[broze]

This hand is from the free daylong IMPs tournament last Sunday. (Rotated to make South declarer)

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Loath to give up on clubs 3-3 and judging that West has KQ♦ and East the ♥A (and maybe the ten), I decided to rise with the ♦A at trick 6 and cash some spades. Click through to the five card ending and think about how you would play. The full hand is below.

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On trick 9 West is squeezed in three suits. Throwing a diamond or a club gives up immediately so he has to throw a heart. At my table GIB made a nice play and threw the ♥T (which would have been necessary if East had been dealt the ♥8 else declarer can come out a low heart). But any heart pitch allows me cash a club and play the ♥K. The opponents will be forced to give me a heart or a club in the ending.

The blocked position in clubs is typical of a stepping-stone squeeze where an opponent has to keep length in a suit to prevent declarer overtaking a winner. It usually matures with two losers but here we have three (with only one club trick immediately cashable in the endgame), so it it a stepping-stone squeeze without the count!

[The_Badger]

I'm not totally au fait with all squeeze positions, but I believe that most stepping stone plays start off with a strip squeeze, and strip squeezes start off with two losers generally. (I'm sure someone will correct this.) It's an unusual squeeze nonetheless, and thanks for posting

[broze]

The_Badger, on 2018-December-10, 15:10, said:

I'm not totally au fait with all squeeze positions, but I believe that most stepping stone plays start off with a strip squeeze, and strip squeezes start off with two losers generally. (I'm sure someone will correct this.) It's an unusual squeeze nonetheless, and thanks for posting

Good point - you are quite right. The confusion comes from the difference between "trick losers" (i.e. how many tricks the opps can cash) and "squeeze losers" (total remaining tricks minus cashable winners for your side). In fact there are three squeeze losers here. I will edit the OP so it is correct.

[nige1]

Broze writes "Loath to give up on clubs 3-3 and judging that West has KQ♦ and East the ♥A (and maybe the ten), I decided to rise with the ♦A at trick 6 and cash some spades. Click through to the five card ending and think about how you would play. On trick 9 West is squeezed in three suits. Throwing a diamond or a club gives up immediately so he has to throw a heart. At my table GIB made a nice play and threw the ♥T (which would have been necessary if East had been dealt the ♥8 else declarer can come out a low heart). But any heart pitch allows me cash a club and play the ♥K. The opponents will be forced to give me a heart or a club in the ending. The blocked position in clubs is typical of a stepping-stone squeeze where an opponent has to keep length in a suit to prevent declarer overtaking a winner. It usually matures with two losers but here we have three (with only one club trick immediately cashable in the endgame), so it it a stepping-stone squeeze without the count!"
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A pretty squeeze. Thank you Broze. GIB can be an annoying kibitzer in endings like these, revealing other winning lines. Here, for example, GIB tells us
- You can duck the 2nd ♦ and/or
- You can discard a ♣ on a winning ♠

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