ACES ON BRIDGE

The exercise of one coercion always makes another inevitable.

— Anders Chydenius

Most squeezes involve forcing a defender to let go of a winner. An immaterial squeeze forces a defender to release a card that has no useful purpose in terms of winning a trick, but which he would still rather retain.

Witness today’s deal, where East’s two-diamond bid was ostensibly weak and natural. Similarly, South’s two-spade call was unusual, but not absurd. His diamond length suggested that he might generate extra tricks from ruffing diamonds in dummy if he could find a fit. That left North with something approaching world record support facing a nonpsychic overcall. The double of six spades was to persuade West to lead something other than his own suit — mistakenly, of course, since the slam would have been simple enough on any lead but a heart!

After a top heart lead,

South had to win and take a top trump, to considerable hilarity as the opponents produced one, then ran trumps after taking one top diamond.

As the last trump was led, the players were in a four-card ending with East still needing to discard, holding a heart, two diamonds and a club, while South had two diamonds and two clubs.

East had to keep two diamonds, or declarer would have an extra winner in that suit. Pitching the club ace would be fatal, so he had to part with that “irrelevant” low heart. But now the communications to his partner’s winner had evaporated. Declarer pitched a diamond and led a club toward the king, taking the last two tricks.

ANSWER: You cannot afford to go low when as little as the diamond ace-queen may suffice for game. Partner will not play you for this much when you make a balancing overcall, so take the plunge with four spades. With a really strong hand, you can double, then bid spades, so this auction is more about tricks than high cards.

BOBBY WOLFF