Hi Bobby,

Interesting to see west adopting Garrozo’s Bols Tip that small slams (at least in a suit) should be attacked. On another day of course declared would have had HQxx opposite Ax with the HJ in the diamonds when the result wo uld be less happy. Suppose West had HKQ though and led one.

South wins and draws trumps then might play DA, DK shedding H, ruff a diamond high, spade to 9 ruff another D and throw west in with the HQ to lead a club coping with D5-2 with East having length. Now suppose West has a moment akin to RR and finds the HK as his opening lead as the hearts lie. South may now go down if West has the CK even with D4-3.

Regards,

Iain

Hi Bobby,

I have reviewed the hand from last Saturday and I think that even if West cashes the fourth diamond, the contract still goes down as long as East pitches a small spade on this trick so he can retain the guards in the rounded suits. West continues anything but spades and declarer is toast. Very nice board, thanks for sharing

Mircea Giurgeu –

If play proceeds as you laid out, I think the 5-card position, after West wins KS and exits with a third heart won on the Board, is:

—— A7
—— 6
—— –
—— K9

J9 ——— –
– ———- J
– ———- –
J83 ——- 10742

—— x
—— –
—— –
—— AQ65

Declarer cashes the AS and awaits East’s discard.

If West’s lead after winning the KS had been another spade, then the squeeze would have occurred a trick earlier.

Jim2

I forgot to mention that I assumed East does not switch to a heart at trick 3, but continues diamonds

Mircea Giurgeu –

I believe it transposes.

The key card is the AS. Once the fourth round of diamonds has been led, the count has been rectified (as stated in the column text).

That is, declarer can always reach the 5-card position I showed. For example, if diamonds are continued as you offered above, then once declarer loses the spade, the AS will be the squeeze card against East.

Even if hearts are somehow NEVER led by the defense, once the defense has led the fourth round of diamonds and declarer has lost or ducked a spade, then the AS will squeeze East. East may have more hearts left when the AS is cashed, but keeping as many hearts as are in Dummy while simultaneously keeping as many clubs as declarer holds is impossible. Hence, the squeeze.

Let me rephrase one sentence for the sake of clarity:

“Once the fourth round of diamonds has been led, the count has been rectified (as stated in the column text).”

Probably should have been:

“Once the fourth round of diamonds has been led, declarer can always rectify the count by ducking one round of spades (as discussed in the column text).

Hi everyone who wants to be included.,

I’ll choose Jim2’s analysis thrice for style, result and also for respectful clarity.

Can’t one just imagine Victor Mollo’s Hideous Hog, as declarer. with his choice of remark as one of his eager opponents have just counted to 13 and triumphantly banged down the good 13th diamond.

Probably something like, “Wow, such a mistake I made, must have miscounted the diamonds. Oh well, I guess we need to carry on with the play”. Then “what do you know what happened, I made this contract anyway’ only because I loved Rueful Rabbit well enough to squeeze him”.

Probably a bit more condemning, likely iand somehow ncluding the word “idiot(s)”.

Speaking of idiots, when my finger outruns my mind, I get a last sentence like above.