Source: http://bridgewinners.com/article/view/thin-air/Liam Milne
LinkedIN: Originally from New Zealand, I have been living and playing bridge in Australia since 2011. In addition to being a top-level professional bridge player, I manage one of the premier bridge clubs in Sydney.
Recent highlights of my international bridge career include a top 10 finish in the World Open Pairs and multiple Australian Open team appearances.Since the Gold Coast Congress last February, Australia has had few national bridge tournaments. With COVID restrictions in Australia now few and far between, real-life bridge is starting to come back. The first major teams event held face-to-face since then was the Autumn Nationals held over the weekend in Adelaide.
My partner faced this play problem in the first match:
IMPs Dealer East. East/West Vul
J 3
8 5
9 6 5
K 9 8 5 3 2
A 7 6 2
A K 6 4
A
Q 10 6 4
West
North
East
South
Pass
1
1
3
3
5
Pass
Pass
Pass
West leadsK against your contract of 5.
You win the ace and play a small club, expecting to claim shortly after if trumps break. However, West shows out, pitching a diamond. Plan the play.
After winning theA lead, we lead a club to the king and ace.
First impressions are that West has one of three shapes: 3460, 4360, or 4450. Also immediately obvious is that East has a sure way to beat us by returning a diamond now, then a further diamond later in the hand when we lose a spade. This will force our trumps and prevent us from drawing trumps against the J-x later.
Luckily for us, after East wins theA they return theK.
Is there any hope?
Given our inability to ruff two diamonds in our hand, the only chance is a squeeze.
The situation looks fairly hopeless. East will only hold length in at most one of the majors (otherwise they would not have raised diamonds) and the entry situation is dubious. West is likely to guard any potential menaces and they get to discard after South.
Nevertheless, it is important to soldier on and make the most of it. Miss defense is possible and playing hands as if there might be a squeeze will often create a position with some potential.
AfterK to the ace,4 to the king and ace,K won by our ace, we return a spade to theJ and East’sQ.
East tries a heart now which we take with the ace.
We must be careful to ruff each suit in the right order so we don’t end up in the wrong hand. We would like to ruff exactly one heart and one spade so that our remaining cards in each suit are guarded by only one defender. We would also like to ruff exactly one diamond in our hand to get up to 10 tricks, as well as finesse in clubs through East.
Have you made your plan?
The best line goes something like this…
K won by the ace,4 to king and ace.K which we win, spade back to the jack and queen.
After heart return to our ace, ruff a spade in the dummy (both follow).
Ruff a diamond back to our hand, West following with the10. CashK and ruff a heart in the dummy (both follow).
Finesse the10, West pitching theJ.
Ten tricks are gone, so here’s the last three cards. Can you see what might be happening?
9
9 8
7
6
Q
Here´s the layout in the endgame:
9
9 8
10
Q
Q
8 7
J
7
6
Q
Ruffing one heart and one spade isolated the guard for each suit in West’s hand, and dummy’s9 threatened West the whole way with East only starting with baby diamonds.
When declarer played theQ, West was triple squeezed despite there being no direct link to any menace suit except via trumps. Whatever West threw would promote a trick either in declarer’s hand or in dummy.
Holding the top card in every side suit, West’s assets disappeared into thin air at their final discard.
This was the full layout of the hand originally:
J 3
8 5
9 6 5
K 9 8 5 3 2
10 9 5 4
Q J 10 3
K Q J 10 4
—
K Q 8
9 7 2
8 7 3 2
A J 7
A 7 6 2
A K 6 4
A
Q 10 6 4
If you look up the definition of ‘triple squeeze’, you will find a variety of entry requirements and terms like ‘progressive’ and ‘compound’, all of which bear little relation to this hand. Although elegant, the line of play is also aesthetic in its simplicity: isolate the menace twice, draw trumps and pray!
This hand looks like a construction, but I can assure you that I was lucky enough to watch the play from the vantage point of the dummy. Well done to my partner James Coutts for planning the play to rescue a doomed contract.
Final thoughts: we worked out East had a sure line to beat us at trick 3. Yet Deep Finesse reveals that 5is cold against any lead at trick one. The winning line, however unrealistic it might be to play, is left to the keen reader as an exercise.
J 3
8 5
9 6 5
K 9 8 5 3 2
