I chose hand #8 because it provided a good opportunity to write about one of the most difficult topics in the play of the hand—the "Squeeze Play".
Board #8
West dealer
Neither side vulnerable
| | North
♠ Q J 9 2
♥ Q 4
♦ Q J 4
♣ J 10 6 3
| | West
♠ A 10 5
♥ A 5 2
♦ 9 7 5
♣ A 9 7 5
| | East
♠ 3
♥ K J 10 7 6 3
♦ A 10 8
♣ K Q 8
| | | South
♠ K 8 7 6 4
♥ 9 8
♦ K 6 3 2
♣ 4 2
| |
|
| | | | |
| South | West | North | East |
| 1♣ | P | 1♥ |
| 1♠ | P | 2♠ | 4♥ |
| P | P | P | |
I sat East. Ken's 1♣ bid was a mistake. Since we were playing a weak 1NT, he should have bid 1NT. In any case we were destined to play in 4♥ or 5♥ if the opponents got frisky. One thing would have been different if Ken had opened 1NT: He would have played the hand because I would have made a "Texas Transfer" by bidding 4♦.
It took me only a few seconds to realize that I had two unstoppable diamond losers. When South showed out on the third round of clubs, I smugly claimed eleven tricks. Even at Eno Hall this appeared to be a flat board.
Evidently I was too hasty. The hand record says that we can make six, and Deep Finesse, the program that calculates the makeable contracts, is never wrong. I immediately deduced that there must have been a squeeze in the hand that was not apparent to my ancient eyes. I set out to document for the unwashed masses how to do it.
To execute a squeeze you must have a "threat card" in at least two suits, one in each hand. In this case West's fourth club was an obvious choice as was one of the spade spots. East cannot threaten in hearts. He plans to run out all of the hearts to force the opponents to discard. The only choice for East is a diamond.
It appeared to me that the best hope was to duck a diamond before initiating the squeeze. If I did that, the opponents would probably lead another diamond. Since I would need to take the trick with the ace, I would need to retain one trump as an entry back to the hand. A card is not very threatening if there is no way to play it.
I worked on this for at least an hour without success. Then I took a nap. When I woke up I realized that Deep Finesse had also said that we could make 6NT. If that was so, then the squeeze could not rely on a ruff. That was when I began to look for something else.
It did not take me long to find it. My mistake was leading the ♣K at trick 2. The play that generates the extra trick is to cross over to West and lead the ♣9 from West and to play the eight from dummy if North does not cover. If North covers, you must return to West's hand and play another spot card in clubs. This is called a "double finesse". Both missing cards must be in the hand to the left of the one with the long suit. The hand with the long suit must contain—besides the winners—two cards that are better than all but the two missing cards. The hand with the short suit must have two inevitable winners and a card that is better than all but two of the missing cards. This is a fairly rare occurrence, but the East hand meets all the criteria. That ♣8 does not look menacing, but it would have done the job. West's fourth club will be higher than North's, which allows East to discard a diamond loser.
I am pretty sure that I could have found this if Eno Hall let us stay until midnight. Since Ken plays the cards better than I do, and he should have been playing the hand if he had made the correct opening bid, I told him to adjust the score to reflect twelve tricks for East-West.
The winning play was not necessarily a smart play. If the bidding is discounted, the chance of North holding both the jack and the ten is about 25 percent. The chance of a 3-3 split is 36 percent. So, Ken would have made a dumb play, but it would have worked.