Another Three-suited Squeeze
Submitted by Forrest Smith
A K 9 7
Q 8 2
3 2
A K Q J
J 10 5 4 2
J 10
K Q 9 5
8 5
Q 8 3
K 9 4 3
J 4
10 6 4 3
6
A 7 6 5
A 10 8 7 6
9 7 2
| West |
North |
East |
South |
|
1 ♣ |
Pass |
1 ♥ |
| Pass |
2 ♠ |
Pass |
2 NT |
| Pass |
3 ♥ |
Pass |
3 NT |
| All Pass |
|
West lead the
♠ 4, and East won the queen when declarer played low
from dummy.
Clearly, from East's point of view, continuing spades
wasn't much help, so he shifted to the
♦ 4. Declarer ducked,
West won the
♦ 9, and continued with the
♦ 5
to East's jack, declarer ducking again.
East got out with a safe club, and declarer ran his club tricks.
West pitched a spade on the third club, but at the fourth club, West
was in a bind:
Declarer has won four tricks and has four more top tricks. If West
pitches a diamond, declarer gets another diamond trick. If West pitches
a spade, declarer gets another spade trick. So West is forced to pitch
the
♥ 10.
This pitch allows declarer to cash the top spades, pitching another diamond
and a heart, then lead the
♥ Q. East is forced to cover, and West's
♥ J is pinned. Declarer can either duck, leaving East endplayed
in hearts, or win. Either way, South can set up a second heart trick.
This line was found while we were kibbitzing double-dummy. Is there
any reason to take this line rather than simply playing for the 3-3
diamond split? I don't think so.