BRIDGE
Squeeze
Andrew Robson
TOUGH defence by East was countered by a brilliant rescue operation by declarer. here is the hand: Dealer South Both vulnerable
4A8 6 5
• K 0104
• A
+A4
3 2
4J 4 3 4K 9 7 2
V6
7 • K 0106
32 W E
• 9 7 5 4 +109 6 J 8 7 40 10 VA .1 9 8 6 5 2 +18 +05 North East 6V pass Bidding style is changing worldwide. I suspect that 20 years ago the South hand would either be passed or opened 3V. Now it is a fairly standard one level opener. North upgraded his 'soft cards' (kings and queens) in partner's suit and his outside aces. He was well worth the spectacular leap to 6V. West led *K. Plan the play. Declarer won dummy's +A and immedi- ately led a low 4. He was hoping East would rise with 4K — establishing a sec- ond 4 trick for the + discard. But East smoothly played low — not an easy thing to do at the table.
Declarer naturally assumed that West was more likely to hold 4K and tried 410. West won 4J and exited 'safely' with his singleton trump. Declarer won in hand, trumped •J and ran five more rounds of trumps. Dummy was down to 4A86 and +A, declarer was down to 4Q, V2 and +Q8. East, still to discard, was down to 4K97 and +KJ. He was completely stuck. If he discarded a 4, then declarer could lead 40 to 4A, ruff a 4 with his last trump, cross to +A and cash the estab- lished 48. Therefore East reluctantly dis- carded +J. No better — declarer cashed +A felling his 40K, cashed 4A, ruffed a 4 and triumphantly led the established +Q. He had pulled off a trump squeeze. If West had returned either a black suit when in with 4J, then the squeeze could not have operated. West pass South 1V pass
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