First, let me make the disclaimer: I am not a bridge expert.

This is a collection of hands I found interesting or entertaining. Some of them are elementary, some of them are quite complicated. There is only one artificial hand in this collection. All of the rest are "real hands" in the sense that they were shuffled (perhaps by a computer) and played in some event somewhere.

There are two themes which run through most of these examples. They are:

1. Squeezes for overtricks. At matchpoints, people often take finesses which risk their contracts in order to make overtricks. Often, squeezes are available at no risk.
2. Defenders giving up information, either in the bidding or in mannerisms. On many of these hands, unusual lines are taken because an opponent has told declarer enough about his hand. In one of the cases, the proper line was found simply because a defender considered doubling.

I didn't choose these themes deliberately, they are just the themes that interest me which crop up consistently.

You might guess, from my attitude about people who bid too much, that I'm a curmudgeon just irritated with young folks who interfere a lot in the auction. In fact, I am someone who interferes a lot in auctions, and believes in aggressive preempts. My complaint is with people who fail to conceive of the results of their action. They fail to ask themselves "why am I overcalling?", "why am I raising?" And when their actions fail, they often fails in subtle ways - the opponents buy the contract and take all the right finesses, execute a tricky squeeze, or are warned away from a NT contract because of the lack of stoppers.

When we pass, and it works out, we rarely think of the "pass" as being the winning action. We look at the traveler at the end of the match and think, "How did people make 4 ♠? It looked like it had no play." It had play at other tables because the other tables got more information.

And I haven't even started to cover the positive effect passing has on your other auctions. Playing Roth-Stone with a friend on OKbridge, we get quite a few good results simply by doubling the opponents in partscores, after we have made an overcall.

I have finished converting these articles to conform with Richard Pavlicek's Bridge Writing Style Guide. I'm using a combination of XML/XSL/CSS to generate the (static) HTML files. If you are interested in how it is done, you can read my XML Test Pages, which have sample inputs adjacent to generated outputs. XML lets you write articles without worrying about the formatting, which is done later. This allows the formatting to be more uniform.

There might be some glitches I missed during the change. If you see any flaws, either in layout, grammar, or analysis, please feel free to point them out. Also, let me know if this is unreadable on some browser - I'm guessing it won't work with browsers older than IE 5.0 or Netscape 6.0, but I could be wrong.

Send comments to thomaso@best.com.

I do not agree with my partner's 2 ♥ call - he should probably only raise on a bad three-card fit when there is no other decent bid, and certainly 1 ♠ is crying out as another option. My 4 ♥ call was probably as questionable.

My LHO made the least comfortable lead - the ♦ 10.

So, it looks like I've got a diamond loser and three heart losers - was there any way around that?

If the opponents never led diamonds, I'd have been able to eventually pitch my diamond loser on a spade (of course, if they drew trumps, I'd be stuck with a club loser...)

But I did find one line which gave me a shot. If spades split 3-3 and either player has three hearts to a single honor, I can make by running spades. On the fourth spade, the situation might look like:

			♠ J ♥ 9 6 4 ♦ J 6 4 ♣ 7 4
♠ — ♥ A Q ♦ Q x x ♣ Q J x x						♠ — ♥ K x x ♦ K x ♣ 10 x x x
			♠ — ♥ J 10 8 5 3 ♦ 7 ♣ A K 8

Whatever East does, I pitch the diamond. If East ruffs, they get at most three trump tricks, and if West ruffs with a high trump, again they only get three trump tricks.

As it was, my line not only failed, but cost me a trick when West ruffed the third round of spades. My partner, who had left the virtual table to do some household chore, came back and asked 'how did you go down two?'

Dan Piro notices you can play a little deception on East if he holds two spades and any three hearts by varying the order in which you play your spades. Start with a low spade to the queen, then play the ace and a low spade back to your (now bare) king. If East started with two spades he might play you for starting with two small spades and decide to not ruff. Then you ruff a club in dummy and lead a spade to pitch your diamond.

West led the ♥ J against this contract, and declarer won the ♥ Q. Declarer cashed the ♣ A-K, and East's ♣ Q fell, so declarer finished pulling trumps with the ♣ J. That was fortunate.

It looks like declarer must lose a heart, three spades, and likely two diamonds. Declarer, however, found another way. He cashed the ♥ A and exited a heart. The opponents could take their major tricks, arriving at this position:

With the defenders on lead, it is difficult to keep declarer from scoring three of the last four tricks. If they lead diamonds, declarer can assure himself only one diamond loser, and if they lead a major, declarer can pitch a diamond from one hand while ruffing the other in dummy.

The defense can avoid this only if East has both diamond honors and West leads diamonds twice before he is out of entries in the majors.

This is a perfect example of how to play "mirror distributions." Since the shapes of the North and South hands are exactly the same, declarer has no way to score his last two trumps seperately. The answer in this sort of hand is to engineer a throw-in.

Our declarer today is Matt Ginsberg's "GIB" program. GIB has some strange ideas about bidding, including a tendency to open 1 NT rather often. [ This was as of 1997 - GIB's bidding has improved since.]

West led the ♣ Q, and GIB could do no better or worse than the average human, winning in hand.

Short of entries, GIB exited its hand with the ♦ 10, which West won with the queen. East signaled, mysteriously, with the ♦ 8. East's signal was going to prove costly under the eagle eye of GIB.

West continued the ♣ J, which GIB won in dummy, pitching a small heart from hand. GIB then took the spade finesse, which won, and exited with the ♦ K, pitching a spade from dummy.

East won and led the ♥ J, GIB covered and West won the ♥ A. West exited with the ♠ 9, on which East contributed his king, and GIB won the ace. GIB was at this position:

			♠ — ♥ 10 9 5 ♦ — ♣ 9 7 5
♠ — ♥ Q 7 3 ♦ — ♣ Q 3 2						♠ 10 5 ♥ 6 ♦ J 4 2 ♣ —
			♠ J 2 ♥ 8 ♦ 10 6 3 ♣ —

GIB led the ♥ 8, and West very smoothly ducked. If West had won the heart, he'd have to conceded four of the remaining tricks to dummy.

GIB then played ♦ 10, which East won.

East exited a spade, and GIB won the jack. When West failed to follow, GIB "knew" exactly what East's remaining cards were, found the endplay for the overtrick, throwing in East in with the last spade.

East was forced to lead from his ♦ 4-2 into GIB's ♦ 6-3, giving GIB an overtrick.

If East had ducked the ♦ 10, GIB was still going to make its overtrick, by immediately playing the ♠ J-2, forcing East to lead from ♦ J-4 into ♦ 6-3.

West heeded his partner's overcall, and led his stiff club.

Reading the writing on the wall, declarer flew up with the ace, led a low diamond to the jack, crossed to the ♥ A and ruffed a heart. Declarer then cashed another diamond, glad for the good break, crossed to the ♠ A, and ruffed another heart, felling East's king, at this position:

			♠ 10 4 ♥ Q 5 ♦ — ♣ Q 4
♠ K J 9 7 6 ♥ 10 ♦ — ♣ —						♠ — ♥ — ♦ — ♣ K 10 9 8 5 3
			♠ 8 5 ♥ — ♦ 10 9 7 ♣ J

With the lead in hand, declarer lead the ♣ J. Upon winning this trick, East would have to give entry to dummy's two queens, allowing declarer to pitch his spades.

But our East was cleverer - she simply let declarer win the ♣ J. A simple play, but one which entirely destroyed declarer. By giving up the only trick in her hand, she also kept declarer from reaching dummy, and West scored two spade tricks.

I am not sure I follow this auction to 6 NT, but it is obviously a less-than-perfect contract.

It would appear the only chance for a twelfth trick is if one defender has the ♠ J-10-9, allowing declarer to set up the ♠ 8.

Brian Storey (CDundee on okbridge) found a solution which took into account that the defense was not looking at his hand. He knew he had two heart losers, but the defense did not.

Brian got a neutral club lead, which he won in hand and imediately led a heart to the queen. West played low and East won the king. East chose to exit a low diamond, and declarer was able to make his slam. West had started with: ♠ 10-9-6-3 ♥ A-7-2 ♦ 7-2 ♣ 10-6-4-2. On the run of Brian's winners, West was squeezed in spades and hearts. The end position was:

			♠ A Q 8 2 ♥ 9 ♦ — ♣ —
♠ 10 9 6 3 ♥ A ♦ — ♣ —						♠ J 7 4 ♥ 8 ♦ — ♣ 9
			♠ K 5 ♥ J 10 ♦ 5 ♣ —

On the last diamond, West had to keep the ♥ A, so he must pitch a spade, and Brian gets four spades.

In this case, the rather clumsy auction probably helped declarer - West can avoid the squeeze by flying the ace and exiting in any suit, but West was probably nervous that declarer might be leading low from K-x - playing the ace might give declarer a running heart suit.

From Brian's point of view, it was likely that the heart honors were split. West would certainly double and lead the suit if he held them both, and, since dummy's first bid suit was hearts, East could have doubled to request a heart lead. So the only real danger for Brian is that one of the opponents wins the heart and leads another heart. That's a difficult play to find in this instance.

This is not a great slam, depending on me guessing the ♣ Q. I sought to find out all I could before making that guess.

I cashed the ♦ A, cashed three rounds of trumps, East showing up with two. I then ran three hearts, East showing up with two.

Figuring many Easts would find a call over 1 ♣ holding seven diamonds, I figured West started with four or more diamonds, along with his three spades and four hearts. Therefore, he probably had two or fewer clubs. That meant that the odds favored East holding the ♣ Q.

For once the odds were right for me:

			♠ K J 9 3 ♥ A K 10 9 ♦ A ♣ K J 10 4
♠ 10 6 2 ♥ J 8 3 2 ♦ K 6 5 3 ♣ 9 6						♠ 8 5 ♥ 7 4 ♦ Q J 9 7 4 2 ♣ Q 7 3
			♠ A Q 7 4 ♥ Q 6 5 ♦ 10 8 ♣ A 8 5 2

Making was worth 11 Imps, down one would have been -12.7 Imps.

West led the ♦ 2, East won the ace and continued with the ♦ 9. Declarer played the jack, West won the queen, and inexplicably shifted to a club. Perhaps West thought that partner had started with ♦ A-9-3.

Declarer lost the club finesses, and East continued with another diamond, which declarer won. (Declarer pitched two hearts from dummy on the diamonds.)

Declarer played the ♠ K and ♠ A, and found out about the bad spade split. If spades had split remotely kindly, 3 NT would have been in the bag, with five spade tricks, three clubs, and a diamond.

Our declarer was still able to make his contract. Running the clubs, declarer came down to the following position:

			♠ Q J 8 ♥ K ♦ — ♣ J
♠ 10 6 5 ♥ A ♦ 10 ♣ —						♠ — ♥ 9 7 ♦ 8 ♣ 7 6
			♠ — ♥ Q 8 5 3 2 ♦ — ♣ —

West can safely pitch a heart and a diamond of the first two clubs, but now is stuck. Obviously, he must keep the ♥ A, and just as obviously, he must keep three spades. Therefore the only card to part with is the ♦ 10. Now declarer exits with the ♥ K, and West is forced to win and lead away from the ♠ 10.

West's club switch was awful, and declarer was able to use it to his advantage. Remember, never give a sucker an even break.

Partner led the ♥ K, and I contributed the ten, declarer the queen.

Partner then switched to the ♦ J, and we took three diamond tricks, declarer following.

On lead at trick five, I shifted to a trump. Declarer ducked, and my partner won the jack. Partner exited with the ♣ 10, and declarer covered in dummy.

What to do? I know declarer started with one heart, unless that was a crafty falsecard. Declarer also started with three diamonds and five or six spades. Therefore, declarer has at least three clubs. Partner, thus, has at most two clubs, and would not have lead the ten from the ace and ten. Declarer has the ace.

So it might be right to duck this trick. Why? Consider this position:

			♠ — ♥ J 4 3 ♦ 9 ♣ Q J 4 3
♠ K Q 5 ♥ A 7 5 ♦ — ♣ 10 3						♠ 7 ♥ 9 8 6 ♦ — ♣ K 9 8 6
			♠ A 10 9 6 3 ♥ — ♦ — ♣ A 7 5

The crucial card is the ♦ 9 in dummy. If I cover this club trick, declarer wins the ace, cashes the ♠ A (pulling my last trump), then crosses to the ♣ J. When declarer leads the ♦ 9 off dummy, she pitches her last club. Partner will ruff, but with one of his high trumps. Declarer gets off for down two.

At the table, I ducked this club trick. This play neutralized the ♦ 9 - declarer is forced to take her entry before my last trump has been drawn. If she leads the ♦ 9 off dummy, I can still ruff, and declarer is just exchanging one loser for another if she pitches a club.

Down three (-500) was worth 4.75 IMPs, while down two (-300) was worth close to zero IMPs, since we could make four hearts our way.

West led the ♦ K, and continued with the ♦ Q. West then shifted to a low spade; East won, and shifted to a heart.

This defense was less than optimal, and declarer, Robin Pleau (robyn on OKbridge), used it to find a surprising overtrick. She won the trump shift and ran her trumps, leading to this four-card end-position on the last trump:

			♠ — ♥ — ♦ — ♣ A J 9 7
♠ — ♥ — ♦ 7 ♣ 10 4 3						♠ A ♥ — ♦ A ♣ K 8
			♠ Q ♥ 2 ♦ J ♣ Q

On the last trump, East thought a long time, then pitched the ♦ A, perhaps praying that his partner was holding the ♦ J.

Robin cashed the now established ♦ J, and again East was squeezed, forced to ungaurd yet another suit.

Of course, East's best pitch at the four-card end-position would have been a club. Robin would get two clubs here, but would have to concede a trick at the end to West's ♣ 10.

But in the above diagram, I've had West pitch perfectly. In reality, West did not value his club cards, and pitched two of them on the hearts.

It was worth 71% to go plus on this board. The overtrick gave Robin a clear top.

West leads the ♣ 6 against three notrump. How can we make this contract?

We clearly can't attack spades, because the opponents will likely take two spades and three clubs before we can set up tricks.

That means we will have to rely on the heart finesse. We can get a club trick, four diamond tricks (assuming that suit behaves), and four heart tricks.

The only problem with this plan is that we can only take the heart finesse once. That works okay if East has only three hearts to the queen, but West's ♣ 6 is probably from a five-card suit.

When this was played out at an OKbridge tournament, many declarers ducked the club. A few made the inspired play of the ♣ K. Those who did were rewarded with this full deal:

			♠ Q J 8 6 4 ♥ 6 3 ♦ Q 6 5 2 ♣ K 4
♠ 9 5 3 ♥ 9 7 2 ♦ J ♣ A Q 7 6 5 3						♠ A K 2 ♥ Q 8 5 4 ♦ 8 7 4 3 ♣ 10 8
			♠ 10 7 ♥ A K J 10 ♦ A K 10 9 ♣ J 9 2

There is certainly a danger in playing the ♣ K to the first trick - you could go down a lot that way. Still, I think that is the better plan.

North and South bid up to 6 ♠ on this hand.

This slam looks pretty easy, if thing break nicely. Whenever that's the case, it is worth looking for safety plays.

West led the ♦ Q, which declarer, Guss Ginsburg, won in hand. His intention was to draw trumps in three rounds, cash the rest of the red suit winners, and exit with the third round of diamonds. Whichever opponent won would have to break the club suit or concede a ruff and discard to Guss.

Unfortunately, East pitched a heart on the second spade. The plan was going to have to change. Guss played out the rest of his trumps, and East continued to pitch hearts. Guss then ducked a diamond. West won and exited a heart, won in dummy. Guss then cashed the rest of his diamonds and hearts. On the ♦ K, East pitched a heart.

So, Guss can count out West's hand somewhat. West started with five diamonds, four spades and at least two hearts. Therefore, West started with at most two clubs. Guss played off the ♣ K-Q, and when West showed out, Guss claimed, taking the marked finesse.

The diamond duck is a fairly basic play, but not many people found it at the table. Even without it, most who played this hand guessed East for the club length.

West led the ♣ Q, and East played the ♣ J, declarer ducking.

West then shifted to the ♥ J. This was covered in dummy by the ♥ Q, East played the ♥ K and declarer won the ♥ A.

Declarer (geno on OKbridge) now appeared to have nine tricks; three spades, four or five diamonds, and two hearts. But if East got in before the tricks could be run, he would be able to lead a club through declarer's king.

Declarer therefore took a basic safety play, playing a diamond to the ace. He was rewarded when East dropped the ♦ K. Had declarer taken the finesse, he would have been down 3, and if West had the king, when he won it, he couldn't safely attack clubs.

The full deal was:

			♠ K 4 ♥ Q 10 6 4 ♦ A Q 8 7 4 ♣ 4 3
♠ 10 7 2 ♥ J ♦ 6 5 3 ♣ A Q 10 9 6 2						♠ J 6 5 3 ♥ K 9 8 7 3 2 ♦ K ♣ J 5
			♠ A Q 9 8 ♥ A 5 ♦ J 10 9 2 ♣ K 8 7

West might set this contract by initially leading a low club to East's jack. Declarer would have to win. Then it is no longer "safe" for declarer to take the ♦ A first. Still, would West have passed South's 1 ♦ opening bid with a good club suit and the ♦ K at favorable vulnerability? An argument can be made to play for the drop still, depending on West's overcalling style.

North was a little light for his 2 NT rebid, which usually shows at least 17-18. Still, I sympathize somewhat. He does not have enough to reverse to 2 ♠, and a 2 ♥ bid sounds weak. 2 ♣ and 2 ♦ are unpleasant options.

West led the ♣ K, East overtook with the ace and continued with the ♣ J. This held, and East shifted to a low spade. West won the ace and continued the spade.

The contract is in the bag, and you don't want to waste too much time hunting for an overtrick at imps. If hearts are 3-3, you have an overtrick, but what if hearts are 4-2? If West holds the length with his presumed ♣ Q, you can squeeze him.

So you win the spade, and run two more spades, pitching a club, then you run three diamond tricks, pitching a heart, to this end position:

			♠ — ♥ A K Q 8 ♦ — ♣ —
			♠ — ♥ 10 2 ♦ — ♣ 10 7

West can no longer hold four hearts and the ♣ Q.

While this squeeze is inconsequential - the overtrick amounts to only half an imp here - it is such a basic squeeze that it should be found. This is like failing to take a risk-free finesse for an overtrick, and it requires only slight timing considerations - namely, taking the spades before the diamonds, so that you end up in your hand at the four-card end position above.

Here is the complete deal:

			♠ Q 9 8 2 ♥ A K Q 8 4 ♦ K Q ♣ 6 2
♠ A 6 ♥ J 9 7 6 ♦ 9 6 4 ♣ K Q 9 8						♠ 7 5 4 3 ♥ 5 3 ♦ 8 7 5 3 2 ♣ A J
			♠ K J 10 ♥ 10 2 ♦ A J 10 ♣ 10 7 5 4 3

Those Wests who found a low club lead set this contract - East wins the first two clubs, then shifts to a spade, and West cashes out, for down 1.

West found an unfortunate spade lead, which had disasterous matchpoint consequences. Moxie, my partner, won in hand and played the ♦ A and, noting East's ♦ J, ducked a diamond, West winning. West made another fateful mistake, playing off two top hearts. He then exited with the ♣ Q, won in dummy.

Moxie crossed to hand with the ♥ Q, and lead another diamond, West playing his king. West exited the ♣ J, won by declarer. The damage was already done.

Moxie scored three spades, one heart, two diamonds, and two clubs, for eight tricks.

How much did that one trick gain? Here are the results from the board:

(1)         3H        N       -3   -300             0.0%
(2)         3H        N       -2   -200             3.5%
(3)         2D        S       -1   -100             8.9%
(4)         3NT       N       -1   -100             8.9%
(5-6)       1NT       W       +1    -90            14.3%
(7-11)      2D        N       +2    +90            26.8%
(12-14)     1NT       W       -1   +100            46.4%
(15-16)     2S        W       -1   +100            46.4%
(17-21)     2D        N       +3   +110            67.8%
(22)        2H        N       +2   +110            67.8%
(23)        3D        N       +3   +110            67.8%
(24)        1NT       S       +2   +120            82.1%
(25)        1NT-X     W       -1   +200            92.9%
(26-27)     2S        W       -2   +200            92.9%
(28)        2S-X      W       -1   +200            92.9%
(29)        2NT       W       -2   +200            92.9%

That one trick moved us from +90, or 27%, to +120, or 82%.

West led the ♣ Q, East encouraged with the ♣ 10, and declarer, Hao on OKbridge, ducked. West continued a low club to East's king, again ducked, and East continued a club to the ace.

If diamonds split, Hao had ten top tricks and is looking for an eleventh, which can only possibly come from hearts or spades.

Hao took the ♠ A and ♠ Q, crossed to hand with the ♦ A, cashed the ♠ K, pitching a heart, and ran the diamonds. East, who started with four spades and the ♥ K, was squeezed on the last diamond:

			♠ — ♥ Q 7 ♦ 2 ♣ —
						♠ 10 ♥ K J ♦ — ♣ —
			♠ 9 ♥ A 8 ♦ — ♣ —

If East pitches a spade, declarer pitches the ♥ 8 and has two winners left in his hand. If East pitches the heart, declarer pitches his spade, and has two heart tricks.

As a sign that OKbridge play might be improving, making four was worth only 7%, while making five was worth 64%. Either a lot of people found the squeeze, or a lot of Easts pitched a spade early.

West led the ♥ A-K, then continued with a small heart, which I ruffed low in dummy. East followed to all three rounds, showing up with ♥ Q-J-3. It looks like East might find a heart lead after a more normal 1 NT - 3 NT auction, so we've found a good spot.

I started drawing trumps, playing the ace and the king, and West showed out on the second round. As usual, my opponents are playing above their level against me - if my left-hand opponent had not forced me to ruff in dummy, I could have taken care against the 4-1 trump split.

Well, there was nothing left to do but hope my RHO had at least three clubs and two spades. I played out my club winners from hand, both following to all three rounds, leading to this position:

			♠ A K J 3 ♥ — ♦ — ♣ A
						♠ x x x ♥ — ♦ J x ♣ —
			♠ 4 2 ♥ — ♦ Q 10 7 ♣ —

I crossed to the ♠ A and ruffed the ♣ A, East pitching a spade. Then I crossed to the ♠ K, and with the lead in dummy at this trick:

			♠ J 3 ♥ — ♦ — ♣ —
						♠ — ♥ — ♦ J x ♣ —
			♠ — ♥ — ♦ Q 10 ♣ —

I got the last two tricks.

Notice I could have overtaken the third club and ruffed a small club in my hand, but then if East had four clubs, this would technically be a simple trump coup, while ruffing the ace makes it a "Grand Coup." Indeed, you can't get any grander than ruffing your own ace.

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:

			♠ A 4 ♥ 10 ♦ — ♣ —
♠ K x ♥ Q ♦ — ♣ —
			♠ J 3 ♥ — ♦ 5 ♣ —

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?"

West led a trump, and declarer won in hand and pulled the rest of the trumps. Declarer then led the ♦ J, ducked all around. When declarer led the ♦ 4 from hand, it was necessary for West to fly the queen, to block the suit, preventing South from from gaining entry to dummy to lead hearts.

If South had continued with the ♦ 10, West would have to duck, again to deny South a diamond entry.

In other words, the only way to keep South from gaining an entry to dummy on this hand is to duck if South leads the ♦ J or ♦ 10, and fly the queen if South leads the ♦ 4.

I won the opening spade lead in my hand. It doesn't take a genius to realize that all I really needed to do was take the club finesse, and, whether it won or lost, score two clubs, two spades, two hearts, and, assuming diamonds broke, four diamonds.

Perhaps it was the potential missed 6 ♦ slam which hindered my thinking. Perhaps I was trying to make 6 NT. Whatever the reason, on the second trick, I ducked a heart to East. East returned a low spade, and West won and continued spades, which I won, having pitched a heart and a club from dummy.

Disheartened, I played the top diamonds with West showing out on the third round. Well, at least they split. If hearts split also, I'd still make this contract, even after my initial misplay. When I played off the top hearts, I got bad news. West showed out on the third round.

Somewhere, out of the fog that was my brain, I started counting. East started with four hearts, five spades (presumably, from the bidding), and three diamonds, and thus only one club. Aha! I played the ♣ A , planning to play the queen to West's king. Instead, I dropped East's stiff king, which allowed me to make an overtrick.

Phew.

West led a low heart, ruffed in dummy. What is the best line for declarer?

Declarer's goal is to go down as little as possible. If clubs split 3-2, declarer loses a spade and two clubs. What if they split 4-1? Declarer has a chance to endplay whoever holds the stiff, if that stiff is not the six.

Declarer should immediately lose a spade to West. If West finds the club continuation, all is lost, but he is unlikely to find it ; if he holds something like ♣ K-Q-J-6 or ♣ Q-J-10-6, he'd have to find the lead of the ♣ 6 to still get three tricks in the suit, and if he holds the stiff, he will be hard-pressed to lead into your presumed club strength.

So, assume that West exits a heart. Ruff in dummy, ruff a spade high, lead a diamond to the ten, ruff another spade high, a diamond to the jack and ruff another spade high. Now lead a low club from hand at this position:

			♠ — ♥ — ♦ 5 ♣ 9 8 7 4
			♠ — ♥ — ♦ 9 ♣ A 5 3 2

If one of the defenders holds a stiff club other than the 6, he will be endplayed, forced to concede a ruff-and-sluff. And if his partner overtakes the club, declarer can duck a club continuation and, if clubs were 4-1, the defender on lead again has to yield either a ruff-and-discard or lead a club from, say, ♣ K-6, while declarer still has ♣ A-5 opposite ♣ 9-8.

This line, protecting against most 4-1 breaks, allows declarer to be down only 3, for -500. This is still not likely to be a great results, as many pairs will not likely find the heart slam (diamonds are 0-2, with West holding the ♠ A, so the slam makes.) Still -500 would have been worth about 6 IMPs more than -800, against the +480 at the other table.

West leads the ♣ J. Now, how are you going to make this contract?

It looks like you have three heart losers, a club loser and at least one spade loser.

Larry Weil (larry), of Cambridge MA, guessed spades right, and found a nice endplay to make his contract.

He won the club lead in dummy, and played the ♠ 8 from dummy, ducked all around. Another spade was led, to East's queen and Larry's ace, West following small.

Larry then cashed the ♦ A before throwing East in with the third round of trumps. East, stuck with the lead and no hearts to his name, had no satisfying exit.

If he led a low diamond, Larry would pitch a small heart from his hand, and, if West won, West would be endplayed (assuming West's ♣ J was a singleton.)

If he led the ♦ K, Larry would again pitch a heart, and East would have to give up a trick in whichever minor he led next.

In practice, East led a low club, which Larry allowed to ride to the ten in dummy, giving him his ninth trick.

Notice that West's bidding and lead allowed Larry to make the inferences necessary to bring this contract home. Without the bidding, the auction might likely go 1♠-1NT-3♠-Pass, and Larry would have had no guide on how to play the hand.

Also, notice East made a fatal error by not splitting his honors in trumps. In this case, he needed to split his honors simply to preserve his small trump as an exit card.

Richard Pavlicek has noted, via email, that declarer can still make with an endplay if East splits his honors. Declarer plays the ace, and exits with the trump jack. East wins and exits with a trump.

Declarer cashes his ♦ A and runs all of the spades leading to this position on the last spade:

			♠ — ♥ 6 5 ♦ Q 8 ♣ 10 7
♠ — ♥ A Q 10 9 ♦ x x ♣ —						♠ — ♥ — ♦ K x ♣ Q 9 x x
			♠ 2 ♥ K J 2 ♦ — ♣ K 5

If East pitches a club, declarer plays the ♣ K and another club, and East must give up a diamond at the end.

If East pitches a diamond, declarer plays the ♥ K to West, who is then endplayed into leading diamonds, which forces East to lead clubs - a stepping-stone endplay!

Our auction was less than successful, and West started ominously, leading a club to East's ace. After taking the ♣ Q-J (with me pitching spades from dummy), a wonderful thing occurred - East shifted to the ♠ Q. Apparently, the clubs were blocked. Hallelujah! Now I could even make 10 tricks. Sure, I could have taken the nearly marked heart finesse, but on okbridge, you never know whether East has the full strength for his takeout double. It was matchpoints, so I considered risking it anyway, in an attempt to beat those in five diamonds making six.

But instead, I decided to play for a showup squeeze, playing for East to have four or more spades.

I played the ♠ A-K, and ran the diamonds. The end position, with one diamond to go, was:

			♠ — ♥ 8 7 ♦ 2 ♣ —
♠ — ♥ ? ? ♦ — ♣ 10						♠ Q ♥ ? ? ♦ — ♣ —
			♠ 6 ♥ A Q ♦ — ♣ —

On the last diamond, East must either give up a heart, or his high spade. If he gives up a heart, I pitch my spade and play a low heart to the ace. If East pitches a spade, my spade is good. If East had started with ♠ Q-J-x-x ♥ J-x-x-x-x ♦ x ♣ A-Q-J, then my line would drop West's stiff ♥ K, which would make me look like a genius.

Often, the showup squeeze at matchpoints is a big win - it gives you a chance for an overtrick without the risk of taking a losing finesse and going down. And occasionally you drop an honor offside.

In reality, the East/West hands were:

♠ 10 3 ♥ 9 5 ♦ 9 8 5 ♣ 10 7 6 4 3 2						♠ Q J 9 2 ♥ K J 6 4 ♦ 10 4 ♣ A Q J

and when East didn't pitch the high spade, my heart felled his K. On this hand, I might as well have finessed, but next time...

North led a spade to South's jack and West's ace. Declarer led a club to dummy's king, and then led a diamond to the jack and north's queen. North continued trumps, South winning. South shifted to a club, won by West's ace. West then lead a heart to dummy's queen, and a diamond back to the ace to this position and then cashes the club queen, pitching a heart from dummy. Declarer then led the club ten at this position:

North followed, dummy ruffed, and South pitched a heart. North is know to have the ace of hearts and the last trump (or south would have overruffed.) So when declarer calls for the heart off dummy, and south plays the ten, declarer can play low, sticking north in this position:

If South is allowed to win the heart, declarer scores the last three tricks on a cross-ruff. If north overtakes and leads a trump, declarer scores two trumps and a heart.

I was left to play 4 ♥ as South. While 3 NT looks to be the room contract, 4 ♥ is all but solid and could gain against bad breaks.

The ♦ 6 lead looked to be singleton. I won the jack with the ace, cashed the ♥ Q, crossed to ♥ K and played the ♥ A. All followed. This is not good; playing in hearts I could deal with 1-3 diamonds and 5-1 hearts [by using diamonds as trump substitutes] to beat the pairs in 3 NT.

When I led the ♦ 10, east covered with the queen, I won the king, and west followed.

This is disastrous, all the pairs in 3 NT - no doubt the popular contract - will score 12 tricks by default.

I must confess that at this point I consoled myself with the thought that at least we beat those in 5 ♦, cleared a club trick and claimed 12. It was later in the bar when we almost glossed over the hand as a bidding view that the answer jumped off the page.

At the point where both red suits are known to split you have:

			♠ A K J 2 ♥ — ♦ 8 5 ♣ Q 6
			♠ 7 6 ♥ J ♦ 9 7 3 ♣ K 10

Eleven tricks on top and a high club to force the twelfth, but this will lose to all the pairs in 3NT. What can be done? Take the Spade finesse!

This is a true non-material finesse. Twelve tricks were available before the play and only twelve are available after. The difference is that now the tricks can be cashed without giving up the lead. After the finesse, run the diamonds then the last heart:

			♠ A K 2 ♥ — ♦ — ♣ Q
			♠ 7 ♥ J ♦ — ♣ K 10

This results in an automatic squeeze against either defender holding ♣ A and long spades.

Should the play be found? Yes. The field contract rates to be 3 NT which makes 12 tricks on any lead for 490. If the finesse works and the squeeze is on you score 510, if the finesse works and the squeeze fails your partner will look quizzical but you still come to 12 tricks and if the finesse fails you lose a point to all those in 4H and two points to all those in 3NT making 11 tricks. These rate to be minority groups.

The (IMP pairs) scores on the day:

 
	 4H+1    608
	 4H+2    835
	3NT+3   1318
	 4H+3   1715
	  TOP   3018

It would be hard not to double with East's hand, given that partner has made a vulnerable preempt and East has what looks like three tricks in hand.

West led the ♦ K, and declarer, Jeff Miller (OldProf on OKbridge,) won the ace in dummy and led the ♥ 7, ducked all around. The ♥ 9 was then lead, again ducked all around, West pitching a diamond.

Jeff then led a high club off dummy, and East won. East then led a diamond, and ruffed a diamond, leading to:

			♠ Q J 10 8 ♥ — ♦ — ♣ Q J 9
♠ 7 5 2 ♥ — ♦ 9 7 ♣ 8 6						♠ 9 4 3 ♥ K J ♦ — ♣ 10 5
			♠ A K 6 ♥ A Q 8 ♦ — ♣ 7

East exited a spade, and declarer won in hand, played a club to the queen, ruffed the ♣ J, and then ran the spades. East was caught in a coup, forced to ruff in front of declarer's ace-queen. Somehow, with all those beautiful trumps, she managed to only score one of them.

East can score two trump tricks by expending a high trump early. Why? Well, notice that when East got her diamond ruff, she was down to king-jack-ten in trumps, so she was ruffing with one of the high cards, anyway. By covering the ♥ 7, she forces South to use a higher trump, and she can ruff the diamond with one of her low trumps.

West led a spade, declarer ducked from dummy, and East won the ♠ K and continued the suit. Declarer then played a third round of spades, pitching his diamond loser, West ruffing.

West then tried to take his side's diamond tricks, leading the ♦ Q. Declarer covered with the ♦ K, East played the ace, and declarer ruffed.

Declarer drew two rounds of trumps, both following. With West's ruff, that accounted for all the outside trumps.

			♠ — ♥ — ♦ 10 7 4 ♣ A J 10 7
			♠ — ♥ 9 8 7 5 3 ♦ — ♣ 8 5

The declarer I was watching looked at this situation and did not see his chance for an overtrick. Instead, he just lead a club to dummy. He got lucky. West, holding the ♣ K-Q, failed to split her honors, and declarer made 11 tricks.

But wait, if West has the ♣ K-Q, why play for her to misdefend? Instead, play her for the ♦ J. On the run of the hearts, the situation is:

			♠ — ♥ — ♦ 10 ♣ A J
♠ — ♥ — ♦ J ♣ K Q
			♠ — ♥ 3 ♦ — ♣ 8 5

On the last heart, West must give up in one of the minors.

The full deal was:

			♠ A Q J ♥ — ♦ K 10 7 6 4 ♣ A J 10 7 6
♠ 8 6 ♥ Q J 6 ♦ Q J 9 3 ♣ K Q 4 3						♠ K 10 9 7 5 3 ♥ 10 4 ♦ A 8 2 ♣ 9 2
			♠ 4 2 ♥ A K 9 8 7 5 3 2 ♦ 5 ♣ 8 5

Note that this contract can be set with a ♣ K lead.

It could also have been set with a club shift after the spade lead. Declarer would be forced to win in dummy. In danger of losing a heart, a diamond, a club and a spade, declarer has to pitch a minor loser immediately. If Declarer pitches his diamond on the third spade, West leads a high club and a third round of clubs, and East ruffs with the ten, promoting a second trump trick for the defense. If Declarer pitches his diamond, then West leads a diamond to East's ace and East and East leads a fourth round of spades, again promoting a second trump trick for the defense.

Richard Pavlicek, Sr., showed the advantage of planning on this deal.

It looks like smooth sailing if trumps split 2-2 or East has the jack. Pavlicek considered another danger, as well - a bad diamond split.

West led a spade, which Pavlicek won in hand. He led a club to dummy and ruffed a club, then ruffed a spade and ruffed another club. Both defenders followed to the club plays. Pavlicek then exited with the trump queen, hoping to pin a stiff jack. East won the ♥ K, West following low, and returned a diamond, which Pavlicek won in hand.

Pavlicek again exited in hearts, and was fortunate enough to find the suit splitting 2-2. West, who won the second trump, exited in spades, which Pavlicek ruffed in hand. When Pavlicek ran his trumps, West, who was guarding the long club and also started with four diamonds, got squeezed.

The full deal was:

			♠ J ♥ 9 7 6 ♦ K 9 6 5 ♣ A 9 7 6 4
♠ 9 4 2 ♥ A 5 ♦ J 10 8 2 ♣ K Q 10 3						♠ K Q 10 8 7 5 3 ♥ K J ♦ 7 ♣ J 5 2
			♠ A 6 ♥ Q 10 8 4 3 2 ♦ A Q 4 3 ♣ 8

Note that Pavlicek needed the 2-2 split in trumps or for one opponent to hold the stiff jack. Also, this line provided almost no added risk. The biggest risk is that some trump promotion can occur in clubs, but it is not hard to see that that is unlikely on the bidding. The only chance for a trump promotion is if East started with the AK of hearts and the long clubs, which leaves West almost nothing for his double.

Also, notice that Pavlicek cannot succeed if he starts with hearts immediately, even with the friendly trump split. Whoever wins the first trump can force him to ruff a spade immediately, leaving him only one club ruff, which allows East to retain the ♣ J.

Also, note that on winning the second trump trick, West was caught in an interesting bind:

			♠ — ♥ — ♦ K 9 6 ♣ 6 4
♠ 9 ♥ — ♦ J 10 8 ♣ K						♠ K Q 10 8 7 ♥ — ♦ — ♣ —
			♠ — ♥ Q 10 ♦ Q 4 3 ♣ —

If dummy's second club were instead a worthless spade, West could break up this squeeze by leading the ♣ K. The second club becomes a secondary threat - if West leads his club here, declarer's long club in dummy is set up. Declarer could not set up this "natural" trick for himself, because he has only one entry remaining.

The diamond situation is also interesting, because if West leads a diamond, declarer can claim immediately. If West leads a low diamond, declarer can insert the nine, and if East follows, the suit split, while if East does not follow the nine wins. If West leads a high diamond, declarer plays low from dummy, and again is either rewarded with a marked finesse or an even split.

North opened a slightly odd strong notrump, and South made a few too many slam tries, finally landing in 5 ♠ contract.

West found the good lead of a spade. Declarer won in dummy, and led a heart to the king. If the ♥ A was onside, declarer would have only two heart losers. Sadly, West won and continued spades, East following.

Declarer won and cashed the ♦ A and ruffed a diamond, East playing the king. After drawing the last trump, declarer ducked a heart at this position (pitching a diamond from dummy:)

			♠ — ♥ — ♦ 7 6 5 3 ♣ A 10 9
			♠ 10 9 ♥ Q 6 2 ♦ — ♣ K 6

West won and returned a diamond, East pitching a heart, and declarer ruffing. Declarer then cashed the ♥ Q (pitching a diamond from dummy). If East started with four or more hearts, the position would be something like:

			♠ — ♥ — ♦ 7 ♣ A 10 9
♠ — ♥ — ♦ Q ♣ Q x x						♠ — ♥ 9 ♦ — ♣ J x x
			♠ 10 ♥ 6 ♦ — ♣ K 6

On the ♠ 10, West can not part with a diamond, so he must part with a club. Declarer pitches the diamond from dummy, and East is now caught in the squeeze, forced to part with either a heart, setting up the heart in declarers hand, or a club.

As it was, West showed out on the third round of hearts, having started with ♥ A-J tight. Declarer could have claimed on learning that West was guarding the diamonds and East the hearts.

Was there any better defense?

The full hand was:

			♠ A Q ♥ 10 7 ♦ A 7 6 5 3 2 ♣ A 10 9
♠ 7 6 ♥ A J ♦ Q J 9 8 ♣ Q J 5 4 2						♠ J 4 3 ♥ 9 8 5 4 3 ♦ K 4 ♣ 8 7 3
			♠ K 10 9 8 5 2 ♥ K Q 6 2 ♦ 10 ♣ K 6

West couldn't duck the heart, because he was holding the ♥ A-J. If he had played the jack, declarer's ten in dummy would have become a useful card, and again declarer would have lost only two heart tricks. Could West have broken up the squeeze? I don't see an obvious way.

As you can see, the clubs are both in West's hand. Technically, East was never squeezed as the cards lie. The club situation keeps West from ever leading clubs. If East had both clubs, West could lead clubs every time. The spade lead was necessary to keep declarer from ruffing out his diamonds - two of his entries to dummy are in spades, but to be useful for setting up diamonds, they needed to be used after the diamonds ace entry had been used.

Against 3 NT, West led the ♠ 7, which went to the 10, jack, and ace.

Declarer then led a heart to the king and ace, and East exited with the ♦ J. This was duck all around, and East continued with a low diamond to the queen and West's ace. West continued with his last diamond, won in dummy, declarer pitching a spade from hand. Declarer then cashed his two hearts and three rounds of clubs at this position:

			♠ K 10 ♥ — ♦ 8 ♣ 9
♠ 3 2 ♥ — ♦ — ♣ J 8						♠ Q 8 ♥ 10 ♦ 9 ♣ —
			♠ 6 ♥ 3 ♦ — ♣ K 5

Declarer has found nothing breaking. Still, on the ♣ K, East is squeezed in three suits. If he parts with the a spade, declarer gets two spade tricks. If he parts with a diamond, dummy's diamond is good. And if he parts with a heart, declarer's heart is good.

This is a triple squeeze. Note that the count has not been rectified.

Sadly, our declarer decided that West led the ♠ 7 from a doubleton, and therefore thought the end position was:

			♠ K 10 ♥ — ♦ 8 ♣ 9
♠ 3 ♥ — ♦ 9 ♣ J 8						♠ Q 8 2 ♥ 10 ♦ — ♣ —
			♠ 6 ♥ 3 ♦ — ♣ K 5

When East parted with a spade, declarer led his last heart, which declarer hoped would force East to lead spades into the ♠ K-10. As the cards were, however, East cashed the ♦ 9, setting the contract.

Might West's spade lead be from a doubleton? It certainly might, but West is know to have started with only two hearts. If he held two small hearts and two small spades, and he chose to lead a major, about half of the time he would lead a heart. But with three spades and two hearts, he will almost always choose the spade.

This is a subtle form of restricted choice, and I think it leads to the conclusion that West is more likely to have started with three spades.

The spade lead was the only one with a chance to set this contract. All other leads give declarer his ninth trick.