The Aces on Bridge: Wednesday, March 5th, 2014
None of our men are ‘experts.’ … No one ever considers himself expert if he really knows his job.
Henry Ford
| West | North |
|---|---|
| Neither | ♠ K Q 10 ♥ Q J ♦ K Q 2 ♣ A 10 9 8 2 |
| West | East |
|---|---|
| ♠ 7 ♥ K 9 ♦ J 9 8 ♣ K Q J 7 6 5 3 |
♠ J 9 6 3 2 ♥ 10 8 7 6 5 4 3 ♦ 6 ♣ — |
| South |
|---|
| ♠ A 8 5 4 ♥ A 2 ♦ A 10 7 5 4 3 ♣ 4 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3♣ | 3 NT | Pass | |
| 6♦ | All pass |
♣K
They say that anyone can take a finesse, but an expert would always rather play for a squeeze. True enough if a little cynical; but in today's deal the expert's line wins, while the 50 percent line of the finesse leaves the palooka with egg on his face.
Both tables in a teams match reached six diamonds here. The club king was led and both declarers thoughtfully ducked in dummy to avoid having the ace ruffed away.
Both declarers ruffed the next top club and drew trumps. The first declarer cashed the three top spades, ending in dummy, then threw a spade on the club ace and ran the heart queen unsuccessfully.
The expert player drew trumps ending in dummy, ruffed a club and ran all the trumps. He then threw the heart jack on the last trump and followed this with the spade ace, king and then queen. The last of these reduced West to a singleton heart, since he had to keep two clubs to match dummy’s length.
But next came the club ace, which also squeezed East down to just one heart, since he in turn needed to retain the spade jack, to counter declarer’s spade eight. Now declarer could discard his spade eight and play a heart to his ace, knowing his heart two was good.
This line of play is guaranteed to succeed, since West cannot have four spades to the jack, to go with his three diamonds and seven clubs.
And yes, if East had ruffed his partner’s winner to play a heart he would have broken up the squeeze.
There are really only two sequences that the world agrees can sensibly be played as Gerber, ace-asking. This is one of them, the other being after a two -no-trump opening bid. Responses, unless you have specifically agreed to play something else, are as in standard Blackwood: Zero or four, one, two, three, so this hand should bid four hearts now.
BID WITH THE ACES
| ♠ K Q 10 ♥ Q J ♦ K Q 2 ♣ A 10 9 8 2 |
| South | West | North | East |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 NT | Pass | 4♣ | Pass |
| ? |
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Too bad S didn’t have the S2 instead of one of the small ones he did have. He could then have arranged matters so that at trick 11, dummy would hold HQ and CA2 and S would hold S2 and HA2. Each of the deuces would then pose an inescapable threat to EW, something I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. Just for the sake of completeness, the name of the squeeze is “nonsimultaneous double squeeze”.
Maybe the declarer would have found the squeeze if dummy did not have H Jack. I guess the H Queen is necessary – because otherwise the squeeze gets broken if west shifts to a heart at trick 2
On the column line, is there any reason for:
“The expert player drew trumps ending in dummy, ruffed a club and ran all the trumps.”
That is, why ending in dummy? Why ruff a club? Was there some potential advantage to that sequence over simply running the trump, say, king-queen-ace-and on?
Maybe East can ruff the first clubs trick and shift back to heart for down 1?
Hi David, Arun, and Jim2,
Each of you individually add your personal touch to this artistic hand.
David, you suggest making a case for having various deuces win the day for their special roles in this squeeze, making them eligible for the next edition of the Hungarian Darvas’s sequel to his magnificent “Right Through the Pack”. Deuces (D)
Arun, you give the overpowering reason why North (or South) cannot survive with a heart switch at trick 2 by West since, by doing so, the communication by that play, by switching the queen of hearts to the defense, is smashed in order for declarer to execute that beautiful (at least for his side) ending. (Queen), (Q)
And Jim2, you recognize the unnecessary technique of ruffing a club and end in dummy (since all the elements for the final squeeze are already present without) (Unnecessary), (U).
Between the three of you, all of your DUQs are together and each one is thoughtful and highly educational to our best and brightest in dissecting usual questions (DUQ) about the essential elements of squeeze positions.
I wish the above added to the famous bridge author’s single letter way to remember the essential elements of squeeze execution, but alas it is doubtful that he would Love it. (Linda, are you listening?)
Hey there, you with the stars in your eyes,
“Or are you not hearing things so clear, are you too much in love to hear, or is it all going in one ear, and out the other?” Pajama Game, “Hey There”.
Cheng Chun has apparently come to the rescue of the defense, by essentially ruffing his partner’s ace (well almost) and destroyed the communication for the squeeze ending. How dare him ruin our mood just as we were getting romantic. Hey there, I am, of course, trying to deflect my stupidity for not seeing what CCW so clearly sees
CCW, please immediately stop what you are doing and apply for your national bridge team for the next WC. You are nothing short of brilliant with your defensive gambit at trick one.