A Familiar Combination

Out of the 39 tables that played this hand, 12 North/South pairs bid to 6 ♥, and of those, nine made. (Another two pairs ended up in 6 NT, making.) Six hearts is not a slam I'd want to bid.

The unfortunate pair I watched played in the more reasonable 4 ♥ contract. While dummy joined us in spectator mode, we commiserated, and one of the other spectators said, "Six hearts doesn't make without help from the defense." While most who made 6 ♥ seemed to have some defensive help, dummy and I disagreed.

Any long-time reader of these web pages will spot the ubiquitous A-J-x opposite Q-x-x combination. A good start.

Assume a trump lead. Declarer draws trumps in two rounds, and ducks the ♣ 10 to East's ace. East is stuck for a decent exit, but, in fact, his best exit is a diamond. Declarer wins dummy's jack, pitches a spade on the ♣ K, and the plays three rounds of spades, ruffing the third round, declarer runs trumps, leaving this end position at the second to last trump: West must either pitch his top spade, his top club, or unguard his ♦ K. This squeeze operates a trick early because West is guarding three suits. West can delay the squeeze one trick later by covering the ♣ 10 with the queen at trick three, but he cannot avoid being squeezed in diamonds and spades.