Friday, January 14, 2011

The Compound Squeeze

I have recently read the 2010 edition of 'Bridge Squeezes Complete' by Clyde Love. Love died over 50 years ago and the latest edition was updated by Linda Lee and Julian Pottage. The highlight for me was the section on compound squeezes. The book devotes 72 pages to them, compared to close to zero pages in other books I've seen. The example below is mine, not from the book:

x x x
K x x
x x x
A K Q x

A K Q J x x
A x x
A x
x x

Let's say you reach 6NT at matchpoints and receive the jack of clubs lead. Obviously you have 12 tricks and would like to make an overtrick. Before reading the book, my first reaction would be that I need someone to have five hearts and four clubs, or they may discard badly and expose themselves to a double squeeze. In fact, thirteen tricks can always be made when West has four or more clubs. Let's take a typical layout where both opponents control both red suits:

x x x
K x x
x x x
A K Q x
x x x x
Q 10 x J 9 x x
K 10 x x Q J x x
J 10 9 x x x
A K Q J x x
A x x
A x
x x

You win the club and play off five rounds of spades. West can afford two diamonds but on the fifth spade he must leave his partner in sole control of either hearts or diamonds. You can then cash the top card(s) in the suit now guarded solely by East and complete a double squeeze by playing the last spade. If West unguarded hearts, then diamonds will be the pivot suit for the double squeeze and if he unguarded diamonds then hearts will be the pivot suit.

You do need to read the position. If West sees what is coming he should let go a heart early so he can discard his second diamond at the crucial moment. You may then choose to play West for 2434 instead of 2344. Then the squeeze will fail and you will be held to 12 tricks.

This is not a particularly unusual situation since it doesn't depend on the precise location of the cards to any great extent. I expect compound squeezes come up much more often than people notice.