IMPROVE YOUR PLAY

with Larry Matheny

It’s always fun to execute a squeeze and this hand was particularly sweet. I had squeezed my good friend the day before and as he sat down he smiled and mentioned that hand. We had a routine hand and then we took out these cards.

Scoring:  Matchpoints (Pairs)

#11-42
Dlr	W
Vul	Both

	742
	J64
	Q3
	AK965

	KQ1085
	73
	92
	QJ83

	963
	AKQ1092
	54
	102

	AJ
	85
	AKJ10876
	74

West	North	East	South
Pass	Pass	3	4
Pass	5	Pass	Pass
Pass

BIDDING: In third seat East made a bold heart preempt. I was South and overcalled in diamonds hoping we weren’t missing 3NT. My partner raised me to game.

PLAY: West led the 7 of hearts and East cashed the first two tricks. He continued with a third round and I ruffed high as West discarded the 8 of spades. Since East held the top three heart cards it was likely that most if not all of the missing honors were in the West hand. This was a very easy hand to play. I simply cashed the ace of spades followed by six rounds of diamonds. My friend who was squeezed yesterday was in the West chair and when I played the last diamond this was the ending:

AK96

K

QJ8

J 6 74

Poor West could not keep the king of spades and three clubs and had to concede. A spade lead at trick one or after winning the first heart would have broken up the squeeze. West smiled as he left but I’m not sure he meant it.

Copyright ©2011 Larry Matheny