Restricted Choice

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:

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:

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.