Middlesbrough Bridge Club is a member of the English Bridge Union. We meet twice a week in the church hall of The Holy Name Of Mary which is situated at the junction of Eastbourne Road and The Avenue Linthorpe

 TUESDAY   7-10pm          Duplicate bridge

FRIDAY       7-10pm          Duplicate bridge

Club Membership fee is £10 per year. Table money is £4 per session including refreshments.

Chair                       Marion Johnston. Tel. 01642 872483

Secretary                 Angela Ward  Tel.  07866018550

Treasurer                 Ken Harrison   Tel.  07808877191 

Partner Finder   For Tuesday        Michael Mortimer  Tel  07929417561

                             For Friday           Ken Harrison  

Newcomers and Visitors are always welcome to our club. Please contact the Chair or Secretary for more information

Sage advice for intermediate players on No Fear Bridge:

Rare and Quite Exotic: Triple (progressive) squeeze

South in an ambitious 7NT. There are 11 tricks after the lead and one option is to squeeze West twice. West will have to hold 5xS, 3xH, 4xC and 1xD. South cashes 1xH, 1xD, 3xC and 2xS ending in hand. Then he plays off all his winning D. When South's last D is played, South has one card in every other suit. West has 1xS, 2xH, 1xC. Dummy is down to 4xH. A H discard from West will present South with 2 more tricks. A S or C discard will present South with 1 more trick. When South cashes that trick, West is squeezed again.

Stripping for the Squeeze

This hand, from 2.8.24, illustrates the principles of the strip squeeze: 

N
♠ J 3 2
♥ A 9 7
♦ 9 8 3 2
♣ Q J 6 
¨
S 
♠ A K Q 8 6 4
♥ Q 10
♦ K 10
♣ A K 8
Dealer S. Contract 6S

The bidding was ambitious, and South found herself in 6S. The opening lead was a C. South is looking at 10 tricks for certain, another if ♦ A is onside. After drawing trumps in 3 rounds, ending in Dummy, a D is led towards the ♦ K, which holds. East holds ♦ A. West began with ♥ Kxxx and East began with ♥ Jxxx. If South now plays off all her C and S: on the last Spade, East will come down to ♥ Jx and ♦ Ax. If East throws a H, South can lead off ♥ Q, trapping West's ♥ K. If East throws a small D, he can be endplayed with a D. It would not have helped East to have thrown the ♦ A as, then West could have been endplayed in the D. East could have beaten the contract by shooting up with ♦ A first time, then he could not be endplayed. Sadly, although South did attempt a squeeze, she did not attempt one which would work.

Thoughtful South and the luck, to a certain extent, was with North

This hand, from 26.7.24, illustrates some good bidding technique from South and correct playing technique from North, though his efforts were only rewarded by a little help from the defenders: 

N
♠ K 3 2
♥ K
♦ K 9 8 2
♣ A Q J 6 3
¨
S 
♠ A 8 6
♥ A Q 6 4
♦ A 10 6 4
♣ K 8
Dealer N

The full auction, with no bidding from the opponents, was:

N             S           N             S
1C           1H         2D(1)     2S(2)       
2NT(3)     4C(4)    4H          6NT(5)  

1. North's reverse sets South's mind towards a slam
2. Fourth Suit Forcing. South took the view that she could not raise D immediately but obviously needed to make a forcing bid.
3. Technically, shows a minimum for North's reverse
4. Gerber
5. South took the view that she would go for the better-scoring 6NT, as opposed to 6D. In fact, 6NT also turns out to be a better contract than 6D.

North was happy when Dummy went down. Opening lead was a Spade, which North took in his own hand. There are 12 tricks off the top, assuming C's don't break 5-0. North, of course, wanted an overtrick. The squeeze positions are complex. Either hand can be squeezed if it holds 5xH and 3xD or 5xS and 3xD but there are further squeeze chances using a double squeeze, with Spades squeezing both opponents. North played to maximise his chances and got lucky when East unguarded 5xH. 13 tricks scored.

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