Another Squeeze #12-16

IMPROVE YOUR PLAY

with Larry Matheny

Most of my hands come from local games but I spotted this one on the internet. It was well bid and well played.

Scoring: IMPs (Teams)

#12-16
Dlr	N
Vul	none

	K74
	AQ72
	K42
	854

	Q10652
	98
	Q865
	93

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	J9
	1065
	J10
	QJ10762

	A85
	KJ43
	A975
	AK

West	North	East	South
	1	Pass	1
Pass	2	Pass	2
Pass	3	Pass	4
Pass	4	Pass	4NT
Pass	5	Pass	5
Pass	5	Pass	6
Pass	Pass	Pass

BIDDING: As soon as North opened the bidding, South was thinking slam. North first showed a minimum hand but then cooperated with a diamond cue bid. South asked about keycards (4 aces + heart king) and North showed one. South then asked his partner if he held the queen of hearts and North acknowledged that he did along with the king of spades and the small slam was reached.

Play: West led a trump and South stopped to analyze the hand. He counted ten top tricks along with a club ruff for eleven. The only chance for a twelfth trick appeared to be with a squeeze. If the same opponent held length in diamonds and spades, that would work. He drew trumps, cashed the A-K of clubs, and followed with a low diamond ducked to East. A club was returned but it didn’t matter for West was soon in trouble. Declarer ruffed the club in his hand, went to dummy with a diamond, and then played dummy’s last heart. Here was the end position:

S-K74 H-Q D-2

S-Q106

D-Q8

S-A85 D-A9

Declarer discarded a spade and West had to discard either a spade or a diamond and declarer had his twelfth trick. The result was duplicated at the other table for a tie.