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Strip Squeezes
Generally speaking, in squeeze play we have enough winners to take all of the remaining tricks but one, and the operation of the squeeze allows us to get that extra trick. But, in the Strip Squeeze, Declarer loses a trick after the squeeze has taken effect, with the defender being squeezed out of exit cards and being forced to make an unfavorable return. Throw-In Squeezes come up with surprising frequency, so it's worth going through these examples to recognize the basic situation.
Related Play Problems Play Problem 111
Related Extracts from Past Wednesday Games
Against 3NT, East obediently leads a Spade won by West. The Q♥ shift is won by Declarer, and another Spade is lost to West. Now, the best that West can do is exit with a Spade and wait for his K♣ in the end-game. Declarer is unable to score a second Heart trick but she has 10 tricks anyway.
Would East have done better to start with a Heart on opening lead? No, the play goes: Heart to Declarer’s Ace Cash A♦ and K♦ Lose a Spade to West’s King Win the Heart return (pitching a Spade from Dummy) Cash the remaining Diamonds In the 3-card ending, West must hang on to both his Clubs and a high Spade. If Declarer reads the situation correctly (which she should) she can throw in West with a Spade and take the last two Clubs. 10 tricks once again.
Careful play is needed to make 3♠. South leads the J♦, won by North, who shifts to the Q♣. Hopefully, Declarer will read this for a singleton (perhaps the shift was made at the speed of light) and will not cover with the King. North reverts to Diamonds and you ruff that on the board. At this point it may appear that Declarer is doomed to be down one, losing a Heart, a Diamond and 3 Clubs. Not so! Declarer cashes the remaining Spades, ending in hand and arriving at this position: North ♠ ♥ 875 ♦ T76 ♣ Dummy Declarer ♠ ♠ ♥ Q109 ♥ A62 ♦ ♦ K ♣ T86 ♣ K7 South ♠ ♥ KJ4 ♦ ♣ AJ9 Now, Declarer cashes the K♦ and South is squeezed. - If South pitches a Heart then Dummy pitches a Club, after which Declarer cashes the A♥ and throws South in with a Heart, forcing her to give Declarer a 9th trick in Clubs. - If South pitches a Club then Dummy pitches a Heart. Now when Declarer exits a Club, South is caught once more in an end-play.
In 4♠ there are 10 routine tricks. How about 3NT (by North)? If the defense attacks Diamonds then Declarer scores 10 tricks, via 2 Spades, 2 Hearts, 2 Diamonds and 4 Clubs. But suppose that West wins the first Diamond and perversely shifts to a Club. Now Declarer can score only one Diamond trick, but she can cleverly get back up to 10 tricks in this exotic fashion: Diamond lead won by West’s King Club shift won in Dummy Low Heart to the King (West must play low) Three Clubs are cashed Heart to West’s Ace Here is the end-position: Declarer ♠ 2 ♥ Q8 ♦ QT7 ♣ West East ♠ Q75 ♠ 98 ♥ ♥ T9 ♦ A98 ♦ 43 ♣ ♣ South ♠ AKJT64 ♥ ♦ ♣ West cannot exit a Spade for obvious reasons, and if he cashes the ♦A and exits a Diamond then Declarer scores two Diamonds after all. So best is for West is to exit the ♦9. Nice try but not good enough! Declarer wins the Diamond and cashes the ♥Q, catching West in a strip-squeeze: - If West pitches a Spade then Dummy is good - If West pitches a Diamond, she gets thrown in with a Diamond and is forced to concede the last three tricks to Dummy’s Spades. Does that mean that North always makes 10 tricks in 3NT? No, the unlikely opening lead of a Spade will put paid to that pretty end-play.
South reasonably decides to rebid 1NT rather than show his 5-4 distribution. After N-S have crawled up to 3NT, West has no reason not to lead a Club. East’s ♣J will force Dummy’s Ace, and the ♦AK are unblocked. At this point, Declarer has 7 top tricks, and must develop something in the majors. As she doesn’t have the entries to lead Hearts twice from the board, she might try leading a low Heart from hand, hoping that the ♥Q is with West. It’s not, but something even better happens when the Ace pops out of the West hand (Dummy alertly unblocking the Jack). West shifts to a Spade, low from Dummy, won by East. Now East is likely to revert back to Clubs, won on the board. At this point, assuming that the Heart finesse is working, Declarer can count 9 tricks. But interesting things happen on the run of the Diamonds. Here is the position with one Diamond still left: North ♠ KT3 ♥ 4 ♦ 5 ♣ West East ♠ 876 ♠ AQ ♥ ♥ Q87 ♦ ♦ ♣ Q7 ♣ South ♠ 9 ♥ KT9 ♦ ♣ T When that last Diamond is played, East has no good choice: - If he pitches a Spade, then Declarer takes the Heart finesse, and exits a Spade, end-playing East in Hearts. - If he pitches a Heart, then Declarer scores an extra Heart trick. That’s 10 tricks (and probably a top board) on a hand where we expect many Declarers to go down (by playing on Spades).
Against 3NT, East will presumably lead the ♥Q to West’s Ace. The ♥9 is returned and let us say that Declarer ducks that trick and wins the third round with her King (pitching a Diamond from the board). At this point (assuming that the Clubs come home) Declarer can count just 8 tricks and she will eventually take the Spade finesse in search of the 9th trick But, before that happens, West must find three pitches on the run of the Clubs. He can safely pitch one Diamond and must dump his last Heart and pitch only one Spade. Meanwhile East will probably pitch a Spade and three Diamonds (one will be the Queen to tell West that he does not possess the King). Here is the end-position: Declarer ♠ AQ3 ♥ ♦ K ♣ West East ♠ K87 ♠ T ♥ ♥ J ♦ A ♦ JT ♣ ♣ Dummy ♠ J964 ♥ ♦ ♣ At this point, Declarer might make 9 or 10 or 11 tricks: - If Declarer makes the mistake of leading a low Spade from Dummy and finessing the Queen, then it will be 9 tricks. - If Dummy’s Jack is led and West refrains from covering then it will be 10 tricks (the Spades block and West wins the last trick with the ♦A. - If Dummy’s Jack is led and West makes the mistake of covering with the King then the Spades set up for four tricks and it’s 11 tricks!
West’s 3♣ was Puppet Stayman.
Declarer has 10 tricks, with the chance of an 11th in Spades if the A♠ is with North. South leads a Heart and North inserts the Nine if Dummy plays low … now a Club to the Queen and a Spade to the King and Ace. South continues Hearts and 10 tricks are the maximum.
Yes, Declarer can make 11 tricks on a Strip Squeeze (aka Throw-In Squeeze), though we don’t recommend this line of play (but it is fun!): Win the Heart lead Cross to the Q♣ Cross back to A♦ Cash the AK♣, pitching Spades Run the Diamonds, pitching a Spade In the 4-card ending Dummy will hold ♠ J9 and two Hearts … Declarer will have ♠ K6 and ♥ K4. If South comes down to two Hearts and two Spades, the play of K♥ and a Heart will throw South in and force him to concede a Spade … if South comes down to the A♠ and 3 Hearts, then Declarer can score a Spade trick by force.
South has a pretty good hand, but it’s not quite good enough to force to game so she makes do with a 2♥ rebid. Then, after the 2♠ preference, South makes a game try, gladly accepted by North.
With the East hand we would lead the J♥ … it looks like a safer lead than a blind guess in the minor suits. Declarer wins the A♥ and tackles Spades. East gets in with the A♠, continues Hearts, Declarer ducks, wins the third round, continues Spades and gets the news of the 4-2 Spades break. She exits a Spade, and East exits a low Diamond (his best try) won by Dummy's King. We have now reached a very pretty 5-card ending:
North ♠ -- ♥ -- ♦ Q7 ♣ AJ9 West East ♠ -- ♠ -- ♥ Q ♥ -- ♦ J ♦ A9 ♣ K86 ♣ T72 Dummy ♠ 7 ♥ 8 ♦ 6 ♣ Q3
Dummy leads the last Spade, West and North pitch a Diamond, and East, who executed that Throw-In Squeeze back on Board 10, now finds himself the victim of one! If he pitches a Club, Declarer calls for Dummy’s Q♣, and the Club suit brings in 3 tricks. So, he pitches a Diamond, but to no avail … now, Q♣, covered by the King and Ace, and Declarer throws West in with a Diamond.
North leads the A♠, and shift to a trump won by Dummy’s Ten. Declarer has trouble untangling his tricks and the obvious line of play is to play a Diamond to the Ace and a Heart towards the board, hoping that North has the Ace and that she finds herself in a dilemma … either she rises with the Ace and Dummy scores two Heart tricks … or else the K♥ wins, followed by Heart ruff, Spade ruff, etc. Alas for Declarer, the A♥ is with South and it is down one when 8 tricks proves to be the limit.
Declarer has a more obscure line of play available, but one which has the benefit of being both elegant and successful. The A♠ is cashed, Dummy’s Ten wins the Club shift, K♥ losing to the Ace, Club return, Q♥ cashed (pitching a Spade), Heart ruff. Now Declarer runs his trumps and puts North through the wringer. Here is the position with one trump left to play: North ♠ KQ8 ♥ ♦ KT ♣ Declarer Dummy ♠ T6 ♠ ♥ ♥ 76 ♦ A3 ♦ Q98 ♣ 5 ♣ South ♠ 97 ♥ 9 ♦ J4 ♣ It looks as if Declarer has only two tricks remaining, but when he plays the last Club North has no good options. She obviously cannot pitch a Diamond, and if she pitches a low Spade she will get thrown in on a Spade and will be end-played in Diamonds. Perhaps her best shot is to pitch away a high Spade, hoping that South has the Ten, but this fails when Declarer now cashes A♦ and exits a Diamond, this time end-playing North in Spades!
Suppose that East, for whatever reason, decides to start the defense with a Spade lead. Declarer wins two Spades, ruffs a Spade, plays a Heart to the King, crosses to the K♦, leads a Heart to West’s Ace, wins the Diamond return and runs the remaining trumps. Here is the position with one trump left to play: Declarer ♠ ♥ 3 ♦ 8 ♣ Q7 West East ♠ ♠ ♥ ♥ ♦ Q ♦ JT ♣ J86 ♣ K9 Dummy ♠ ♥ ♦ 9 ♣ AT5 East has already been squeezed out of his Spade winners, and now on the last trump he must throw a Diamond winner in order to protect the K♣. As for West he can pitch a Club or a Diamond, but, either way, one defender or the other is about to get thrown in with a Diamond for a Club end-play.
Actually, this squeeze is good enough for 11 tricks on any opening lead, though on a Diamond lead it would require (for entry purposes) an anti-percentage first round Heart finesse.
South will lead a Heart to North’s King, and one possible continuation is to play the A♥, setting up a winner on the board, but also weakening Declarer’s trump holding. We’ll leave the rest of this line of defense for the reader to work through, but with careful play it will be 10 tricks for Declarer (the defense loses a Heart, a Diamond and a Club). Instead, let us follow this more interesting line of play: Heart to North’s King Club to Dummy’s Ace K♦, losing to North’s Ace J♦ to Dummy’s Queen Heart ruff Cash the remaining 4 Clubs With one trump left to play, this is the 5-card end position. North ♠ Q53 ♥ AT ♦ ♣ West East ♠ AK9 ♠ J862 ♥ Q8 ♥ ♦ ♦ ♣ ♣ 6 South Immaterial
On the last Club, West pitches the low Heart and North is caught in a Throw-In Squeeze! If she pitches a Heart, Declarer crosses to the board and throws North in with a Spade, forcing her to lead away from her Q♠. And if she pitches a Spade it’s even worse, now Declarer scores all of the remaining tricks!
The lead that gives Declarer most trouble (in 2♠) is the T♠. Now, the defense will be able to stop the Heart ruff, and, even with the Diamonds behaving so well, there are only 7 obvious tricks. However, Declarer has a nifty resource. She wins the opening lead with the King, finesses the J♦, then finesses the 9♣ to West’s Queen. Back comes a Spade, and East draws trumps and shifts to the J♥. Declarer must not play the Queen … instead, low from her hand, won by the Ace, then cash the Diamonds, coming down to a 3-card ending. West is caught in a Throw-In Squeeze. If he keeps ♥K and ♣Kx, he gets thrown in with a Heart and must lead away from his K♣ … and, if he comes down to ♥Kx and ♣K, then the Clubs are good.
South leads the Spade Five, which has all the appearance of being from a 4-card suit. North wins the A♠, and returns the Ten. It may appear at first sight that those top 9 tricks are all that Declarer can take, he doesn’t have the timing to set up additional minor suit winners. Not so! Suppose that Declarer wins the K♠ at Trick Two, cashes the A♥ and J♥ (unblocking the suit in case it splits 5-1) and exits a Spade! South cashes her last Spade, then Dummy wins the red suit return, and runs the Hearts. North is squeezed on the last Heart, and must unguard one of the minor suits. Making 10 tricks.
Does South do better not to cash the 4th Spade? Let’s say that, in an attempt to spoil the squeeze, she returns a Diamond after winning the 3rd Spade. Nice try, but to no avail, here is the position with one Heart still to be played: North ♠ 8 ♥ ♦ KJ ♣ Q54 Dummy East ♠ ♠ ♥ 9 ♥ ♦ AT ♦ Q54 ♣ K92 ♣ AT7 South ♠ J ♥ ♦ 763 ♣ J8 North cannot pitch a Club or a Diamond so she must let her Spade go. Now a Diamond is led towards Declarer’s Queen for the 10th trick.
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