Squeezes: Principle of Pattern Recongition

[inquiry]

This is a thread with more information/examples on squeezes and pattern recognition, more or less in response to a question about how best to learn squeezes.

 

I will assume, since this is an advanced/Expert discussion group, that all the readers know the minimum requirements for a simple squeeze. Having said that, we will still start this thread with a simple offensive hand, then next post a simple defensive hand, were recognizing the basic squeeze position can occur at trick one and how that leads to the play of the hand. In later post we will investigate how to recognizing defects in the basic patterns how this recognition will aid you in identifying and executing more elaborate and “fancy” (or rare) squeezes.

 

First up….

 

[hv=d=s&v=n&n=satha4dkqt98caq54&s=sj986hk32daj3ck32]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

West North East South

 

 -     -     -     1♣

 Pass  1♦    Pass  1♠

 Pass  2♥    Pass  2NT

 Pass  3♦    Pass  4♦

 Pass  4NT   Pass  5♣

 Pass  6NT   Pass  Pass

 Pass  

 

Opening lead club jack.

 

As an expert or advanced player, you will quickly count your trick (1S, 2H, 5D, 3C = 11). In fact, this is a “defect” in the “basic” squeeze position because at this point with 11 winners, you have two losers. So if you think squeeze, you think the normal way to correct this “defect” by “correcting the count” maneuver.

 

So since you are thinking possible squeezes, you look next for threats. If someone has 4C’s, they have to protect against dummy’s long club (and if clubs are 3-3 now, they will be 3-3 later). If you lose the spade ten to the king or queen, then the spade JACK will be promoted to a threat. Finally, if either opponent has six hearts your little heart is a threat. If not, the little heart threatens both opponent. The club threat is in one hand, the spade and heart threat is in the other.

 

So losers are right (with a correct the count), and suitable threats exist, but in any squeeze position, always look (and protect – if possible) your required entries. Heart has entry in its own suit (heart ACE), clubs has an entry in its own suit (Club ACE). Spades will be blocked (no entry in spades to the spade jack threat), so if spades come into play, you may need to cash (unblock) the spade ACE at some point, or play the more complicated criss-cross squeeze.

 

Next you might draw some assumptions, for instance, you might assume that WEST, based upon his lead, is most likely to be long in clubs and protect against the club threat. What potential squeezes can you see? Club and spade on either opponent (threats divided). Club and heart on either opponent if that opponent is 6-4 in hearts and clubs – not very likely - and double squeeze if and only if WEST has clubs, EAST has spades, and both have hearts. Why can’t EAST have clubs and west spades? Because then both threats against WEST (spades and hearts) will be held in the hand in front of him.

 

With the assumption that WEST has four clubs, the slam is cold, but even a good player might not make it. The patterns will tell us why…

 

If west has both spade honors, low spade to ten solves the hand. West has to split the honors, and you just then give up a spade to establish more spade tricks.

 

If west has one spade honor, spade to ten loses to EAST, but now west has the last spade stopper and is busy in two black suits. Notice these are split between the hands, and there is entry in the club suit. So the squeeze will be automatic (cash spade ACE before the last red card winner).

 

But, if you have reason to believe that EAST has both top spades, you could play for a double squeeze. Now, EAST stops spades, WEST stops clubs and they both stop hearts. But this is the problem. To play for a club-spade squeeze on WEST requires cashing winners in one way (cash hearts before playing on club), and the double squeeze another line (don’t dare cash the hearts, run the black winners and diamonds). This is why the hand will be cold if West guards clubs, but you still may not make it. But you should be able to recognize the pattern of both these squeezes before you even play to trick one, and you start working on figuring out which one to play for.

 

I would play WEST for at least one spade honor, and play for the club-spade simple squeeze. In fact, on this hand, this would have worked (full hand below). But with this introduction, we will branch out into recognizing defects in the basic squeeze endings, that suggest alternative types of squeezes. For example, we will return to this hand in a later post in this thread, but weaken it by swapping the spade 5 for the spade JACK and show how the defense has to play carefully to set the contract in that case.

[hv=d=s&v=n&n=satha4dkqt98caq54&w=sq432ht65d42cjt98&e=sk75hqj987d765c76&s=sj986hk32daj3ck32]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

 

Ben

[inquiry]

Pattern recognition is key to identify squeezes. And this works equally well on defense... if you hope to be able to play double dummy defense, you have to recognize patterns. This south player gets two chances to break up an impending squeeze, and he squanders both. Let's see how a tiny bit of counting and a lot of pattern recognition might have saved his bacon. And how, you TOO can find the right defense (the attached file is a play along lin file you can use if you like).

 

The problem, as it often does, occurs at trick one. Unnecessary signaling can be death of us all... This North South partnership was using UDCA carding, so on the Diamond queen, WEST (with a sure trump winner) felt the URGENT need to signal he didn't have a top diamond strongly with the Diamond 8... let's see how this decision eventually allowed the contract to make...(ah, the power of the eight!!!!). Can you see why the eight is so key? PATTERN RECONITION IS THE ONLY WAY TO APPRECIATE THE VALUE OF THE DIAMOND EIGHT.

 

Dealer: South Vul: All Scoring: IMP

♠ 6 ♥ JT987642 ♦ 643 ♣ 2 ♠ KQJ7 ♥ Q53 ♦ 852 ♣ J93

 

West North East South

 

 -     -     -     Pass

 2♣    Pass  2♦    Pass

 3NT   Pass  4♦    Pass

 4♥    Pass  4NT   Pass

 5♥    Pass  6♥    Pass

 Pass  Pass  

 

2♦ = negative

3NT = 25-26 by agreement

4♦ = transfer

4♥ = as asked

4NT = RKCB for ♥

5♥ = two or five key cards

 

Opening lead DQ

 

Let's do some counting. We can see 11 of the hearts, so declarer has H-AK (from five controls, knew this anyway). From partners lead, declarer also has D-AK. We know he has both black suit ACES.... let's count his hand. 4ACES + 2Kings = 22 hcp. So let's count tricks for them: 7Hearts, 2Diamonds, 1Club, 1Spade. If he has the club king, he has 12 tricks, and we can go home. So we play partner for club king. From partner's lead, this is now truly double dummy, so let's see all the hands (partner has to have D-QJ9(x) or QJT(x)).

 

[hv=d=s&v=a&n=s5432hdqjtck87654&w=sat98hakdak97caqt&e=s6hjt987642d643c2&s=skqj7hq53d852cj93]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

Ok.. so play at the table went (to show what is wrong with the playing the diamond 8)...

 

T1. --> DQ D3 D8 DK

T2. --> HA S2 H2 H3 <-- partner give even count

T3. --> HK S3 H4 H5 <-- in spades

T4. --> SA S4 S6 S7

T5. --> S8 S5 H6 SJ

T6. --> HJ HQ D7 C4 <-- even count in clubs (4-0-3-6 or 4-0-5-4)

T7. --> D2 DA DT D4 <-- the second mistake, more later

T8. --> S9 C6 H7 SQ

T9. --> HT D5 D9 C5

T10.--> H8 C9 CT C7

T11.--> H9 C3 ST C8 <-- partner squeeze, can’t keep two clubs and diamond

T12.--> C2 CJ CA CK

T13.--> CQ DJ D6 SK

 

Declarer has two lines. He can play you for the club king, and hook you, or he can play your partner for the club king, AND SINCE YOU NO HAVE A DIAMOND HIGHER than the dummies 6.. and squeeze him. While the odds favor, initially, finessing you for the ♣K, the opening lead and your diamond 8 play, combined with vacant space theory (10 unknown slots in your hand versus 13 in his), slightly favor playing for the squeeze now. But even if it was 50-50 chance, or even if odds were much better to play you for the club king, why squander your diamond 8 and give him a chance?

 

And here is the pattern recognition that you should have seen at trick one. Partner has the top diamond and top club. But both his minor suit cards sit BEHIND (in the upper hand) declarer. So the squeeze will never work with the declarer's Diamond NINE as a threat card. One threat card has to be behind partner. So the dummy diamond Six is the threat. Your Eight is bigger than the six, save it, no squeeze. Simple and easy to see, at trick one..... if you are not in such a hurry to send a signal your partner will never be able to use anyway (if he gets in, they are down). When you see an automatic play, stop and think just a second… it may not be so automatic.

 

Play it again, but you saving the diamond eight (and at trick 7, obviously return low diamond, rather than again an automatic eight – it is worth knowing that when this hand was played, all standard signal people played D2 at trick one, but if they returned a diamond, they returned the DIAMOND 8 when they won the heart…. after this thread we will all know better). There is no way for declarer to make it on a diamond return IF you clutch tightly to the diamond 8.

 

What was the second mistake, at trick 7 on the hand if you did throw the diamond 8? Well, having thrown the diamond 8 away, pattern recognition will tell you a second way to assure the defeat of the contract. Declarer will have to unblock in diamonds to activate the diamond 6 threat (technically this unblock is known as a Vienna coup). But one requirement of a squeeze is there must be an entry to the hand opposite the squeeze card. So if you return a club at trick seven, you will spoil his necessary entry condition for his simple squeeze. He can not then unblock in diamonds, without killing all entries to the closed hand. The low club is also deadly even if you preserved the diamond 8.

 

Finally, just as an object lesson, what if you keep the diamond eight but return one of your monster spades? This will not work due to an interesting trump squeeze the ending will be...

 

[hv=d=s&v=a&n=s5432hdqjtck87654&w=sat98hakdak97caqt&e=s6hjt987642d643c2&s=skqj7hq53d852cj93]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

On the heart JACK, you must keep a spade, and you must keep a diamond (throw spade and 10 is good, throw diamond, west throws club, plays diamond ace, and ruffs spade to squeeze partner as before as the diamond 8 has fallen). So you will throw a club, declarer a spade, and partner? If a club, then club ace, ruff a club, and ♦A as an entry to the queen. If a diamond, then club ACE, and club queen for ruffing finessee with the diamond ace as re-entry to good club.

 

Only five declarers managed to make 12 tricks. Three on spade king lead, where 12 tricks is oddly enough cold. The attached file is this hand in LIN FILE format, and you can play it your self.. to try the various options, to see how this works.

 

Ben

SQUEEZ_1.lin

[inquiry]

AT least a few people are getting something out of this thread, so I will continue it. Does the concept of a lin file to download and play around with on your own help (like in the last reply)? Is it worth my effort to try to create them and fix it so you can download them? Anyway here we go again....

 

In another thread, this hand showed up. The line of play there was to ruff clubs for a partial elimination. I have nothing against this, and if fact, if trumps were 2-2 it would lead to a good chance on a diamond elimination and throw in or on a spade elimination and throw in.

 

[hv=d=n&v=n&n=skjxhkqxdat9catxx&s=sa98hajxxxxdkxxc8]133|200|Scoring: IMP

1♣

-------

1♥

1NT

------

2♣

3NT*

-----

4NT

5♣**

-----

6♥

 

* 4-3-3-3 Max with 3 ♥

** 0 3 KC

[/hv]

 

But in this thread we are training ourselves to look for squeeze hand patterns, and to find FLAWS in the basic pattern, and see how other these flaws suggest other lines of play. I suggested in that thread, there maybe something to learn with this hand, so let’s see what might be here. On this hand it doesn’t take very long to see a lot of the general requirements for a squeeze exist. First, we have 2♠, 6♥, 2♦ and 1♣ off the top for 11 tricks. We have potential threats in spades, diamonds, and clubs. And we have entries in all the suits in except clubs.

 

From the lead, it might be the nine top of nothing lead (but is not for certain--see below), so that only EAST guards against the club threat. What can we do with this information?

 

Well, if EAST guards clubs, and has the spade QUEEN, both squeeze threats are in the hand in front of him. This is a FLAW in the basic squeeze position, for lack of a threat in what Dr. Clyde Love calls the “UPPER” hand. There are ways to compensate for the lack of an upper threat, so this is as good as place as any to introduce two of them. One way, is to execute a vulnerable stopper strip-squeeze, where you remove by physical means, or via a squeeze, all exit cards from your opponent, and then throw him with one of his guards to lead away from the other “vulnerable” guard. Let you mind wander to where you cash all your winners but the spade ACE ending in dummy in this position.

 

[hv=n=skjxhdct&w=sxxhdqxc&e=sqxxhdca&s=saxxhdxc]399|300|Imagine now, cross to the spade King, and lead the club Ten and throw your last diamond[/hv]

 

So this is one way to deal with no threat in the upper hand, if there one of the stoppers are “vulnerable”, you need to keep an extra loser (to perform this SQUEEZE you must not don’t duck a club at trick one), because you have to use that to throw the opponent in. So here is the DEFECT, no threat in the upper hand, and the correction, save a loser to throw that opponent in with one of the threats to get a forced lead away from the other. When you think about this, it is logical. You can identify the threats, you can identify if none are in the upper hand. If not, think of this mechanism. Seems hard at first, but really, look at it, it is child’s play.

 

Ok, there are other ways to deal with lack of a threat in the upper hand. The most impressive way perhaps was first describe in an incredible article by Geza Ottlik in The BridgeWorld magazine. He referred to this squeeze he found that does works without meeting the “U-requirement” as a “BACKWASH SQUEEZE.” The name backwash was suggested to Ottlik because of the highly unusual nature of the squeeze to work in a backward manner without an apparent threat lying over the hand being squeezed. It turns out, in reality, there is a threat over the hand but more of that in a later thread if interest warrants (now someone has already asked about backwash squeeze so it has been discussed a little bit in its own thread).

 

But mostly, when you lack an “upper” threat, you should look to see if you can convert one of the threats, or look for a third threat suit. That is, you can ignore the obvious threat (spade JACK in this case) if you have a potential threat in the suit in question in your own hand. Here, for instance, if east has spade QTx, then they spade 9 in your hand serves just as well as the threat. In this case, you have a threat in the upper hand, and a threat in the lower hand. But you are asking a lot, EAST with KQJx of clubs and QTx of spades.

 

If EAST has all the top clubs, other squeeze positions are possible of course. If West has the diamond QJ(x) or any five diamonds, they are in the grips of a double squeeze (West has to keep a diamond, East has to keep a club, so neither or them can keep a three spades.

 

One problem on many hands, however, and is evident here, is that you will not know if you can isolate threats in two suits to individual opponents. Here, if we assume EAST has the top clubs (for analytical purposes), we still do not know if EAST or West has both top diamonds, or if they are split between the hands, or if either opponent has five diamonds. Obviously we don’t know who has the spade Queen. This could be considered a FLAW in both. If you “transfer” the thread from spades from North to South, so that both opponents can have spade card higher than the nine, you might imagine EAST alone guards the club and both stops diamonds and spades. The way to overcome this situation is something called a compound squeeze. A compound squeeze is fairly easy to understand, it is a squeeze in three suits on one opponent. If East (who must guard clubs), is forced to discard down to two diamonds or two spades, then only WEST will have a stopper in that suit. And the hand turns into a double squeeze. But there is a catch. The double squeeze that is established has to be one that works. For instance, if you duck the first CLUB, and then win the second club with the ACE, you will be FORCED to discard either a diamond or a spade. If you discard a diamond, the diamond threat will be in dummy, so EAST can break up any pending double squeeze by giving up his spade guard (The subsequent double squeeze will fail, because there will be no threat in the upper hand against EAST (what with diamond threat in dummy). If you discard a spade, East can abandon his diamond guard.

 

It turns out, that if East has the spade Queen and diamond guards are split, the compound squeeze will fail. There is a technical reason for this dealing with entry conditions, but we haven’t laid them out yet. But the problem is that you have to weaken your by discarding a spade or diamond, forcing the threat in that suit to your hand. This means when you cash the club ace you will have to throw away the card in the other suit from your hand so that EAST can plan his defense accordingly to break up the appropriate pending double squeeze.

So ducking the first club, while looking nice, turns out it is not be the best strategy if EAST has the spade queen (strip squeeze works in this case). Best is to run trumps and see if it looks like EAST is clutching onto spades, you can go for the vulnerable stopper squeeze.

 

But there is another huge problem. How sure are you that the club NINE is top of nothing? EAST could have doubled RKCB response of five clubs as a lead director. With KQJx(x) surely he would have doubled 5♣. So we have reason to believe the club 9 was from J9(x) or Q9(x). So now, you don’t know for sure who stops any of the suits, and the defense might unblock clubs so that you can’t throw EAST in for spade lead. But this hand has a neat feature, both their returns in diamonds or spades expose them to vulnerable stopper endplays what with D-AT9 and S-KJ looming in dummy.

 

So now is as good as time as any to mention that sometimes, two losers are sometimes better than one in a squeeze ending. Here you will be squeezing both opponents in three suits. Like all three suit squeeze, this one “ripen” on the next to last squeeze card. So let’s imagine what might happen if you win the first club, and run all but two hearts (ruff only one club).

 

[hv=n=skjxhdct&w=sxxhdqxc&e=sqxxhdca&s=saxxhdxc]399|300|Imagine now, cross to the spade King, and lead the club Ten and throw your last diamond[/hv]

 

At this point, when you lead the heart ten, if west throws a spade or a diamond, it will allow the spade or diamond threat in your hand to become activated (and this is the upper hand). This is great for you, as now the compound squeeze we talked about will work. West will discard a club, which activates the ability to throw EAST in with a club, if need be.

 

Anyway, this hand we found:

• With no threat in upper hand, with two losers, you can try for vulnerable stopper squeeze
  
• We discussed possibility of compound squeeze and found defense that can beat compound squeeze attempt on this hand.
  
• We found that three suit squeeze occur on the next to the last free winner
  

[inquiry]

[hv=d=s&v=n&n=sat8hat4d4ckjt754&s=sk7h965dakt3caq63]133|200|Scoring: MP

West North East South

 

 -     -     -     1NT

 Pass  2♠   3♠  3NT  

 Pass  6♣    Pass 6NT

All PAss  

 

Opening lead ♠J, we win king, and cash club ace, EAST discards a spade

[/hv]

 

Three ways to deal with flaws in basic entry conditions

 

Hand from today... http://bridgebase.lunarpages.com/cgi-bin/h...etchlin=9239925

 

Ok 6♣ would have been laydown (6♣, 2♠, 1♠ruff, 2♦ and 1♥). But you were thinking that at matchpoint (changed to MP for problem) that 6NT would be better. Too bad, 6♣ is cold. Now you have some work to do. So study the hand patterns. East bid 3♠, missing AKJT, so you can be sure he has six (and 99% seven) spades. So only EAST can stop spades. What squeezes might exist?

 

Basic squeeze requires that EAST hold either KQJ of hearts of QJx of diamonds. But in squeeze endings, it is very important to pay attention entry conditions and where the threats are located. If East has the hearts, you will need the heart nine in your hand as a threat card. But your entry condition is very shaky. Let's see why.

 

When you try to correct the count, GOOD DEFENSE can break up your basic squeeze position. Let's imagine all the hearts with 'EAST...

 

[hv=d=s&v=n&n=sathat4d4c&w=shxxxdqjxc&e=sq9hkqjdxc&s=s7h965dakc]399|300|Scoring: MP[/hv],

 

this looks like it will work by ducking a heart, but if you do, it is a failing case. East will win the heart and exit a diamond (BE SURE to notice the importance of a diamond return when a heart is ducked to break up the squeeze). The heart blockage if fatal here... as you will have to cash two both diamonds, but on the second diamond, dummy is squeezed first. This is the failing case because you couldn't play a vienna coup: You had to unblock the heart ACE for a vienna coup, but if you did that before ducking a heart, they would cash two heart winners. There are two ways to overcome this ending. SO THE FLAW IS PROBLEM WITH ENTRY CONDITION. Remember the vulnerable stopper squeeze in the last thread? Instead of correcting the count by ducking a heart, simply cash both diamond winners. East has to keep the Qx of spades, so he is required to reduce to two hearts. Now cash heart ACE and throw him in with heart.

 

So here you had squeeze threats in both hands (Spade Ten, heart nine). And yet you used the same vulnerable stopper squeeze to overcome entry problems. The vulnerable stopper squeeze is working a lot for you.. .. to fix flaws in the basic position. In last thread, it came to your rescue when there was no threat in the upper hand. Here it comes to your aid to compensate for a FLAW in the entry condition.

 

Is there another way to handle this ending with East having KQJ? Yes, can play to perserve your spade entry to your hand. Ducking a trick too early is still fatal but you can play for what Clyde Love calls a Delayed duck CLE squeeze (companion, lead, entry). The CLE ending, which is another way to overcome the defect in the entry condition (where you can not duck a trick without them breaking up your basic squeeze ending). What you do here is win the SPADE ACE, and cash your minor suit winners (diamonds first or clubs, no difference), comming to something like this..

 

[hv=d=s&v=n&n=sathat4d4c&w=shxxxdqjxc&e=sq9hkqjdxc&s=s7h965dakc]399|300|Scoring: MP[/hv]

 

So you have two ways to deal with East having heart KQJ along with his six or seven spades. What is instead he has diamond QJx? You can force him to split his diamonds by leading a diamond towards AKT and then execute a vulnerable stopper squeeze in either spades or diamonds.

 

You can also make the hand if EAST has KQ, QJ, or KJ doubleton hearts (or of course four hearts, because he can't avoid the vulnerable stopper squeeze). The reason is another odd correction for FLAW in basic squeeze positions. Since EAST has only two hearts, you can duck a heart, to establish the heart threat against South. This sets up a "double squeeze" with heart threat against West, spade threat against EAST, and diamond against, both. When you study squeezes, you will find that the both threat has to have an entry or the double squeeze is killed. but, when a simple squeeze has no entry to the hand opposite the squeeze card, you can use a guard squeeze to overcome it. Same thing here.. when a a double squeeze is flawed by lack of an entry in the "both" threat suit. And since hearts will be partially finessable, then you can use the double guard squeeze.

 

So here is the play for this case... win spade ACE, and duck a heart. It takes a diamond return to break up the double squeeze, but look at what the ending will be (here we set set EAST to KJ doubleton heart), and run diamonds.

[hv=d=s&v=n&n=sathat4d4c&w=shxxxdqjxc&e=sq9hkqjdxc&s=s7h965dakc]399|300|Scoring: MP[/hv]

 

On the last club, East is squeeze in three suits. If he throws a spade, your long spade is good (cash spade king, diamond K, and corss to heart ACE). If East throws a diamond, it will expose his partner to a red suit squeeze, where a spade to king will squeeze WEST in the red suits. And if east throws a heart? A spade the king, the diamond king for a spade discard from dummy, and then finesse teh heart Queen.

 

So what have we learned? When the basic squeeze position has entry flaws, you can turn to

• Vulnerable stopper squeeze if loser count =2
  
• Turn to delayed duck squeeze (CLE) if you have the requirements, loser = 2
  
• execute a double guard squeeze (or guard squeeze) if a side suit is partially finessable and you ahve a winner in the both suit
  

Ben

[Guest Jlall]

whats a squeeze?

[xx1943]

AT least a few people are getting something out of this thread,

Hi Ben,

 

this thread is great, because your explanations are better and clearer as everything I've read in boox.

 

This thread is a must for every player to improve his/her skills. :)

 

Many thanks. ;)

 

Al

[OrShoham]

I agree - an excellent thread. I would love to see more examples - particularly on game-contract squeezes, which are often more difficult to find than slam-squeezes (where there is often no other choice BUT to play for a squeeze), and when to execute a squeeze over another line of play (Finesses, play for drops, etc.).

 

Or

[inquiry]

whats a squeeze?

Hi,

 

This is an advanced/expert discussion thread and while the discussion so far has been aimed more for the advanced than the experts, it is assumed the readers are at a fairly high level. For instance, the assumption is all the readers not only know what a squeeze is, but also fully understand the functioning of the basic squeezes. I suggest people interest in what is a squeeze read the following by excellent on line (free) article by Richard Pavlicek

http://www.rpbridge.net/6d00.htm

 

While your question is more suited for the beginner/intermediate section, I guess someone should answer it. At the most basic level, a squeeze is a play that cause your opponent to play (generally discard) a necessary card at the cost of a trick (the cost might not be immediate).

 

Squeezes have a variety of requirements, most of which can be explained in the following small cluster of ending familiar to all of us....

 

[hv=n=saqhdc&w=skxhdc&e=sxxhdc&s=sxxhdc]399|300|Example 1[/hv]

 

With the lead in south, when a spade is played, West has two choice, both losers for him. This we all know, as the finessee is the most basic of bridge plays. So you would think this extremely simple ending, you have all the tricks. This is true, if the lead is with South. What if the lead was with north? Then you must lose a trick. The correct for this is simple enough. We all know not to lock ourselves in the wrong hand when a finsessee is possible. So change the hand slighlty.. to this....with the lead in north

 

[hv=n=saqhdc&w=skxhdc&e=sxxhdc&s=sxxhdc]399|300|Example 1[/hv]

 

Now it is a piece of cake. Lead heart to ACE and then play a spade. We do this automatically, because we reconginize the basic finessee position and the need to have the lead in the appropriate hand. Let's change it again.. Say from the bidding you know the bidding that spade king is behind the queen...

 

[hv=n=saqhdc&w=skxhdc&e=sxxhdc&s=sxxhdc]399|300|Example 1[/hv]

 

Now you can exit a heart, and if (when) EAST win the heart ace, he has to lead a spade for you. The heart exit here is right EVEN if you have no clue who has the spade king, or the heart ace for that matter. And you should exit a heart in this three card ending even if you are in south's hand.

 

What do these have to do with squeezes? They show a couple of things. First they show the importance of UPPER (a threat behind the opponent). In example one it was the spade queen with WEST to play first. Second, they shows the importance of entry (the E in BLUE) and being able to be in the right hand at the right moment and the ability to get to the other hand (compare ending one with north on lead to ending 2 with north on lead or ending one with south on lead), or try this by chaning both of south's spades to two small clubs (and one of EAST's spades to a large club). They also show, more or less, the concept of L (loser), in that one loser was left or else you don't need the finessee in example one, and in three, when you duck the heart, you correct the loser to one, to get the forced sapde return. Again, if you think loser is not one, have lead in north in the first example. This also shows my approach for studying squeezes at the simpliest level. We all know what a finessee looks like. We all can see when the finessee is flawed (example 3 where we know or suspect the hook maybe off). And having reconignized the hook has a problem, we all know how to "correct" for this "flaw" in the basic finessee ending. Squeeze plays can be approached in the same manner, once you recognize the flaw in the basic endings, you can start looking for a select group of alternative squeeze to correct for such flaws (guard squeeze for instance if there is no entry to the hand opposite the squeeze card in either threatt suit).

 

What isn't showm in the above endings is the concept of "both" (the B requirement). We could make a few minor final adjustment to the ending to show this requirement....

 

[hv=n=saqhdc&w=skxhdc&e=sxxhdc&s=sxxhdc]399|300|Example 1[/hv]

 

When you play a heart to the ace, WEST has to choose. Does he discard a spade, so your SPADE-AK are good, or does he discard a diamond, so your Diamond Queen-Spade ACE are good. Here he is busy in two suits. This ending has all the requirements for a basic simple squeeze. An entry (spade Ace), a threat in teh upper hand (spade JACK), correct loser count (two winners one loser), and an opponent BUSY in two suits (West protects against both spades and diamonds). Note if EAST and WEST hands were reversed, this squeeze would work just as well, the only difference is now the UPPER threat will be the diamond Queen instead of the spade JACK.

 

Ben

[inquiry]

Ok, want no slams? How about a doubled partscore at matchpoints? This will deal with cardreading, with finding one of the most common flaws, and then fixing it.

 

[hv=d=e&v=b&n=sqj3haq73dk9542c3&s=s6hk95dt863ck9754]133|200|Scoring: Matchpts

West  North  East  South

---    ---    Pass  Pass

1♣  Pass      1♠    Pass

2♠    Pass  Pass  3♦

Pass  Pass  3♠    Pass

Pass  4♦    Pass  Pass

Dbl    All Pass  

 

Opening lead low spade to the Ace and a low spade back.[/hv]

The bidding is a little hard to explain. Hey it was matchpoints, my 3♦ bid got them to 3♠ where it was a win-win for us.. partner bid 4♦ not knowing how wacky I can be... So now to the play.

 

Your first instinct might be to discard something now to set up a spade tricks, but you lose 2♠, 1♣, 1♦ for -200. This will not do at matchpoints, as you surely will win 1S, 2H for -170 at most if you let them play a partscore, and you could maybe win a third heart and two minor kings. No, down one is just not good.

 

So you ruff the spade. You will need diamonds 2-2, as otherwise you will have 2♦ losers (At least) and a spade and a club for same minus 200. Add to that the diamond ACE has to be on side. So you count your winners.. 4♦ in dummy if diamonds behave. Two spade ruffs, and three top hearts. That comes to nine tricks. You might be thinking ruff some clubs in dummy, but if you fail to pull trumps, EAST will overruff, and if you pull trumps, you will not have suitable entries to ruff out the club ace and enjoy the long one.

 

Well, first things first, your lead a diamond. West wins the diamond ace as east drops the diamond Queen, and leads a spade king (killing possible spade threat against him). You ruff the spade, and lead a diamond to the king, both opponents follow suit, EAST with the Diamond JACK.

 

With ♦'s behaving you have 9 tricks sure tricks. A tenth one could come from a 3-3 ♥ split, or the ♣K if the Ace is with East. The simpliest way to play this ending is to combine your chances lead towards the ♣K, and if that loses to West’s ♣A, try for a 3-3 ♥ split. However, you are not going to throw away your top on any such silly line. Surely East, who has shown up with the ♠A and ♦QJ will not also have the ♣A. The reason being that with at least 11 HCP and an nine card ♠ fit, he would have tried for game over West’s 2♠ raise. Second, West has shown up with the ♠K and ♦A. The most he can hold in ♥s is the ♥J. While some players might open with a hand like ♠K-x-x ♥J-x-x-x ♦A-x ♣Q-J-x-x, surely he would not have unilaterally risked a double of 4♦ with that hand. Thus, you know he needs the ♣A for his bidding.

 

So you are thinking squeeze, in case WEST has four hearts to the JACK and the club king. You have nine winners now, and two losers. You have redundant entries in the heart suit that can not be broken (it they lead a heart, win first round in dummy). So the play is easy. The FLAW here is a simple one, your loser count is incorrect. Lead a club, and no matter what EAST plays, duck it. Win the return in dummy (ruff spade or win heart), and run your diamond winners.

 

West held four 4-4-2-3, and the squeeze works.

 

Lesson on this hand is one that probably should have come first, is the most basic of corrections in squeeze endings.

• When the loser count is too high, and it is safe to do so... Correct the count by losing the necessary trick.
  

[Guest Jlall]

ben, i was kinda being sarcastic dude. lol

[inquiry]

ben, i was kinda being sarcastic dude. lol

Really? Oh my.... silly me. B)

 

Your question did give me an opportunity to slip some extremely basic stuff in an advanced/expert thread so all seems so well... i wonder... could i have possibly known you were being sarcastic? hmmm :blink:

[Guest Jlall]

well you posted a few paragraphs in response so i wasnt sure B) lol

[inquiry]

Going to change the approach this time. I will show the hand in this post, and then describe the basic flaw in the squeeze position, but not give the solution... yet...

 

This is a hand from rgb quite a few ago, but never with the right play.

 

[hv=n=sak2ha32dk2ca6542&s=s543hqdaqjt987ck3]133|200|Contract 7 Diamonds South

 

Opening lead small trump. [/hv]

 

7♦+2♠+1♥+2♣ is 12 tricks. If clubs are 4-2 or 3-3 you can always set up a long club by pulling trumps, ruffing a club, crossing to dummy and ruffing another club. So your first assumption is that clubs are 5-1. If clubs are spit badly, the other threat suits will be hearts (which has to be in dummy) or spades. Since there is no ♣-♥ squeeze on EAST (no threat in upper hand). Spade you can have a threat in dummy or your own hand. But what is the flaw? The flaw is while WEST might have 5 clubs, it is highly unlikely he also has eight hearts, so both opponents will stop hearts. Also, if spades are divided 4-3 either way both opponents will have a apde guard. So the "B" requirement is FLAWED through and through if WEST has has five clubs.

 

But, this hand has a feature that will allow you to compensate for the lflaw in the "B" requirement. NEXT TIME, what this feature is, and how to take advantage of it.

[OrShoham]

Thanks, Ben. The 4D example is exactly the sort of thing I wanted to see.. just, umn, remind me never to raise your balance-bids.. ever... EVER. :)

[inquiry]

Thanks, Ben. The 4D example is exactly the sort of thing I wanted to see.. just, umn, remind me never to raise your balance-bids.. ever... EVER. :rolleyes:

Well, I was playing with a partner who refused to bid his hands.... After 1C-P-1S with five four in the reds, you would think he would bid... but I knew this partner had a horrible tendency to sit on the fence..... so this was self-preservation. With any normal red blooded partner, I wouldn't have balanced....

 

Ok, before we solve the hand from my last post, I will answer a few comments about what is the basic squeeze pattern. Ideally it one in which one opponent guards against two threats, and these threats are split between the two hands. The most basic of the endings is the the thread opposite the last squeeze card has an entry in its own suit. Something like the very easy...

 

[hv=n=sajhdc2&w=skqhadc&e=shqjtdc&s=s3hkdca]399|300|When you play the club ACE, the theats are heart King and spade Jack. WEST is busy guarding against both threats, and the spade ACE is the entry to the spade JACK threat[/hv]

 

One absolute requirement (for a simple squeeze) is that the hand opposite the squeeze card have an entry ONE OF THE threat suits. The best entry is in the threat suit held in that hand (as was the case with the spade JACK in the previous example. But if not in spades, it can be in threat suit held by the other hand. But this raises the requirements, because you will (generally) need now a secondary entry back to the hand with the squeeze card. Let's look at two endings where this re-entry is required...

 

[hv=n=sajhdc2&w=skqhadc&e=shqjtdc&s=s3hkdca]399|300|When you play the club ACE, the theats are heart King and spade Jack. WEST is busy guarding against both threats, and the spade ACE is the entry to the spade JACK threat[/hv]

 

 

[hv=n=sajhdc2&w=skqhadc&e=shqjtdc&s=s3hkdca]399|300|When you play the club ACE, the theats are heart King and spade Jack. WEST is busy guarding against both threats, and the spade ACE is the entry to the spade JACK threat[/hv]

 

There is one more "simple" squeeze example. It is the one case where the entry to the hand opposite the squeeze card is in the threat suit held by the hand with the squeeze card, and there (appears) to be no reentry to the hand with the squeeze card. This ending always looks something like this...

 

[hv=n=sajhdc2&w=skqhadc&e=shqjtdc&s=s3hkdca]399|300|When you play the club ACE, the theats are heart King and spade Jack. WEST is busy guarding against both threats, and the spade ACE is the entry to the spade JACK threat[/hv]

 

These are the basic patterns you look for first...

1) How many losers (for basic pattern, ideal is one)

2) How are the entries (you need either entry to the hand opposite the squeeze carrd in its own suit (best), or redudant entires as show above... and if you duck a trick to correct loser count, you need to be maintain the entry requirement

3) Both threat... in basic ending, one opponent has to guard alone against threates in two suits.

4) Upper hand.. one of the threats (at least) has to lie in the upper hand.

 

Thus this is the pattern... losers are easy to figure out (sometimes assuming a suit will split or a finessee will work), upper is easy to evaluate. What you have to work on is entry and isolating a suit where one opponent is busy in both suits (or how to deal with it when this is lacking).

[inquiry]

Since this is a thread about pattern recongition, and all things spring from the basic squeeze patterns identified in the last thread. Let's see one of the most common FLAWS in the basic (simple) squeeze pattern... The inability to isolate two threats to a single hand (the BOTH requirement).

 

This time, we will go with a full hand (this one is from OKBRIDGE about three years ago..maybe four, don't tell Fred)....

 

[hv=d=e&v=n&n=s54hk74dakqj3ct72&w=skhqj82dt9652c984&e=sqjt9632ht95d4c65&s=sa87ha63d87cakqj3]399|300|Scoring: MP

 --    3♠    3NT   PASS

 4♣    PASS  4NT   PASS

 7♦    PASS  7NT   PASS

ALL PASS[/hv]

 

Opening lead was the spade king. You win the ACE, and hope that EAST has a seven card suit for his preempt. Looking at all four hands, you see diamonds are not breaking, but if you can see only the NS hands, this is what you would be worried about anyway. IF diamonds are no worse than 4-2, you have 5♣, 5♦, 2♥ and a 1♠ for 13 tricks. So you should PLAN for a bad diamond break. If diamonds break badly, it is highly unlikely that EAST will have teh long diamond, given you have already planned on him having 7♠'s.

 

If East did have 5♦ along with 7♠, you would have a simple squeeze, just run the club and heart winners ending you hand... But when you cash two clubs, and EAST follows suit twice, you know he can't have five diamonds.

 

So your next thought should turn to can east have heart QJT98 so the heart 7 or 6 is a threat against him? If East can't have five diamond, he can't ahve five hearts. What about WEST, if WEST has five diamonds, might he have five hearts (so EAST has at most two)... This would make for a heart-diamomnd simple squeeze on west. The fact is, once East was found to have only 2CLUBS, both opponents must have a heart quard. So the simple squeeze position is FLAWED in the lack the BOTH requirement of isolating two threats to a single hand.

 

However, this is a well know squeeze ending that compensates for the FLAW in teh simple squeeze. In this hand one opponent (west alone) can guard against diamonds, and the other (EAST) can guard against spades. They both guard against hearts (otherwise it would be a simple squeeze). This leads to a double squeeze, whose very definition (if we ignore entry conditions) is this... since diamonds are behind WEST, and spades are behind East, we have an upper threat.

 

Before taking the third club, (we are always very worried about entries in double squeeze endings), cash all the top diamonds. When East shows out on the second round, you now know that WEST quards diamonds... Pitch one spade and one heart from your hand... Now come to the hand in clubs and run your club winners to this position...

 

[hv=d=e&v=n&n=s54hk74dakqj3ct72&w=skhqj82dt9652c984&e=sqjt9632ht95d4c65&s=sa87ha63d87cakqj3]399|300|Scoring: MP

 --    3♠    3NT   PASS

 4♣    PASS  4NT   PASS

 7♦    PASS  7NT   PASS

ALL PASS[/hv]

 

What we learned here

• That a double squeeze works against both opponents, each in a suit they alone guard and both in one suit where they each hold a guard
  
• Doube squeezes can be identified as a FLAW in the basic simple squeeze where you can not isolate two threat suits to a single opponent. We will see more such examples (guard squeeze, clash squeeze, compound squeeze, etc) as we go along in this thread, and how to identify the characteristics that will compensate for the FLAW in the simple squeeze. Obviously double squeeze is a very common recovery method for a FLAW in BOTH requirement for a simple squeeze.
  

Ben

[inquiry]

[hv=n=sak2ha32dk2ca6542&s=s543hqdaqjt987ck3]133|200|Contract 7 Diamonds South

 

Opening lead small trump. [/hv]

 

7♦+2♠+1♥+2♣ is 12 tricks. If clubs are 4-2 or 3-3 you can always set up a long club by pulling trumps, ruffing a club, crossing to dummy and ruffing another club. So your first assumption is that clubs are 5-1. If clubs are spit badly, the other threat suits will be hearts (which has to be in dummy) or spades. Since there is no ♣-♥ squeeze on EAST (no threat in upper hand). Spade you can have a threat in dummy or your own hand. But what is the flaw? The flaw is while WEST might have 5 clubs, it is highly unlikely he also has eight hearts, so both opponents will stop hearts. Also, if spades are divided 4-3 either way both opponents will have a apde guard. So the "B" requirement is FLAWED through and through if WEST has has five clubs.

 

But, this hand has a feature that will allow you to compensate for the lflaw in the "B" requirement. NEXT TIME, what this feature is, and how to take advantage of it.

Let me start off by stating, that I remember reading somewhere that Kit Woolsey published a correct analysis of this hand somewhere. So no doubt one could find the his analysis repeated on rgb if you can find this hand.

 

But here we go.. .12 tricks, so loser count is correct. If WEST is long (5) in clubs, we have a club threat against him and the club threat currently has an entry, and is in the upper hand (yes). Right now we have plenty of entries. The hangup here is with B, we are pretty darn sure the heart 4 is not a sole threat against anyone. If West has 5♠ and 5♣ he would be in the grips of a black suit simple squeeze, but that is fairly unlikely possibility. So you should start with a plan not only that clubs split badly, but that it is unlikely that WEST has 10 black cards.

 

One remedy, as we learned last post, is a double squeeze. If WEST is long in clubs, and EAST is long in spades (at least five), we can use hearts as a double threat, making htis a double squeeze... we can ruff a club unblock spades, ruff annother club and run diamonds to come to...

 

[hv=n=shaxdcx&w=shkjdct&e=sqhkjdc&s=sxhqdac]399|300|HEre I gave EW both KJ of hearts. On last diamond, West has to keep a club, so he throws his jack of hearts. Dummy now lets go its club. East has to keep its spade (else your spade is good), so he throws his jack of hearts. Now heart queen to ACE brings down both monarchs.. and the little heart is good. [/hv]

 

So if you only knew this way of dealing with problem with BOTH (not able to isolate two threats to one opponnent hand), you would quickly decide to play that if clubs were 5-1, spades might be 5-2 the other way. That is not bad. But as you learn how to recongnize these FLAWS in the basic squeeze position, you also will discover additional ways to deal with problems in the BOTH requirement. Here the additional way is associated with that singleton heart Queen. It is much more valuable to you than it looks at first. This is called a clash menance and sets up the chance for something known as a A clash squeeze.

 

If East has five spades, and west has five clubs, the double squeeze will work. But if spades are 4-3, you still can make this hand with WEST having 5♣ if he also has the heart king. The trick here is to not touch clubs yet. You need all five clubs to threaten WEST. The threat in your hand will always be the third spade. But you cash four rounds of diamonds, throwing a spade from dummy (threat is your spade anyway), and 1 heart (you don't need but two hearts in dummy).

 

Dummy still has five clubs, so WEST must keep five clubs (else, cash two clubs, ruff club, enter dummy with major suit ace, ruff a club, and you are home free). So how many cards are left.. West has five clubs, the heart king... that leaves only room for three more major suit cards. If they are all spades, there is no double squeeze, yet.... this is the likely position

 

[hv=n=shaxdcx&w=shkjdct&e=sqhkjdc&s=sxhqdac]399|300|HEre I gave EW both KJ of hearts. On last diamond, West has to keep a club, so he throws his jack of hearts. Dummy now lets go its club. East has to keep its spade (else your spade is good), so he throws his jack of hearts. Now heart queen to ACE brings down both monarchs.. and the little heart is good. [/hv]

 

So at this point, you test clubs with C, CA, SA, club ruff, and discover to your displeasure (until you unravel the clash squeeze) that WEST does indeed have the club guard (if he didn't you could ruff another club to set up long one)

 

The position in now....

[hv=n=shaxdcx&w=shkjdct&e=sqhkjdc&s=sxhqdac]399|300|HEre I gave EW both KJ of hearts. On last diamond, West has to keep a club, so he throws his jack of hearts. Dummy now lets go its club. East has to keep its spade (else your spade is good), so he throws his jack of hearts. Now heart queen to ACE brings down both monarchs.. and the little heart is good. [/hv]

 

West went from guarding three suits, to two, now only to one. Since he was squeezed in three suits, the squeeze occurs on the next to last free suit winner. This gives you a simple squeeze on EAST in the majors. When west discards a spade, a club is throwin from dummy. You cross to the spade ACE, and lead a club and ruff it (putting you back in your hands). When you ruff the club, EAST is caught in the very basic simple squeeze. A spade discard, and your spade x is good, a heart discard and dummy's x of hearts will be good when you cross to dummy.

 

What have we learned?

• When Both is violated you can look for a double squeeze
  
• That a clash squeeze is another mechansim that will correct for a defective "BOTH" condition in a simple squeeze
  
• Clash squeeze, like all three suit squeezes, squeeze the clash victim on the next to last free suit winner.
  
• Clash squeezes are VERY EASY to identify by the presences of a "CLASH menace"
  
• Even if a double squeeze is possible, if you have a clash menace you can play the double squeeze as a clash squeeze
  

There are other methods for dealing with failure in "both". We have already seen the double squeeze, and the clash squeeze. A couple of times, we have mentioned a compound squeeze. Compound squeezes are very effective ways to deal with problems of BOTH, and so next time, we will turn our attention to how to identify them in more detail.

 

Ben

[inquiry]

We have been reviewing FLAWS in the basic squeeze position where you can not isolate two threat suit guards into one opponents hand. This has lead to the a new way to understand such things as a double squeezes…that is, a double squeeze can be viewed as just one way to compensate for a FLAW in the basic squeeze position where the simple squeeze BOTH requirement is FLAWED.

 

In the last post, we discovered that a CLASH squeeze is another way to compensate for FLAWS in the BOTH requirement. So when we identify a potential simple squeeze EXCEPT for a FLAW in both, we know we can look for a double squeeze or for a clash squeeze. This post will show another way to overcome a FLAW in both, a compound squeeze. To make this easier, I have decided to show the basic endings before showing a hand where you can apply the technique (this might be easier).

 

[hv=n=sajhaxxdxcx&w=skqhqtxdqxc&e=sxxhj9xdkxc&s=sxhkxdaxcak]399|300|[/hv]

 

This is a typical compound squeeze ending. We can see that we have five tricks (♣AK, ♥AK ♠A), so loser is correct (counting these are easy). Only west guards against the spade JACK and spade threat is in the upper hand (behind WEST). The entry to the spade threat is in its own suit (this is the very best kind of entry to have), so E is correct. However, both red suits are stopped currently by both opponents. You could look at this as a FLAWED double squeeze, but to my simple mind, this is a FLAWED simple squeeze. To see that it is a FLAWED simple squeeze, move one heart from WEST to east, and move the diamond king from EAST to west. In that case, WEST is caught in a spade-diamond simple squeeze (cash two hearts then two clubs). Or, instead, you could return to the basic position and move the diamond queen from WEST to EAST, and move a heart from EAST to west. Now, WEST is caught in a spade-heart simple squeeze. So the FLAW in this simple squeeze ending might just be envisioned as a FLAW in simple squeeze only because both red suits are divided evenly here, so B (both) is violated.

 

You might first think, violation of “B”, look for a double squeeze… if West had another heart and a diamond void, a double squeeze would see you home (West is spades and hearts, East in diamonds and hearts). But here that will not work (good to see how minor changes can affect the play, however).

 

But in this position, you have, in fact a squeeze. When you cash your first club, west is squeezed in three suits (remember, three suit squeeze work on next to last free winner). West is caught between a rock and a hard place. If he discards a spade, he gives you an extra trick immediately. If he discards a diamond, then this is just like EAST had only the diamond stopper to begin with, converting this into a double squeeze with hearts the both suit. And if WEST discards a heart? Then the hand becomes a double squeeze, with diamonds magically converted to the both suit.

 

Let’s examine both these options. First, WEST discards a diamond.

[hv=n=sajhaxxdxcx&w=skqhqtxdqxc&e=sxxhj9xdkxc&s=sxhkxdaxcak]399|300|[/hv]

 

[hv=n=sajhaxxdxcx&w=skqhqtxdqxc&e=sxxhj9xdkxc&s=sxhkxdaxcak]399|300|[/hv]

 

A couple of things that you have to notice here. First, once WEST discards a red card, you have to have a double squeeze in any suit he abandons. If you cash the diamond ace before the club, West can discard a heart and the squeeze will fail because you will lack an entry in diamonds (which will become the both threat suit).

 

Now to a hand. This is one from user lenze posted here on the BBF

[hv=w=st65hqjtda85caq43&e=sakq7hak9865dk4c5]266|100|[/hv]

 

He stated about this problem:

A few were in 7NT, with the Spade 9 lead covered by dummy’s Ten and East’s Jack. Declarer wins and cashes two more spades, When west shows out on the third round (the 8 did not fall), it appears the contract depends on a club finesse. But does it??

 

Now that you have been studying squeezes, you know the answer to this is no, it does not. I will not repeat the analysis, you can find it here... Link to post on this hand

 

Ben

[inquiry]

A more formal "thread" orgainize by type of squeezes and pattern recongition can be found in the beginner/intermediate section. Don't let the fact that it is in the beginner section and starts off with VERY elementary material deter you if you are interested in this topic. For instance, the material moves

• simple (automatic first)
  
• criss cross and other simple squeezes
  
• trump squeeze
  
• guard squeeze
  
• clash squeeze
  
• entry-shfiting trump squeeze
  

The second thread on squeezes over there covers,

• double squeeze
  
• compound squeeze
  
• compound guard squeeze
  
• compound trump squeeze
  
• compound trump guard saueeze
  
• double guard squeeze
  
• double clash squueeze
  
• hexagon squeezes
  
• some hedgehogs
  

Future threads over there will cover multi-loser squeezes, and others.

 

Ben