IMPROVE YOUR PLAY
with Larry Matheny

Many players feel that squeeze play is too difficult for them to master.  While there is no doubt many squeeze positions are very complex, others simply require you to play your winning tricks. 


Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)
Hand #50
Dlr   N
Vul N/S
S 103
H J10952
D AQ
C AJ107
S 76542
H 8764
D 1064
C 6
    
S QJ98
H
D J872
C Q9532

S AK
H AKQ3
D K953
C K84
West North
 East
 South

1H Pass
 4NT
   Pass     5H    Pass
    7NT
   Pass
    Pass
    Pass
                                                                    
BIDDING:  Holding a minimum hand with a weak suit North had no idea what was about to happen.  South counted his twenty-three high card points including the top three honors in his partner's suit and nothing could hold him back.  He did stop along the way to make sure his partner held the other two aces before he bid the grand slam.

PLAY:  With no information to guide him, West led a low spade.  Declarer counted twelve tricks with a few chances for another.  He could: 1) guess the location of the queen of clubs, 2) have the jack-ten of diamonds drop in three rounds, or 3) play for a diamond-club squeeze.  A club finesse would be his last choice so he started by cashing the A-Q of diamonds but was rewarded with only small cards from his opponents.  Next he cashed the other spade honor and started running the heart suit.  East was in trouble; he discarded his other two spades and two small clubs but on the last heart he had to discard from the J8 of diamonds and the Q95 of clubs.  He knew had to keep the diamonds so he discarded the five of clubs.  Declarer had been counting the club discards and promptly cashed the king and ace establishing his jack as his thirteenth trick.

Difficult?  No, it really just came down to counting the clubs.

Copyright ©2009 Larry Matheny