Kaleidoscope Series - Lesson 5


Kaleidoscope Series - Lesson 5

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Squeezes



                 Kaleidoscope Series Lesson #5
                           
                           Squeezes
                           --------

     Few things baffle novices as much as squeezes.  

     "I will never be able to do one of THOSE!" is a 
popular sentiment among bridge neophytes.  This notion 
proceeds from the incorrect premise that squeezes are 
difficult and perplexing...the domain of experienced, 
advanced players only.  This lesson hopes to demonstrate 
that squeezes are often no more complex than a simple 
finesse.

     We are all familiar with finesses:  lead small 
towards our AQ and insert the Queen.  But what about 
H-Ax opposite our H-Qx?  Now the Queen will be covered, 
precluding a second trick in this suit.  But imagine if 
we cash the Ace, and come down to something like:  S-Ax 
opposite our own S-x and H-Q as our last two cards.  
If the same person has all the Spades AND the H-King, 
we'll have them!  After all, how can they have the
Heart King AND two spades, when we have only 2 cards? 

     Part of the daunting mystery surrounding squeezes 
flows from all of the jargon used by experts in 
describing them.  "Stepping stone", "compound", and 
"double" squeeze situations will elude us until we 
understand the basics of a "simple" squeeze.

     In the classic squeeze, we play winners from our
hand and then go to dummy to cash whatever has become
good.  The situation could easily be reversed, though.
Dummy could have the winners, and we could have the
hand whose cards we hope to promote.    

     We begin by citing the four "conditio sine qua
non" elements of any squeeze:

 Lose    - Lose all the tricks that you can afford
           to lose AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE.  This is 
           called "rectifying the count".

 Isolate - Try to exhaust ONE opponent in a suit so
           that only the OTHER one can guard that suit.

 Threat  - Keep some cards in both hands which MIGHT
           become winners, were the opponents to toss
           all of the cards ABOVE them.

 Entry   - While you cash your winners in one hand, you
           must have ONE (and ONLY one) entry to the
           other hand.

     These four elements, all equally important, form
the acronym "LITE":  Lose, Isolate, Threat and Entry.
Alternatively, some may use the acronym "CITE":  Count,
Isolate, Threat and Entry.

       -----------  Quiz #1  --------------

1.  Why do you suppose we call these plays "squeezes"?

2.  How often do squeezes come up?

3.  How long before a novice executes hir first squeeze?

          ----------  A Simple Squeeze  -----------

     Consider this hand carefully:

           Pard                      
          S- A32                     Us vulnerable.  IMPs.         
          H- 75                     
          D- K1084                          AUCTION
 LHO      C- AKQ7       RHO           Us   LHO  Pard  RHO
S- QJ876               S- 109       
H- KQJ64               H- 98          1D    2D   2S    P
D- void                D- 97632      2NT    P   6NT    P
C- 964     Us          C- 8532        P     P
          S- K54
          H- A1032                    Lead:  King of Hearts.
          D- AQJ5
          C- J10

     We begin by tallying our tricks.  There are only eleven.  
We can afford to lose a trick, so we DUCK the Heart King at 
trick one.  LHO continues with the H-Queen.

     Before scrolling down, try to envision the last two
cards in your own hand and the last two cards on Dummy after
you have cashed all your minor suit winners.

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

     We will cash our Spade King and ALL of our minor suit 
winners, throwing a small Heart and a small Spade on Dummy's 
Clubs.  We will end up in our Hand, winning the 4th Diamond
there.  With RHO's hand irrelevant, here is the position we 
hope for after 11 tricks:

           Pard                      
          S- A2                              
          H-                      
          D-                              
 LHO      C-            RHO         
S- QJ                  S- 10        
H- J                   H-            
D-                     D- 9          
C-         Us          C-            
          S- 5  
          H- 10                      
          D-     
          C- 

     The problem here is the fact that LHO has 3 cards!
Which one can LHO pitch?  If LHO tosses the Jack of Hearts,
our own H-10 is good.  If LHO discards the S-Queen or S-Jack,
dummy's measly DEUCE of Spades will take the last trick!

     Notice how important it is to be in our hand here.
Were we in dummy, the H-10 would not threaten LHO since 
we cannot enter our hand in order to cash it.  LHO would 
simply toss the H-Jack and keep the S-QJ.  Remember:
a threat without an entry is no threat at all!

        ----------  Lose Your Tricks EARLY  ---------

     The fancy expression "rectifying the count" means,
quite simply, that we should lose all the tricks that we
can afford to lose AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE.  For example,
if we are in 6NT at IMPs, but can only see 11 winners, we
should DUCK a trick somewhere if we can safely do so.
This "rectifies the count" to 12 possible tricks, and 
will add to the pressure that we can apply to our victims
later.  Let us reconsider this hand:

           Pard                      
          S- A32                     Us vulnerable.  IMPs.         
          H- 75                     
          D- K1084                          AUCTION
 LHO      C- AKQ7       RHO           Us   LHO  Pard  RHO
S- QJ876               S- 109       
H- KQJ64               H- 98          1D    2D   2S    P
D- void                D- 97632      2NT    P   6NT    P
C- 964     Us          C- 8532        P     P
          S- K54
          H- A1032                    Lead:  King of Hearts.
          D- AQJ5
          C- J10                   REPEATED for convenience.

     Were we to pounce on the first trick here and rattle
off our 8 minor suit winners and the Spade King, we would
be left with THREE cards left.  That is exactly how many
LHO would like to be able to keep! 

           Pard                      
          S- A2                              
          H- 7                     
          D-                              
 LHO      C-            RHO         
S- QJ                  S- 10        
H- J                   H- 9           
D-                     D- 9          
C-         Us          C-            
          S- 5  
          H- 103                      
          D-     
          C- 
 
    Whether we play a Heart or a Spade here, LHO will
take two tricks.  While the H-7 and H-3 are utterly
useless to *us*, the extra card is VITAL to LHO's
well-being.  Hence, we REMOVE one such card from
everyone's hand by DUCKING that Heart King lead on the 
first trick!

      ----------  Isolate your Opponent  ---------

     In the above sample squeeze, LHO was overloaded
with work, forced to guard both the major suits.  RHO
could not help LHO here.  Thus, we would say that LHO 
is "isolated" in hir responsibility to protect the Heart 
and Spade suits.  Let us change our sample hand slightly:

           Pard                      
          S- A32                     Us vulnerable.  IMPs.         
          H- 75                     
          D- K1084                          AUCTION
 LHO      C- AKQ7       RHO           Us   LHO  Pard  RHO
S- QJ876               S- 109       
H- KQ964               H- J8          1D    2D   2S    P
D- void                D- 97632      2NT    P   6NT    P
C- 964     Us          C- 8532        P     P
          S- K54
          H- A1032                    Lead:  King of Hearts.
          D- AQJ5
          C- J10                   

     Here, were we to win the H-King lead, we would allow
RHO to guard the Hearts in the ending.  The ending would be:

           Pard                      
          S- A2                              
          H-                      
          D-                              
 LHO      C-            RHO         
S- QJ                  S-         
H-                     H- J           
D-                     D- 9          
C-         Us          C-            
          S- 5  
          H- 10                      
          D-     
          C-

     In essence, what has happened is that LHO tossed ALL
of hir Hearts, permitting RHO to retain the H-Jack.  Had
we NOT won the opening lead, RHO's H-Jack would have
fallen under our H-Ace on the second round...leaving LHO
alone to guard the Heart suit. 

     We will need to practice recognizing how to isolate
opponents.  Consider S-A7652 opposite S-983.  If this
suit breaks 3-2, we can isolate on opponent simply by
ducking a trick here.  The opponent who started with 
two Spades will see their second Spade fall under our
Ace later.  Only the person with THREE Spades can prevent
the run of this suit.  We will, of course, unblock the
S-9 and then the S-8 here. 

     There are TWO ways that an opponent can become
isolated in a suit:  by LENGTH and by STRENGTH.  With
Axxx opposite our Kx, the suit can break 4-3, 5-2, 6-1 
or 7-0.  Unless the outstanding cards are divided 4-3,
the opponent with the 5+ card length in that suit will 
be isolated with the responsibility of guarding it.

     With AJ opposite our singleton deuce, there is
little chance of an adversary being isolated by LENGTH.
The suit would have to break 10-0 or 9-1!  But the
chances are 50-50 that both the King and Queen are in
one hand, and that hand would be isolated with the
task of preventing our Jack from being promoted.  The 
opponent with the KQ, then, is isolated by STRENGTH 
in that suit.

       -----------  Quiz #2  --------------

1.  What needs to happen in this suit for an opponent to  
    be isolated with the sole responsibility of guarding 
    it?  Assume that we CANNOT lose any more tricks.

    a)  Dummy:  S- AK43  opposite Declarer's:   S- 52

    b)  Dummy:  H- AQ32  opposite Declarer's:   H- K4

    c)  Dummy:  D- A42  opposite Declarer's:    D- 53

    d)  Dummy:  C- AJ   opposite Declarer's:    C- 53

    e)  Dummy:  S- A92  opposite Declarer's:    S- 4

        --------  Threat Cards  ----------

     A threat card is ANY card which stands a chance of
becoming a winner.  Generally speaking, the higher the
card the more imposing a threat that it poses to the
adversaries.  Often, we will hold Ax(x) opposite Qx(x).  
Unable to endplay the opponents into leading this suit
for us, we will often cash the Ace and, when the King
does not appear, use the Queen as a threat card against
whoever holds the King.  In fact, this situation is so
common that it has a name:  a Vienna Coup.

           Pard                      
          S- AK32                     Us vulnerable.  IMPs.         
          H- A5                     
          D- KQ10                          AUCTION
 LHO      C- AKQ7       Moogal        Us   LHO  Pard  RHO
S- QJ1098              S- 76       
H- KJ109               H- 8764        P     P    2C    P
D- 92                  D- 753        2NT    P    7NT   P
C- 64     Us           C- 9853        P     P
          S- 54
          H- Q32                    Lead:  Queen of Spades.
          D- AJ864
          C- J102                   

     We win the first trick with our S-King.  The bad 
news is that we have only 12 tricks.  The good news in 
our 7NT?  At least we've rectified the count! :)

     We begin by hoping that LHO has Spade length for the
lead here.  If LHO has 5+ Spades, LHO will have to keep at 
least two of them.  Now, if only LHO has the Heart King as 
well...

     So we devise our plan.  We are going to want to cash
all our minor suit cards, ending up in our hand.  The 
problem is that the Heart Ace is in the way of our Heart
Queen threat card...in a sense, blocking the suit.  So
let us CASH the H-Ace so that the S-Ace will be our ONLY
entry to dummy after we've cashed our minor suit tricks.

          CORRECT          |        INCORRECT
                           |	
           Pard            |           Pard                    
          S- A32           |          S- A32                              
          H-               |          H- A        
          D-               |          D-       
  LHO     C-       Moogal  |   LHO    C-        Moogal      
 S- QJ            S- 7     |  S- QJ            S- 7
 H- K             H- 87    |  H- KJ            H- 876     
 D-               D-       |  D-               D-     
 C-         Us    C-       |  C-        Us     C-   
          S- 5             |           S- 5    
          H- Q             |           H- Q3       
          D- 4             |           D- 4
          C-               |           C-

     On the left (above) we see the correct ending, with
the D-4 putting the question to LHO.  LHO can either 
concede a trick to our H-Queen or to our Spades.  On the
right, we see what would have happened had we NOT cashed
the H-Ace.  LHO could now pitch the H-Jack, knowing that
we cannot cash the H-Ace and return to our hand to enjoy
the H-Queen at this late stage.

             -------  Entries  -------

      Typically, we will have one hand with a lot of 
winners.  Let's call this the "squeezing" hand.  We will
try to arrange matters so that the other hand will have
some "winner wannabees" (i.e. threats) and ONE entry to 
them.  Let's call that holding the "threats" hand.

     The KEY to good squeeze technique is to keep ONE
entry to any hand which contains a threat card.  Remember:
a threat without an entry is no threat at all!

      Why only ONE entry?  The reason for this is that we
want to squeeze the opponents as tightly as possible.  The
more winners we can cash, the more pressure that we can
apply.  Hence, we play off all of the winners/entries in 
the threats hand except one.  Then we cash the winners in
the squeezing hand before returning to the threats hand to 
cash whatever threat card may have become a winner.

       -----------  Quiz #3  --------------

1. a) Which of the following is the "squeezing" hand and
  which is the "threats" hand?

           Dummy:  S- AJxx  H- xx    D- Kxxx   C- Axx 
        Declarer:  S- Kx    H- AJ10  D- AQJxx  C- J10x
         Auction:  1H-Dble-Pass-6NT.  Lead:  H-King.

   b)  You win the H-King with your H-Ace and play a 2nd
       Heart.  LHO wins with the H-Queen and switches to 
       the Club King.  What do we need LHO to have in 
       order to make 6NT now?

   c)  What precise card will be our entry to the 
       threats hand (i.e. to dummy)?

      --------------   TWOD   --------------

     A recurring theme that we will see in squeezes
comes when we are playing our LAST winner in the 
squeezing hand, just before we cross to the threats
hand to cash whatever has become a winner.  At this
critical juncture, we sometimes have to guess which
threat card to pitch from Dummy.
  	
     Lest you thought all squeezes were slam or 
game contracts, consider this part score hand:

           Pard                      
          S- 8432                     None vulnerable.  IMPs.         
          H- A75                     
          D- A864                          AUCTION
 LHO      C- 74         RHO           Us   LHO  Pard  RHO
S- AKQ7                S- 1096       
H- 4                   H- 10832       1H   Dble  2H    P
D- J1032               D- 97          P    Dble  P     3C
C- A963    Us          C- KQ108       3H    P    P     P
          S- J5
          H- KQJ96                    Lead:  King of Spades.
          D- KQ5
          C- J52

     LHO cashes S-AK and then switches to a trump.  
You try playing a Club, hoping that they will
allow a Club ruff with Dummy's shorter trumps.  No go.
RHO wins the Club and fires back another trump, LHO
showing out.  A second club from Dummy meets with the
same fate:  RHO wins, and plays the third Heart to
Dummy's H-Ace.  Darn!  These two are GOOD!

     You ruff a Spade in your hand, play your D-KQ, 
and then your last winner, the H-J.  Here is the
ending:

           Pard                      
          S- 8                        None vulnerable.  IMPs.         
          H-                         
          D- A8                            AUCTION
 LHO      C-            RHO           Us   LHO  Pard  RHO
S- Q                   S-           
H-                     H- 8           1H    1S   2H    P
D- J10                 D-             P    Dble  P     3C
C-         Us          C- K10         3H    P    P     P
          S- 
          H- J                    
          D- 5
          C- J

     What do we pitch from Dummy when we cash our 
H-Jack?  Here we have a general rule:  Toss Whatever 
the Opponent Didn't (i.e. "TWOD", pronounced "2 D").  
If LHO pitches a Diamond here, toss your Spade from 
Dummy.  If LHO discards a Spade, throw away Dummy's 
Diamond.  

     The TWOD rule usually happens at trick eleven,
giving it the alternate name:  "Rule of Eleventh"
(not to be confused with the "Rule of Eleven").

      --------  The Double Squeeze  --------

     The more threat cards we have in our two hands, the
better.  Often we can't isolate ONE player in two suits.
Instead, we can isolate BOTH players in one suit each.
This gives rise to the "who's-minding-the-store" 
question that we will learn to ask ourselves:

    "If LHO is looking after THAT SUIT, and RHO is busy
watching over THAT OTHER SUIT, who is going to keep THESE?"

           Pard                      
          S- J754                  N-S vulnerable.  MPs.         
          H- 2                     
          D- K10982                          AUCTION
 LHO      C- K109       RHO           Us   LHO  Pard  RHO
S- AKQ6                S- 1098       
H- 853                 H- 974         1H    P    1S    P
D- 73                  D- QJ64        4NT   P    5C    P
C- J853    Us          C- Q42         5H    P    P     P         
          S- 32                    
          H- AKQJ106               Lead:  King of Spades.
          D- A5                    LHO continues the Ace of
          C- A76                   Spades & switches to H-5.

     This was NOT exemplary bidding.  Oh, well.  Let's 
see...we have 10 tricks here, but can we squeeze out an 
eleventh?  We draw the outstanding trumps, and play the
Diamond Ace, the King, and then ruff one.  Without a 3-3 
Diamond break the best we can do is isolate LHO to guard 
against the S-Jack becoming good while RHO will take care of 
the Diamonds.  But wait!  If LHO is guarding Spades and RHO 
is covering the Diamonds...who will be keeping CLUBS?

           Pard                      
          S- J                          
          H-                      
          D- 10                     
 LHO      C- K10        RHO          
S- Q                   S-        
H-                     H-      
D-                     D- Q      
C- J85     Us          C- Q42                  
          S-                     
          H- 6               
          D-                     
          C- A76                  

     When we play our last Heart LHO will have to part 
with a Club, lest the S-Jack be promoted.  The Spade
Jack has done its job.  We will now discard it.  Were 
RHO to toss the D-Queen our D-10 would be a winner, so 
RHO will also pitch a Club.  At this point we can claim;  
our 3rd club will be our 11th trick!

         ---------  The Trump Squeeze  ---------

	Like the Double Squeeze, the Trump Squeeze
requires entries to BOTH hands.  These entries are 
not high cards, generally, but trumps.  In its purest
form the Trump Squeeze is like a cross ruff, except
that we are usually ruffing with our extra trumps
(i.e. after drawing those of the opponents) in order 
to isolate an opponent.  We are STILL going to be one
trick short of our goal UNLESS someone is forced to
pitch something.  Consider this hand with Hearts
as trump:

     This one works      |      This one fails 
                         |
         Pard            |           Pard                     
        S- AJ            |          S- AJ                            
        H- 5             |          H- 5     
        D- 2             |          D- 2     
 LHO    C-     RHO       |    LHO   C-      RHO   
S- KQ          S-        |   S- KQ         S-  
H-             H-        |   H-            H-   
D-             D- J      |   D-            D- J 
C- AJ    Us    C- Q82    |   C- Q8   Us    C- AJ2              
        S- 5             |          S- 5     
        H- 6             |          H- 6
        D-               |          D-    
        C- K7            |          C- K7


     In our hand in the example on the left, we can 
take the remainder of the tricks here by leading 
the C-7 and ruffing it in Partner's hand.  When we 
now ruff a Diamond in our hand, LHO is squeezed;  
tossing the C-Ace would promote our C-King, while 
shedding a Spade will promote our Partner's S-AJ. 

     The example on the right happens to fail
because we cannot isolate LHO with both black 
suits;  RHO has the Club Ace.  When we ruff that
Diamond in our hand, LHO will be able to pitch
the C-Queen.  Still, the trump squeeze was our 
only chance here.

     Often we will trump in order to isolate one
opponent with the responsibility of guarding that
suit.  Consider this hand:

       The Start           |         The Finish   
                           |
         Pard              |           Pard                     
        S- Q542            |          S- 5                            
        H- 642             |          H- 6    
        D- K1074           |          D- 10   
 LHO    C- A5    RHO       |    LHO   C-      RHO   
S- 87            S- J109   |   S-              S-  
H- J1098         H- 53     |   H- J10          H-   
D- Q986          D- J32    |   D- Q            D-  
C- J109  Us      C- Q8432  |   C-      Us      C- Q84          
        S- AK63            |          S-      
        H- AKQ7            |          H- Q7
        D- A5              |          D-    
        C- K76             |          C- 7

     Against our 7S, LHO leads a trump.  We need
to draw trumps, so on a 3-2 Spade break, we can
envision 5 Spade tricks (3 top tricks, 2 ruffs),
3 Hearts, 2 Diamonds and 2 Clubs for 12 tricks.
After drawing trumps, we will play the D-Ace,
the Diamond King and ruff a Diamond so that only
LHO can guard Diamonds.  We now play two top 
Hearts and then the C-Ace and C-King to get to
the "Finish" position above.  Now, when we ruff 
a Club LHO is overloaded.  If LHO pitches a 
Diamond, Dummy's D-10 is good.  Otherwise, our
Hearts will be good.

     Here are some things to look for in spotting
a Trump Squeeze:

1.  Trumps and shortnesses in both hands.  Hence,
      a 4-4 fit is much better than a 5-3 fit.
2.  1 trump and 1 trick SHORT of a full cross ruff.
3.  1 NON-TRUMP entry between the hands (to be
      saved for last).       
4.  Opportunities to ruff a suit--even if we can't
      expect to establish it--in order to isolate 
      ONE opponent there.


       -----------  Quiz #4  --------------

1.  Declarer:  S- 5432  H- AK    D- 432     C- A954
    Dummy:     S- J7    H- 9842  D- AKQ107  C- K3

     In 5D, the LHO leads the S-AKQ, RHO pitching
     a Club as you ruff the third Spade.  We will
     assume that Diamonds break 3-2.

  a) Who do you hope to squeeze and in which suits?

  b) Declarer:  S- 5432  H- AK    D- 432     C- A954
     Dummy:     S- J7    H- 9842  D- AKQ107  C- K3

     Assuming Hearts are split 4-3, how do you plan
     to isolate an opponent in the Heart suit?

  c) Declarer:  S- 5432  H- AK    D- 432     C- A954
     Dummy:     S- J7    H- 9842  D- AKQ107  C- K3

     After playing the D-Ace, cashing the H-AK, 
     coming back to our hand in trumps (both following), 
     ruffing one Heart in Dummy, returning to our C-King 
     and running all our Diamonds, what will Dummy's 
     last two cards be?

       The Whole Hand       |         The Ending  
                            |
          Pard              |           Pard                     
        S- 5432             |          S- 5                            
        H- AK               |          H-    
        D- 432              |          D-    
 LHO    C- A954   RHO       |    LHO   C- A9     RHO   
S- AKQ106        S- 98      |   S- 10           S-  
H- J103          H- Q765    |   H-              H- Q  
D- 98            D- J65     |   D-              D-  
C- QJ7    Us     C- 10862   |   C- QJ   Us      C- 108          
        S- J7               |          S-      
        H- 9842             |          H- 9
        D- AKQ107           |          D- 10 - Led.  
        C- K3               |          C- 3

  The play:  LHO  SA SK SQ D3 H3 HT D9 H6 C7 S6 CJ CQ ST
            Pard  S2 S3 S4 D2 HA HK D3 D4 C4 C5 S5 CA C9
             RHO  S9 S8 C2 D5 H7 H5 D6 HJ C6 DJ C8 CT HQ
              Us  S7 SJ D7 DA H2 H4 DQ H8 CK DK DT C3 H9

2.  How do we keep track of all these cards?

         --------  The Squeeze Endplay  --------

     In all of the above examples, we lose our tricks early
and then take the rest.  Sometimes, though, our plan is to
squeeze a certain opponent out of their exit cards with the
idea of throwing them in as part of an endplay.
                                                        
                 Pard                    N-S Vulnerable.  MPs.
                S AJ94                   
                H Q6                            AUCTION
                D 643
    Moogal      C K743      RHO          RHO   Us    LHO   Pard       
    S 3                    S QT752        
    H T9854                H AKJ32        1S  Dble    P    2NT
    D 8752                 D T            P    4C     P     4H
    C 865        Us        C Q2           P    6D     P     P
                S K86                     P
                H 7                    
                D AKQJ9                  Lead:  Three of Spades.
                C AJT9 
  
    RHO's S-10 forces our S-King.  We draw trumps and decide
to play RHO for ALL of the outstanding HCPs for hir opening
1S bid.  We finesse through RHO in Clubs and play ALL of
our minor suit cards, pitching the H-6 and S-9 from dummy.

                S AJ                   
                H Q                         
                D 
    Moogal      C           RHO           
    S                      S Q7        
    H T98                  H AK     
    D                      D             
    C            Us        C            
                S 86                     
                H 7                    
                D                  
                C 

     Again, we see RHO with one card too many here!
When we cashed our last Diamond RHO had a problem.
If RHO were to toss a Spade our S-AJ would be the two
tricks we need to make 6D.  Instead, RHO would likely
pitch a top Heart.  This will allow us to exit with 
the H-7 to RHO's remaining Heart winner.  RHO is now
"endplayed", forced to lead from hir remaining S-Q7
into dummy's S-AJ.  Making 6D!
 
    6 CLUBS would have been MUCH easier on this one.  
Oh, well.  At least they didn't find the Heart lead! 

        ---------  Final Quiz  ---------

1. What is a "threat" card?

2. a) Before cashing all of our winners in the 
      "squeezing" hand, how many entries to we hope 
      to retain to the other (i.e. "threats") hand?

   b) If we have more than one entry to the threats
      hand, what do we do with those extra entries 
      before coming into our squeezing hand?

   c) If we have two entries to the threats hand,
      one of which is a singleton Ace while the
      other has some threat cards in that suit,
      WHICH of these two entries should we cash 
      before coming to our squeezing hand?

3. In which type(s) of squeeze do we need to retain
      an entry back to the "winners" hand in order
      to end up there?

4.  In a Trump Squeeze will the FINAL entry to the
      "threats" hand usually be a RUFF or a HIGH CARD?

5.     Dummy:  S- AJ    H- A10    D- Jxx     C- QJxxx
    Declarer:  S-  x    H- xxxxx  D- AKQxx   C- AK

   a) In 7NT LHO leads the S-King.  Assuming that
      LHO has the S-Queen, what Heart holdings
      in LHO's hand will allow us to make 7NT?

   b) At trick 11, when we cash our last Diamond
      in our hand, what will we pitch from Dummy
      if LHO tosses a Spade?

   c) At trick 11, on our last Diamond, what will
      we discard from Dummy if LHO pitches a Heart?

         ---------  A Hand from Tourney Play  ---------

Match Points    North               Pairs 
Dlr: South      
Vul: E-W        S KT873             West     North    East     South
                H T                    
                D 8652
                C Q82                                 pass     1C
    West                   East     1H       1S       pass     2H
                                    pass     2S       pass     3NT
    S QJ2                  S 954    (all pass)
    H K9532                H J84
    D JT3                  D A974   Opening Lead: DJ
    C K3                   C T75    Result: Making 3NT
                North                     
                                 
                S A6
                H AQ76          1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11
                D KQ         N DJ  T  3  K-D3 H2  3 H5  2 H9 HK
                C AJ964      E  2  5  2  8  8  6  T  Q-S3 S7 S8
                             S  A-D4  5  7  9-D7-HJ  T  4 S5 S9
                             W  Q  K-CA-C4 H6 H7  A-C6  A-CJ-C9

     On a diamond lead, Declarer attacks Clubs.  The opponents
cash their Diamonds and switch to a Heart.  Too late!  Declarer
wins the H-Ace, rattles off the Clubs and ends up with H-Q and
S-6 opposite S-K10.  LHO cannot keep S-QJ and the H-King.

KALEIDOSCOPE Series

The KaleidoScope Series, at 8:00 A.M. and either 3:00 P.M. (Monday and Wednesday) or 7:00 P.M. (Tuesday and Thursday) PST from Monday to Thursday, is a lecture program on a variety of subjects: Bidding Light, Maximum Flexibility, Defensive Doubles, LOTT versus "Got More, Bid More" and Squeezes. Unlike the FireSide and 5th Chair sessions mentioned above, the Kaleidoscope Series is a semi-private lesson program for our students. Nevertheless, you are invited to stop by and participate.

The KaleidoScope Series, directed more at that intermediate player than the Rainbow and Spectrum, has quickly become one of our most popular. For $60 for five invaluable lessons ($100 for two series, $150 for all three series) this may be the best bridge instruction available anywhere!

CLICK HERE to email your registration. In the meantime, why not click on the lessons below and start learning now ?

Lesson #1: Bidding Light
Lesson #2: Maxi-Flex
Lesson #3: Defensive Doubles
Lesson #4: LOTT versus "Got More, Bid More"
Lesson #5: Squeezes
Lesson #6: IMPs versus MatchPoints



General Rules of SAYC Bidding
Fit Inspired Bids - "FIBs"
Doubles
Cuebids
IMPs Versus MatchPoints
Lebensohl
Hand Evaluation
Defensive Signals
Jacoby Transfers
Pre-Empts
Jacoby 2NT Response to 1H or 1S
Michaels Cuebids
3 Types of Responding Hands
Percentages in Bridge
Roman Key Card Blackwood
BROZEL over their 1NT
4th Suit Force
Assume Jumps Are Raises
Glossary of Terms
Colin's Rules of Bridge




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Back to Colin's Personal Bridge Page

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