The Squeeze-Trim-Endplay: Hand
Dummy opened a four-card major, and you quickly got to 3NT. Righty doubled for a spade lead. Lefty dutifully led the 9 of spades. Righty overtook with the 10 of spades a led the What now? To place the cards, Righty would not overtake the 9 unless he had to. So Righty has AQJ10 of spades. Righty's low heart looks like it is from a 4-card suit. Well, you have a throw-in endplay situation in spades, and if Righty pitches a spade, you can set up a spade trick. So the spades are ripe for a squeeze-trim-endplay. If you can reduce the last three cards to:
K87
AQJ
65
You can lead a spade (from either hand), endplaying Righty to win the last trick.
Righty has a potential exit in both hearts and clubs. You have a control in both suits. So far, everything is good. Two problems. First, you have two losers in spades. In other words, after you throw-in Righty, he still has a major tenace. That means you need two controls in the potential throw-in suits. You do still have a double-stopper in hearts, but not in clubs. The other problem is loser count. With a double-loser in spades, the correct loser count is three. You have a loser count of four. You cannot squeeze out all of the exits. If you had the king of clubs, that would solve both of your problems and the squeeze-trim-endplay runs like clockwork. You would cash your diamonds, coming down to
If Righty has an uneliminatable exit card in both spades and hearts -- three in each suit -- Righty has thrown all the spades except the ace and you can set up two spade tricks. If Righty has all kept all three spades, he could have three cards left in either clubs or hearts. Now you simply cash the two winners in the other suit. Say Righty still has 3 hearts. You come down to
Righty cannot save 3 hearts and 3 spades. If Righty has only two spades, you set up a spade trick by leading the suit twice. Your double stopper in clubs gives you the tempo to do that. If Righty has saved 3 spades and only 2 hearts, you trim the hearts from his hand and lead a spade to endplay him. But you do not have the king of clubs. If you could play one more round of spades, then Righty would have just a major tenace in spades. That leaves us with the "simple" form of the squeeze-trim-endplay. The loser count for that is 3 (you hope to lose only two more tricks), which you would have. You can squeeze out the fourth heart, but clubs would have to be the endplay suit. In fact, this works, if Righty has a club honor. After playing four diamonds to squeeze out the long heart and trimming the rest, you would come down to:
Righty has 2 spades and two clubs, such as Qx of hearts. You play the ace of clubs. If Righty plays small, you lead another club. If Righty wins, he is endplayed. If Lefty overtakes, Lefty has to give you a club trick. (Lefty cannot have too many winners in the other suits.) If Righty unblocks the queen under your ace, you again can force a trick with the 10 and J of clubs. This play should work -- Righty is likely to play a heart when in with the second round of spades. And, if Righty has a club honor, Righty is endplayed if he leads clubs -- you let it ride around to the 10, forcing an honor from Lefty. Your AJ of clubs now yields your ninth trick. Usually, once you have found a way to make a hand, you stop there. However, this isn't how Kelsey says the hand should be played, and there is something interesting about this hand that deserves exploration. In this hand, if Righty has a club honor, that club holding is also vulnerable. If Righty comes down to a singleton honor, you can drop it and run the clubs; if Righty has to lead clubs, Righty gives up a trick. This puts an extra busy card in Righty's hand and increases the loser count to 4, which you have. So you simply run your 4 diamond tricks.
If Righty has pitched a spade, you can set up your spades by leading them. You have a double stopper in hearts and Righty cannot lead clubs. So Righty has 3 spades. Righty also has to have at least two clubs to the honor. So Righty has been squeezed out of his excess hearts (if indeed he started with four). The situation after two rounds of hearts then is
You can now endplay Righty in either clubs or spades.
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K873
K85
AKQ2
104