October 2018 - 57

Intermediate Players

Better Bridge with Bergen
BY MARTY BERGEN

martybergen.com

Squeezes made easy - part 5
Here is squeeze deal No. 4 from last
month:
♠K52
♥963
♦KQJ
♣Q753
♠A43
♥7542
♦A86
♣AK6
Against your 3NT, East wins the ♥Q
with the ace, cashes the ♥K, and shifts
to the ♦10. East is obviously now
heartless, so West still has the ♥J 10.
How will you play?
You have eight winners off the top.
Your best chance to make 3NT is if
clubs split 3-3. But there is no hurry to
test that suit. If a defender has length
in both black suits, and you believe in
losing your losers early and rectifying
the count, you can squeeze him!
At trick four, you should make the
totally counterintuitive play of leading
a heart! When West wins the trick, he
probably will take his additional heart
winner. If he smells a rat and doesn't
cash it, that's OK. Regardless of which
suit he leads, you'll win it in hand and
lead your last heart, forcing him to win
the defenders' fourth heart trick so
that the count is rectified.
The bottom line is: After four rounds
of hearts (early), and three rounds of
diamonds (later on), if an opponent
started with at least four clubs and at
least five spades, after seven rounds
of red-suit leads, he can keep only six

black cards, so cannot guard both suits.
Take look at the East hand below.
You will eventually have to make three
discards. Which six cards would you
keep? Since you know that West can't
guard clubs, the correct defense is to
keep that suit. Although you don't want
to discard three spades, if West started
with ♠J x x, he will be able to guard
that suit.
As you can see, that is not the case.
So on this deal, as long as declarer
rectifies the count by making sure that
East-West take their four heart tricks,
South's squeeze attempt will be successful.
Here is the full deal:

♠ J 10
♥ Q J 10 8
♦75432
♣ 10 8

♠K52
♥963
♦KQJ
♣Q753

♠A43
♥7542
♦A86
♣AK6

♠A843
♥ J 10
♦AKQ6
♣ J 10 9

♠J765
♠K2
♥A96432
♥Q875
♦82
♦ J 10 7 4 3
♣5
♣83
♠ Q 10 9
♥K
♦95
♣AKQ7642
West cashes the ♥A. At trick 2, he
leads a heart to East's queen, which
you ruff. Good luck!
◾

Call for nominations

♠Q9876
♥AK
♦ 10 9
♣J942

Ready for squeeze deal No. 5? (See
next column.) After North opens 1NT,
you decide that your hand justifies a
Gerber response. After partner shows
two aces, you jump to 6♣. Unfortunately, West makes the best lead for his
side of the ♥A, and you see that your
♥K is a worthless honor. Nevertheless,
this is a makeable slam. Can you make
it?

Nominations are now being accepted
for the 2018 Goodwill Member of the
Year. This honorary title is given to
the ACBL member who has exhibited
unselfish dedication to the causes of
good conduct, worthy participation
and ethical behavior. Any unit/district
official in good standing may nominate a
candidate.
Please include the name of the
candidate, contact information and why
you believe the candidate deserves
recognition as the Goodwill Member of
the Year. Also, include your own name,
contact information and unit/district
affiliation.
A nomination form is available at
acbl.org/goodwillnominations, or email
nomination to kelley.trejo@acbl.org.
Nominations are open until Oct. 15.
October 2018 Bridge Bulletin

57
http://www.martybergen.com http://www.acbl.org/goodwillnominations
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2018
