A Simple Squeeze
A Q 4
10 9 8 2
10 9 8 3 2
3
J 3 2
A 7
A K Q 5 4
7 6 2
| West |
North |
East |
South |
| 1 ♣ |
Pass |
Pass |
1 ♦ |
| 3 ♣ |
3 ♦ |
All Pass |
|
West led the
♥ K, ducked around. I won the
♥ J
continuation, and exited a club. East won and played a heart, which I ruffed,
West following. I ruffed a club high, back with a trump, West pitching a
club. I ruffed another club, and again back with a trump.
I took the spade finesse, and came back with a third round of trumps,
ending up in this position:
West pitched his clubs on the diamonds, but on the last diamond,
West was squeezed in the majors.
A-Q-x opposite
J-x-x always screams
out to me.
In
another hand
in this collection, I give an example where West is stripped and
endplayed into giving up a third trick to this holding.
Perhaps this holding makes it easier for me to see the squeeze or
endplay possibilities. I am already aware that I want the king of
the suit to be onside. I visualize West with the king,
and a key step in a squeeze or endplay is visualization.
The above squeeze works just as well if I have J-x-x
in hand and A-K-x in
dummy, but I might be less inclined to find it because I'm not asking
myself, "what if West has the queen of spades?"