halle1@houxz.UUCP (J.HALLE) (01/09/85)
Here's a Christmas/Hanukkah present for you. Try to make this hand. It actually occurred recently. And Happy Holidays Everyone. S Q H AJ754 BIDDING D AK85 C T64 North South S AK983 1 H 4 NT H KQ86 5 H 7 NT (match points) D 9 C AK8 Opening Lead: Diamond Queen What is your best line of play? ******************************************************************* You have 12 easy tricks, so a squeeze is probably your best bet for the 13th. West has diamonds stopped. If he also has spades, you cannot untangle your entries for a simple squeeze. If east has the spades, a double squeeze would work, regardless of where the clubs are. If west has the club honors, he will be squeezed in the minors. (If he has spades also, he will really be hurting.) With all these possibilities, what is best? Start by leading the club ten. East is practically guaranteed to cover if he has an honor. If he does not cover, go up. Your chances are still intact. You lose only if west has the spades and east was good enough not to cover with QJ. Assuming east covers, maybe you transferred the club threat, allowing the squeeze to procede as planned. Note that the club ten is an illusion. Since you must at some point throw a club from dummy, it cannot act as a threat (unless you play specifically for a black suit squeeze against east, but then the double squeeze works as well). So for the rest of this discussion consider the club 9 to be an honor. Cash the spades and hearts. (The spades are cashed to remove any late ambiguity. Cashing them is not necessary for the squeeze to work.) Throw a diamond and club from dummy. On the last heart, throw a spade. The ending is: North:D K8, C 6; South: S 9, C K8. West is stuck. He needs to keep two diamonds, a spade if he has one, and two clubs if he has an honor. If west throws a small club, assume the double squeeze worked. Cash the diamond, squeezing east out of the small club, setting up the club 8. But there is yet one other possibility. Suppose west has the spades. He can throw a small club with impunity. But if his club is the NINE, he is subject to a guard squeeze. The 9 prevents a club finesse. West must keep 2 diamonds, one spade, and the club, one card too many. When he throws the club, cash the diamond, finesse the club, take a bow. The opposing hands: WEST EAST S JT74 S 652 H 92 H T3 D QJT73 D 642 C 95 C QJ732 The guard squeeze is the only possibility. (It is possible that there will be a guess at the end, but only the world's best defenders will be able to discard without giving a clue.) I'd like to report that I actually played it this way, but really I was sane enough to bid 7H instead of 7NT. Partner (Rob Buchner, ihuxe!rainbow) easily made it by ruffing a diamond. I did point out the guard squeeze possibility, though, which we later verified. 7H=7.5, or 10 bid it, two didn't. 7NT would have been 12. Now, should it be bid? At IMPS, obviously, no. At match points, you risk losing 7.5 to gain 4.5. Is it a 5:3 shot, or a 62.5% slam? It's close. A correct answer was recieved from Peter Montgomery (sdcrdcf!pmontgom) Several others saw the double squeeze but missed the guard squeeze.