| Hand 1 - The Kiss Of Death? |
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Once again excuse the brevity - I should still have been at Sea but am hospital visiting in Southampton
Many East's will open 1♥ , South will overcall 2♦ , and at pairs West will compete with a negative (takeout) double promising four Spades.
North can place South with five Diamonds and bids 3♦ because it is good practice to compete to the level of the fit (especially at pairs).
East is now strong enough to go straight to 4♠ and 5♦ is a possible sacrifice by South
When South is deciding whether to bid 5♦ they should be looking at the vulnerability and thinking whether they can get away with only two down. Two down doubled is -300 and will beat all the pairs allowing E/W to play in 4♠ for - 420/450/480 to earn a top (100%) whereas three down doubled will be -500 and lose to all pairs allowing E/W to play in 4♠ to earn a bottom ( 0 %)
Only one pair bid 5♦ and were lucky t escape undoubled.
In this kind of auction East West must double (the Kiss of Death) or bid 5♥ /♠ . Passing guarantees them a score lower than making their own game and so guarantees them a bottom♠
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| Squeeze (3) - Rectifying The Count |
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This third Squeeze hand demonstrates a principle called 'Rectifying The Count'
You will have noticed that in our previous two examples declarer had only one potential loser before attempting the squeeze. It is all but impossible to squeeze your opponents if you have more than one loser to eliminate. This means that if you have two losers you must concede one before attempting a squeeze. This concession of a trick to reduce your loser count to one so that a squeeze becomes possible is called 'rectifying the count'.
This hand is very similar to our previous Vienna Coup but North-South are in 6NT and when East leads the ♣7 North can count 11 Top Tricks and two Losers.
The obvious chance for the twelfth trick is to hope the Diamonds split 3-3. An extra chance is if either defender started with the ♥K and four Diamonds they can be squeezed down to four cards as in example 2. Unfortunately this time declarer can only bring the defence down to five cards and the defender under pressure can just let go a Spade, leaving that suit to his partner to protect.
But all is not lost. Can you see Declarer's way out?
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| Show Answer |
Having won the first trick Declarer must immediately concede a Spade trick. Now Declarer has only one loser and if a defender has four Diamonds and the ♥ K they can be squeezed by cashing the ♥A, two Spades and five Clubs. The squeezed defender will be down to four cards and will have to let go either the ♥K or their fourth Diamond.
Declarer is looking at ♦ A K Q x opposite Dummy's ♥ Q ♦ 5 4 3, with the lead in Dummy (South).
If the ♥ K has been discarded then the ♥ Q provides the thirteenth trick.
If declarer hasn't seen the ♥ K then they play off the ♦ A K Q and hope.
They are no worse off than if they hadn't tried the squeeze but they have given themselves a precious extra chance. |
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