ACES ON BRIDGE
Fortunate people seldom mend their ways, for when good luck crowns their misdeeds with success, they think it is because they are right. — Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Earlier this month, we talked about squeezes and how one might identify a deal where the aim was to bring pressure to bear on one or both opponents. The next step after determining that this might be relevant is to make sure you catch the opponents in the net.
In six no-trump after the lead of the heart 10, South can count 11 top tricks. He has a 12th trick if either spades or diamonds breaks 3-3. But there is one additional chance: if one opponent has length in both diamonds and spades.
It costs South nothing to prepare for this possibility. If either of those suits divides favorably, South will make his slam without breaking a sweat. But if neither suit breaks, simply cashing winners will not bring either defender under pressure.
Squeezes tend to work best when you have all the tricks you need but one; here, declarer has 11 tricks out of the 12 needed. So
South must give up a trick (sometimes referred to as “rectifying the count”) by the strange-looking move of ducking a heart — which could be at trick one or two.
South wins the return and takes his club and heart winners. On the last of these, West, who guards both spades and diamonds, must concede the slam-going trick by unguarding one suit or the other. All South has to do is watch the discards, and he is home.
If South had not given up the heart trick, West would have one extra winner in his hand. He would not be squeezed, and the slam would be unmakable.
ANSWER: You are going to have to guess whether to play part-score or game — and which game to head for. My instincts tell me hearts must play better than notrump, so I would transfer to hearts and play game, either using a Texas transfer or transferring and raising to game, depending on what methods are available. If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, email him at bobbywolff@mindspring.com