A Missed Opportunity

[jcreech]

Dlr: East
Vul: E-W

          North
            A
            AKT93
            A92
            AKQ8

West                    East
  6543                 92
  54                    Q62
  KQJ8753           T4
                          JT6542

          South
            KQJT87
            J87
            6
            973

Auction:
East   South   West   North
 P        2     5      7
 P          P        D         P
 P          P

I was sitting East and partner started the K .  I was stunned when dummy came down.  I thought surely some of those cards would be with partner for the double.  I also thought that partner must surely have a honor - another faulty assumption.

Declarer won the A, cashed the A , ruffed a , then started running  's.  Unfortunately for declarer, the first pitch was dummy's last .  Now all I had to do was match dummy in the round suits, and the contract goes down.

If declarer holds onto that last diamond, consider what happens to my (East) hand.  As declarer finishes pulling trump, pitching  's , there is no problem with my pitching  's.  Now the AK 's, leaving the J as a blind threat in declarer's hand, followed by a  .  I have to hold onto the fourth , so I pitch the Q .  Now the J is good to take care of the losing ; if I keep the Q, then the fourth in dummy will be good.

Granted it is not an easy hand to play; I am not certain what the best line would be.  If I were declaring, I don't think I would pitch the diamond that early, but once I found out that the spades were breaking 4-2, I suspect I would want to combine chances by holding onto all four 's and the AKT of 's.  Then I could play three rounds of 's (in case they happen to break), cash a top , ruff a , and take the losing finesse.

[kenberg]

The Dare to Practice/Declare series has featured many squeezes (among other things) and so this hand should interest those who have been playing in that.  One issue that can arise is whether a potential squeeze is the best line. So let's look at that.  I will largely be repeating what you said.

As you note, we do not want to pitch the third from dummy prematurely. Also the 9 and 3 play no role. Assuming we can run the spades we have 6+2+1+3=12 top tricks. So: Win the cash the top , ruff a , cash 2 more throwing the   9,3. E shows out. So W started with four spades. Can he really have Qxx? Maybe, but then he bid 5 on a six card suit. And wait! E played the T when we ruffed back to hand. Surely   if he had Txx he would hold onto the T, seeing the 9 on the board. Could he have JTx? That gives W an initial   KQxxxx for his 5 call.  And EW are vul!  Anything is possible, but I think W has seven diamonds. If so, the - squeeze is in place.  AK, ruff a diamond back to hand, cash the remaining spades, throwing hearts, coming down to

Dummy

AKQ8


Hand

J
973.

E has an unsolvable problem. Just as you said.

This was an exciting auction, but also a potentially helpful auction for S.  If W stays quiet, there might well be more attractive options in the play.  Given the 5 call, the - squeeze on E is surely the best bet.

I am really glad to see your posts.  I was hoping the forum would lead to some conversations. And I do think that a hand where the squeeze works but  where one can imagine other options is a useful hand. The squeeze is easy enough to run but declarer must see it as possible, and then he also must choose it as the best bet. I think that it is.

[jcreech]

Thanks again for your comments, Ken.

Not sitting in declarer's seat, I didn't count out the hand in thinking about the line I would take.  You are right, the 5 call is much more likely to have been bid with seven, and with 4 's, there is not enough room for Qxx.  I can now safely assume that either the Q drops doubleton with West, or the club-heart squeeze is on with East.  3-3 clubs became a pipe dream when West had the spade length.  I just didn't give it enough thought when I switched chairs.  Sometimes I forget how different the perspective is when moving from being a defender to the declarer.