Hi all. Looking at the hands, I believe there is a defensive point for Example 19 (aka Getting Harder).
The contract is 5
by S after E opened 1
. The defense begins with a
to the 9, the
A, then the
J on which declarer pitches a
and W ruffs.
The original NS hands:
Q732
K8
J52
K873
84
AQJT72
A8
AT5
After 3 tricks we have
Q
K8
J52
K873
Q
AQJT72
A
AT5
W is on lead, we are told that he leads a
in response to !E's signal (E played the
A instead of the K and then led the !J instead f a low
.
Luckily, E has four
and of course the
Q and so can now be squeezed in the blacks.
But suppose, at T4, W leads a
. Declarer has lost 3 tricks so he must win that one. But where? If he wins with the K on the board there goes his entry to the !s threat. If he wins in hand that will not work either. He cannot have both the !c and the
threats on the board when Rho is the victim, so the !c threat must be the
T. But if, at T4, he wins the
in hand now he has lost the
entry. Now neither threat, the
Q or the !V T, is accompanied by an entry. This should kill the squeeze.
Could E foresee this? Maybe. He could expect the
A and
A to be with declarer for his strong bidding (first X and then 2
) and then he could realize that, if declarer holds three
then he, E, will be subject to a squeeze, and the best defense is to kill an entry. He can encourage a
play at T4 by winning the 9 at T1, playing the k at T2, and then the T at T3. W can observe that at each instance, E played the lowest possible card and might then shift to a
.
Maybe a bit theoretical. But hey, squeezes are a bit theoretical. And fun to imagine. Anyway, I don't think this hand can be made if W plays a
at T4. On the run of the trump E can comfortably toss his
K after W signals strength. After all
are cashed we have
Q
K8
A
T5
E holds
A and
Qx. S now plays the
K must pitch from dummy. If he throws the
Q E throws his A. If, instead, declarer pitches the
8 then E throws a
. The
T is now good in declarer's hand but there is no entry.
The ins and outs of this hand are challenging.
