[JLOGIC]

While we're on the subject of pitching honors to create entries to partner who has a long suit....Might as well take this moment to mention my favorite hand ever.

9
AQT
KJ98xx
98x

ATx
KJ
Txx
AQT73

North opened 1D. East overcalled 3S at favorable. South bid 3N

West led the S8, East playing the jack. East continued with the SQ. This hand happened back in the day when the 8 would be led from 8xx, and the scoring table when white was 1-3-5-7-9 etc, so 3S could easily be bid with 6. South of course ducked. East cleared spades. West discarded...the ace of diamonds!

Of course, declarer knew what west was up to, he had Ax of diamonds and could see the contract was cold if south had the DQ, so he pitched the diamond to force an entry to his partner. Luckily for declarer, he could fall back on clubs now that he had a diamond trick (4 clubs, 1 spade, 3 hearts, 1 diamond). He crossed in hearts and ran the C9, LHO winning the jack. LHO returned a diamond, he won the king, and hooked a club again. Alas, it lost, unlucky and nice defense by LHO.

LHO's hand was...

xx
xxxxx
AQx
KJx

Yes, that's right, the DA pitch was from AQx! Sick "unblock"

West was Harrison-Gray, one of the best players of his time (obv), I think from England.

[CSGibson]

JLOGIC, on 2012-March-14, 11:47, said:

Nice hand but running the SJ at trick 2 seems like a really strange line. Admittedly doing something like diamond to the king, and running the CT does seem to get awkward, and possibly even more awkward if they cover the CT, so maybe it's not as strange as it seems at first glance. Still, I think I would just take my chances going after clubs, often opponents will clear hearts anyways, esp if the SK is on.

I wasn't thrilled with it at the table, either, but I didn't like my entry situation if I played a diamond up to take the club hook. Leading a club from hand was the other line I seriously considered, but it didn't seem right at matchpoints. I'm really secretly hoping that LHO has the spade K and covers, as it makes my entry situation much clearer.

[inquiry]

gwnn, on 2012-March-14, 11:08, said:

Why can't you just write what you think the right defence is Phil? I would like to know because I'm not so good at defence, let alone squeeze defence.

The defense went wrong on trick three, I think. Of course it depends on what 2NT rebid by responder showed. Let's assume the following for NS

1D - 2NT = 11-12 HCP, BALANCE
1D - 3NT = 15-17 HCP, BALANCE
1D - 2m - 2x - 2NT = 13-14 BALANCE

With such a scheme, and assuming the ♠3 showed odd number of spades, south is 2=x=y-Z,
in absence of 1D=2D, we might reasonably assume y = 3 at most, so we have
2=x=2/3=Z, and we assume south does not have 4 hearts, so the hand is probably
2=3=3=5 or 2=3=2=6 or 2=2=3=6

East can see at the end of trick 2, he alone will responsible for the 4th round of spades and the 4th round of diamonds. With any of these holdings, so he might be exposed to a squeeze in the pointed suits -- but both threats are in north so no threat in the upper hand (a failing case for a squeeze).

Now then, lets count points. South has to have 13-14 hcp in the theory of ns system I outlined above (this may be fantasy). We know about 3 of them (heart queen, spade J)... and partner has shown up with 1. If declarer has 13, partner will have 6 hcp, if declarer has 14, partner will have 5. So after playing the heart jack, partner might have 4 or 5 more points. If declarer has the ♣AQJ, he will have at least 5♣, 2♠, 2♦ and 2♥ no matter if partner has the ♥A or the ♦A as the bulk of his hcp. And of the missing hcp, partner can not have an ace and a queen (too many hcp), nor can he have two queens (as only one -- the club queen) is unseen, nor can partner have a king, since east can see all four queens. So partner has an ace, and had better have the ♣J or this hand makes 11 tricks easily.

Having worked out that partner has to hold an ace, and can not hold the ♣Q, you had best hope partner holds the ♣J. This declarer has at most 2♠, five tricks combined in diamonds and hearts (depending upon ace partner has), and 2♣ for nine tricks. He might be able to set up long club (this the unblock club concept so partner can get in with the ♣J to cash hearts). But what if declarer has six clubs? Partner is not getting in, and now your hand is exposed to a potential triple squeeze with an extended threat in the upper hand.

With that kind of analysis, the solution to break up the repeating nature of the double squeeze is to attack the entries. The most obvious way is to return a club when in with the spade king, and when partner wins the heart ace, continue with a club. But, you could attack dummies entries as well, by leading a diamond or a spade. With declarer in dummy at trick 3, he has to enter his hand with a club or a diamond to lead up the heart honor (even if he would risk that). If he entered with a diamond, then a diamond return would kill entries in both of dummy's threat suit, and if he entered in clubs, a club return removes entries to south hand in that threat suit. Either way, he is stuck with only 10 tricks: the same 10 tricks he could get by forgetting about any squeeze stuff and just setting up the long clubs (at the cost of a club trick, plus the ♠K and the heart ace or hypothetical diamond ace).

The earn the money return here showing you know what the heck you are doing is a club at trick three... this of course, is only true if the 2nt rebid was firmly in the 13-14 hcp range and the ♠3 gave count.

Anyway nice hand. East had the hardest play and didn''t find it. Perhaps that is what Phil was trying to refer too.