can successfully get to your hand in diamonds, that removes the diamond control you need for your squeeze-trim-endplay.
Sometimes, in the absence of a real control in a suit, you substitute a trump control -- after running your squeeze, you trim the suit by leading it from one hand and ruffing in the other. That won't work her for several reasons, the most obvious being that when you lead your next to last heart from your hand, you don't have any entries to dummy.
However, this position is possible:
Q10x
--
Jxx
--
AJx
--
??
??
Kxx
Q
A
A
On the last heart, Righty has to come down to two cards in the minors. If they are a club and a diamond, you can cash your minor suit aces in either order, trimming Righty down to just spades, then run your endplay. If Righty has save two of a minor suit, you have to cas the ace of the other minor suit. That squeezes Righty out of the exit card in that minor. Then you do the trim and endplay.
The only problem is how you get to this position. The answer is to win the first heart on the board and take the club finesse. Then you ruff one club and run your trumps. Yes, that is a risky play. But there is no other reasonably play for the hand.
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