A Squeeze-Trim-Endplay (Advanced)

This squeeze-trim-endplay is from Adventures in Card Play, by Ottlik and Kelsey. They describe the squeeze and trim as "hammering" the defender's hand into shape. Because it is Ottlik, it is a very complex hand.
KQ6
A104
A764
Q53

A98432
732
J
K76
Righty opened a weak no trump (13-15 HCP) and Lefty bid an old-fashioned 2 Diamonds, showing a weak hand with diamond suit. Your partner balances in with a double and you make it to 4 spades. The opening lead is the 9 of hearts, apparently a modern top of nothing. In any case, Righty is likely to have the KQJ of hearts. If diamond honors are split, most or all of the remaining HCP belong to Righty.

You have 9 top tricks (including one club trick). If trumps are 2-2, then Righty can be endplayed in hearts to lead away from the ace of clubs. This requires ruffing diamonds twice, but you have sufficient entries to dummy do that.

If you win the first heart trick, eliminate diamonds, then exit in hearts. Rightly might be able to win the third trick. If Lefty does not have a 5-card heart suit, Lefty started with KQJx So Lefty would have to start unblocking at trick 1 in order to avoid the endplay. They don't play that well at my club. But just in case, you can let Lefty win the first trick, leaving you with A10 of hearts in dummy. Leaving Lefty on lead is safe, because one club lead from Lefty doesn't hurt you -- you can let it ride to your king of clubs and still retain the endplay position in clubs.

What if trump are 3-1? Righty will have the third trump. Now the simply endplay doesn't work. If you don't draw the third round of trumps, Righty can exit with a small trump. If you draw a third round of trumps, then Righty can save an exit card in hearts.

There are several indications for a squeeze-trim-endplay. First, the club situation is right -- in the endplay suit, if East pitches a club, you can simply duck a club to set up the queen. Second, we face the familiar situation at the end. If Lefty continues hearts, you led a club to your king, ruff out Righty's diamonds, and then run your trumps, you will have at the end

--
10
4
Q5

         --
         KQ
         --
         Ax

2
7
--
76
Because you still have a trump, Lefty has not been able to throw a club, so you have trimmed out all of the hearts but one. If on your last trump Righty was forced to throw a heart, you would have your endplay. Alas, leading your last trump relieves Righty of the obligation of holding the small club (because Righty has the top club). Before, the solution was to lead a heart from dummy.

However, you can't lead a heart from dummy and ruff in your hand. First, you have a heart in your hand. But it is deeper than this. In the traditional squeeze-trim-endplay, your exit card is in the same suit as your endplay. Here, your endplay suit is clubs and your exit is in hearts.

Did I mention complex? As noted, the easy endplay fails when Righty has three trumps. That third trump is another busy card in Righty's hand. So we are going to essentially triple-squeeze Righty in spades. Normally, a triple squeeze requires a loser-count of two. But as we have analyzed, the need to keep an exit card in hearts functions like an extended menace, suggesting a loser count of 3. You achieve that by ducking the first heart.

Okay, how do you squeeze Righty in trumps? This is an Ottlik trick -- you run the triple squeeze on an irrelevant trump by ruffing the suit Righty is short in. In other words, you trump diamonds.

Suppose that Lefty leads a second heart at trick 2. You lead a club to the king, win the ace of diamonds, ruff a diamond, play a spade to the dummy, ruff a diamond, lead another spade, and lead the last diamond from this position.

6
10
7
Q5
         J
         KQ
         --
         A10
A9
7
---
76
An essential part of this position is that you have in essence cashed your spade winners but still left a trump on the board.

If Righty "discards" a trump, you run the same endplay you were planning on running if trump were 2-2 -- you exit in hearts. Righty does not have to lead clubs, because Righty still has an extra heart, but because of the trump in the dummy, the extra heart is not an exit card -- it gives you a slough-and-a-ruff.

Righty cannot discard a club, because then you duck a round of clubs while you still have a trump for control.

So Righty will probably discard a heart. That completes the squeeze portion of the squeeze trim endplay. You finish of the trim portion by ruffing the diamond and leading your last trump. Then you lead a heart, endplaying Righty in clubs.

In the "traditional" squeeze-trim-endplay, you squeeze out one exit card and then trim the last exit card in that suit. In this squeeze-trim-endplay, you squeezed the exit card in one suit and trimmed in a different suit.

If you had not led a club to your king, the ending position would have been

6
10
7
Q52
         J
         KQ
         --
         A103
A9
7
---
K76
The lead of a small diamond would still squeeze Righty in hearts and spades, but Righty would be able to pitch a small club. You cannot safely duck a round of clubs if you first lead the suit from your hand.

BACK TO:
Squeeze-Trim-Endplay Hands

BRIDGE HOME