[mr1303]

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Ignore the 3 passes at the beginning, West opened the bidding with 1NT, 4C was Gerber.

Partner leads the J of clubs, overtaken by your Q and won by declarer's K.

What pitches do you make on the run of the diamonds? If it helps, partner follows to 4 rounds of diamonds and then pitches low spades.

[gnasher]

I can't see a legitimate defence if declarer has AJxx Qxx Jx AKx plus another spot card. The best I can do is to throw three clubs and two hearts, hoping that he guesses to take the heart finesse.

[inquiry]

If declarer is going to guess to play for a triple squeeze, you are toast. Looks like the only legit way to defeat 7NT is to have knocked out the late entry to dummy with a heart opening lead at trick one by your parnter.

The bad news, with declarer deciding to play on diamond despite having only 11 tricks is there is not much you can do to try to convince him you can be squeezed in blacks after he takes a heart hook. The reason being, he has to cross to his hand in clubs to hook the heart to set up the squeeze but if he crosses to his hand in clubs, he will have no entries left to his hand (except overtaking the spade king, which drops his trick winner total). So once he decided to burn his entry bridges by running diamonds, you are going to be tripled squeezed.

Many declarers would have tried the heart hook at trick two, then for the black suit squeeze, so you unfortunate to play someone playing you for long clubs, and the two missing major key cards. I guess your only hope is partner has the spade jack, and declarer opened with 14 hcp for some odd reason so you can abandon spades...

[nige1]

mr1303 asks "Partner leads the J of clubs, overtaken by your Q and won by declarer's K. What pitches do you make on the run of the diamonds? If it helps, partner follows to 4 rounds of diamonds and then pitches low spades".


Better not to have overtaken ♣J to improve declarer's chance of misreading the distribution.
Agree with Gnasher: reduce to a singeton ♥K ...
- Hoping that declarer takes the ♥ finesse for three down but also
- Defeating the contract by force when partner can make a ♥ at the end when declarer has e.g. ♠ AJTxx ♥ Q9 ♦ Jx ♣ AKxx

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[inquiry]

nige1, on 2012-May-18, 09:42, said:

- Defeating the contract by force when when partner can make a ♥ at the end e.g. declarer has ♠ AJTxx ♥ Q9 ♦ Jx ♣ AKxx

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That will not defeat the contract. After cashing the spade king and the six diamonds, and the heart Ace, you come to a position similar to this...

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[nige1]

IMO, that is double-dummy. I think declarer's main chance is a double-squeeze. So, if he holds ♠J, 3+ ♣ and ♥Q, after cashing the ♦, he will unblock ♠K and cash his black aces, playing for split black-suit guards and a working ♥ finesse. If, instead, declarer drops your ♥K, then you should hold your cards closer to your chest

[phil_20686]

I dont think partner would pitch two spades from Txxx, so it looks like he might have the J. Having said that, against 99% of declarers it is right to bare the heart Q, as they will take a finesse for one extra trick and then try to squeeze you.

[inquiry]

nige1, on 2012-May-18, 10:26, said:

IMO, that is double-dummy. I think declarer's main chance is a double-squeeze.
If so, after the ♦, he will cash ♠ and cross to ♣A.

The question was how to handle the threatened triple squeeze. If declarer was going to play for a double squeeze, or a black suit squeeze on south, he should have taken the heart hook before running diamonds (actually it would be an attempted compound squeeze on east after the heart hook won).

The fact is after playing on diamonds at trick two-three-four he has destroyed his entry conditions for a double squeeze or a black suit squeeze on east. Let's put back the heart ace in dummy in this four card ending to show you what I mean, including putting the king "onside" so the hook wins. Also had south unblock the heart queen on the diamonds so as not to get locked into his hand if west refuses to cover the heart queen.

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[nige1]

inquiry, on 2012-May-18, 12:07, said:

The question was how to handle the threatened triple squeeze.

I understand Inquiry's argument but, IMO, defending the triple-squeeze is a theoretical problem. In practice, declarer is likely to play the double-squeeze, coming down to:
♠ J ♥ x ♣ x opposite dummy's ♥AJx.

• Had the black-suit guards been split and the ♥ finesse been working, then he would be home
• Unfortunately for declarer, as the cards lie, in spite of his good play, he is three down

[inquiry]

nige1, on 2012-May-18, 13:39, said:

IMO, that is a theoretical problem. In practice, declarer will play the double-squeeze coming down to ♠ J ♥ x ♣ x opposite ♥AJx.

• Had the black-suit guards been split and the ♥ finesse been working, then he would be home
• Unfortunately for declarer, as the cards lie, in spite of his good play, he is three down

He can not come down to that... if he just ahs the spade JACK left (cashing teh K and ace), there can be no club in dummy..... A club was lead at trick one.. That has sort of been my point in my first post, and in my reply to your second post..... The entrys are fried.... when he ran the diamonds before taking the heart hook...

Draw your double squeeze up WITHOUT A CLUB in the dummy. Good luck with that.

[CSGibson]

The cards in my hand at the 5 card end (dummy having 4 hearts and a club) would be the Qx of spades, the K of hearts, and the T9 of clubs. Hearts would be unguarded on the 3rd to last diamond - nothing unusually flashy, just following suit naturally the whole time.

[CSGibson]

inquiry, on 2012-May-18, 12:07, said:

The question was how to handle the threatened triple squeeze. If declarer was going to play for a double squeeze, or a black suit squeeze on south, he should have taken the heart hook before running diamonds (actually it would be an attempted compound squeeze on east after the heart hook won).

The fact is after playing on diamonds at trick two-three-four he has destroyed his entry conditions for a double squeeze or a black suit squeeze on east. Let's put back the heart ace in dummy in this four card ending to show you what I mean, including putting the king "onside" so the hook wins. Also had south unblock the heart queen on the diamonds so as not to get locked into his hand if west refuses to cover the heart queen.

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Not true - he can still play for split black suit guards and the working heart hook - neither hand can hold 3 hearts, which is the line that Nigel was mentioning. Since he has to take the heart hook anyway, he now makes any time the hook is onside and: the black guards are split, someone is squeezed with long hearts and clubs, or someone is squeezed with long hearts and the spade Q. By refusing to take the heart hook right away, declarer actually preserves all of his options, because he can pitch down to a stiff heart in hand while keeping all of his other menaces.