Squeeze Trim Endlay

The Squeeze-Trim-Endplay: Hand

This hand was played by Paul Allinger and reported by Don Kersey, in his 1990 Bridge World article analyzing this type of play (which he called a one-threat squeeze).

1032
A3
AQ95
J953

9
K52
K8732
KQ72

Playing IMPs, you open 1, Lefty overcalls 3, and your partner closes the auction with a bid of 5. The opening lead was the A. Lefty continued with the Q, Righty playing the K.

The straightforward play is to draw trump and knock out the ace of clubs. This works if clubs are 3-2 (or if Lefty has four clubs or the singleton 10).

However, Righty shows out on the second round of trumps. Lefty presumably started with 7 spades and 3 trumps, so it is plausible that Lefty has a singleton club (though Lefty might have led a club with a singleton).

Can you find a squeeze-trim-endplay that makes the hand if Righty has A10xx of clubs? And, most importantly, how should you play the hand?

Discussion/Answer