Contract Bridge

The chief components of a squeeze, the most dramatic play in bridge, are three in number:

1. The declarer must have all the remaining tricks but one (except in rare cases).

2. One of the defenders must have to guard two (or more) suits.

3. Declarer must have communication with the opposite hand when the squeeze card is played.

There are other factors that may pertain to a squeeze situation, but the three given cover the great majority of cases. The question of how to recognize a potential squeeze is best answered by training oneself to think in terms of a squeeze whenever there is only one loser left.

In today’s deal, after West leads the king of diamonds and shifts to the queen of hearts, declarer notes ( No. 1) that his only remaining loser is a heart. He also observes ( No. 2) that West, having bid hearts, will be forced to guard that suit as well as the ace of diamonds. Declarer also sees ( No. 3) that the ace of hearts is an entry to dummy.

South therefore wins the queen of hearts with the king, plays five rounds of trump and cashes three clubs. At this point, his hand consists of a trump and two hearts, while dummy has the A-2 of hearts and queen of diamonds. West has the J-10 of hearts and ace of diamonds.

South now leads his last trump, and West is a goner. Whether he discards a heart or a diamond, declarer scores the last two tricks.

The necessity for all three components to exist can be seen if we change West’s opening lead to the queen of hearts. As soon as he regains the lead with a diamond, West returns a heart to remove dummy’s entry, and the squeeze position then cannot be developed because West’s two heart leads have severed South’s communication with dummy.