Where's my extra trick?

[Ian Zimmerman]

Got into this on BBO:

N:
K82
7
A9
AJ9

E:
JT76
-
75
QT4

S:
A54
A
KQ
763

W:
Q93
J93
T43
-

I'm South, on the lead, playing NT, and I need 7 more tricks. I played
a low club trying to catch the Q and went down when that didn't work.
But GIB says it's still doable if I lead either a diamond or a low
spade. How so? Can East be prevented from getting 2 club tricks?

[f***@googlemail.com]

Post by Ian Zimmerman
K82
7
A9
AJ9
JT76
-
75
QT4
A54
A
KQ
763
Q93
J93
T43
-
I'm South, on the lead, playing NT, and I need 7 more tricks. I played
a low club trying to catch the Q and went down when that didn't work.
But GIB says it's still doable if I lead either a diamond or a low
spade. How so? Can East be prevented from getting 2 club tricks?

Your presentation is slightly hard to read.
...........K82
...........7
...........A9
...........AJ9

Q93................J1076
J93................-
T43................75
-..................QT4

.........A54
.........A
.........KQ
.........763

To make an extra trick, you need to get East on lead and having to play a club. To do that you also have to lose a spade trick before cashing other winners. So start by ducking a spade.

Whoever wins that isn't going to play a club (West can't, and East won't without giving you a trick).

Say they win the spade and play a diamond. Now cash the ace of hearts and the KQ of diamonds. East has to discard a black card.

- If East discards a club, you can duck a club to him and the other two clubs will be winners (2 spades, 1 heart, 2 diamonds, 2 clubs)

- If East discards a spade, cash the ace and king of spades and duck a club. East has nothing but clubs left, and has to lead one round to the AJ.

This is called a strip squeeze, or something a squeeze-throw-in.

Post by Ian Zimmerman
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[Ian Zimmerman]

Post by f***@googlemail.com
This is called a strip squeeze, or something a squeeze-throw-in.

Excellent! Thank you very much.

[Dave Flower]

Post by Ian Zimmerman

Post by f***@googlemail.com
This is called a strip squeeze, or something a squeeze-throw-in.

Excellent! Thank you very much.
--
Please don't Cc: me privately on mailing lists and Usenet,
if you also post the followup to the list or newsgroup.
To reply privately _only_ on Usenet, fetch the TXT record for the domain.

It is difficult to be certain, without the bidding and the play to the first few tricks, but it seems likely that you were right to play the clubs - ducking a spade is likely to result in a heart return, forcing you to guess the clubs for no loser, whereas playing on clubs loses only to a 0-3 break

Dave Flower