Break Up the Squeeze #09-15

IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny

Most pairs events involve very competitive auctions. Sometimes it's hard to know when to stop or bid one more. In this hand, it looked like the defense was going to prevail but they ran up against the wrong declarer.

Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs Game)

Hand #15
Dlr	S
Vul	N/S

	A8752
	1086
	2
	A1032

	J94
	95
	AQJ874
	J4


	KQJ42
	K105
	Q9876

	KQ1063
	A73
	963
	K5

West	North	East	South
			1
3	4	5	Pass
Pass	5	Pass	Pass
Pass

BIDDING: It started with a simple one-level opening bid but quickly escalated. West made a weak jump overcall and North liked his hand enough to jump to game. East got into the act by competing to the five level and South passed the buck back to North. His pass said he was uncertain whether to double or bid one more. North made the final decision.

PLAY: West led the ace of diamonds and when East followed with the ten suggesting a shift to hearts, did just that. Declarer was wishing he had doubled the opponents because he was looking at three losers: 2 hearts and 1 diamond). He did see a glimmer of hope; if East was long in hearts and clubs, he might be squeezed. However, that meant losing a heart now to rectify the count. He played small on the first heart and won the second as West hi-lowed. Next, South drew trumps ruffing his two diamond losers along the way. Now he played off the rest of his trumps and came down to a three-card ending with East yet to discard. Dummy held the A103 of clubs while declarer held the 7 of hearts and the K5 of clubs. Poor East was doomed; he had to discard from the jack of hearts and the Q98 of clubs and South had eleven tricks.

Note the squeeze would not work without the heart duck. Also notice the squeeze could be broken up if West shifted to a club at trick two. Now if declarer ducks a heart to set up the squeeze, a second club foils the plan. Nobody said defense was easy.

Copyright ©2009 Larry Matheny.