ACES ON BRIDGE

The elegantly named stepping-stone squeeze makes an appearance in today’s deal. South refused to stop short of six spades, and West led the diamond 10 against the slam.

Declarer won with the ace, drew trumps in four rounds and tested the clubs, West showing out on the second round. All would have been well had diamonds been 3-3, since declarer could have overtaken on the third round. But if West held four diamonds alongside the heart ace, South realized that he might come under pressure on the last trump.

If West threw a diamond, declarer would be able to overtake his jack with the queen, scoring his 12th trick with dummy’s fourth diamond.

If, instead, West threw the heart queen, declarer would cash his remaining top diamond and throw

West on lead with a heart to the ace, to force him to lead to dummy’s diamond queen. West’s only other option would be to pitch the heart ace. This would beat the contract if East held the heart king, but as the cards lay, it would allow South to score his heart king.

Oddly enough, if East had held four diamonds and four clubs, declarer could have caught him in the stepping-stone squeeze instead! The fifth round of trumps would have forced him to throw his last heart, retaining four diamonds and his club guard. South could then have cashed the diamond K-J and thrown East in with the fourth round of clubs to give dummy the diamond queen. Yes, in that instance, a simple minor-suit squeeze would work as well.

ANSWER: Normally, one responds in a major when partner opens a minor, but with a hand this weak, the last thing you want to do is to encourage your partner to soar to the stratosphere. So respond one diamond to try to slow partner down; he should be less likely to jump in support of a minor than a major. This same argument might work no matter what the level of the opening club bid.

bobbywolff@mindspring.com

BOBBY WOLFF