BRIDGE
Repeating squeeze
|
Connect with friends and sharpen your grey cells with this fortnightly column. L. SUBRAMANIAN
|
The game of bridge abounds in squeezes of different types. The most frequently occurring squeeze is undoubtedly the two-suit simple positional squeeze. The three-suit repeating squeeze occurs once in a proverbial blue moon. I came across this rare squeeze in an eight-deal Chicago recently.
Opening lead: club jack
Analysis: It is a well accepted fact that 33-34 hcp are required for making 6NT when both the hands are balanced. So, NS is at least a king short for their bid. South should have passed North’s rebid of 3NT. South’s 4NT is a senseless overbid. This should normally suggest 10 hcp, requesting opener to bid 6NT if he has a good five-card suit or 23 hcp.
Play so far: East wins the first trick with the king when you play low from dummy, and plays back a club to dummy’s ace. Plan the play.
Play continues: You test the spades next and find east has spade J-10-6-2. You are more or less reduced now to playing west for K-x in diamonds. Accordingly, when you lead a diamond from your hand, west follows with the king!
The hand looks a lot stickier now than you expected. However, you feel that there is hope if east has the heart Q. You win the trick with the diamond A, cash heart A-K (Vienna Coup) next, enter hand by diamond J, and cash club Q. When you discard heart 3 from dummy on the club queen, you find RHO squirming in discomfort, for the end position is:
East is squeezed in three suits! Let us say he discards the heart Q, playing for heart J in West’s hand. You cash heart J next, discarding a diamond from dummy. East is squeezed in two suits now and you make the contract. This is known as a repeating squeeze. You started with ten tricks and the repeater gave you two more!
Discussion: The repeating squeeze used to be wrongly called a ‘Progressive Squeeze’. Clyde Love, a professor of mathematics who did an extensive study on squeezes, gave it the correct name: the ‘Repeating Squeeze’.
E-mail: ls4bridge@gmail.com
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Magazine
