April 2020 - 65

Solutions to Test Your Play
Problems on pg. 59

1.

♠AQJ
♥K32
♦AKJ
♣ 10 7 6 4
♠K987632
♥A76
♦-
♣A52

In 7♠, your plan should be to try to
set up dummy's fourth club, hoping
for 3-3 clubs so you can get rid of your
heart loser.
Win the ♣A (nice play), cross to the
♠A and when both follow, draw the
last trump, discard two clubs on the
♦A K, ruff a club, cross to the ♠J and
ruff a second club. If clubs are 3-3, you
are home, as you have 13 tricks with
the ♥K the entry to the 13th club.
If clubs are 4-2, you are going to have
to rely on a possible squeeze, so play
one more round of trumps, reducing to
this mandatory four-card ending:
Dummy
♠-
♥K3
♦J
♣ 10
Squeeze Expert
♠K
♥A76
♦-
♣-
Now play your last spade. If the
minor-suit threats are divided, the opponents are finished. On the last spade,
if West has the high club and East the
♦Q, their other three cards will be
hearts. West will have to throw a heart
to protect his high club, so you discard
a club from dummy, and East will have
to discard a heart to protect his ♦Q.

Voila! Your third heart has become
your 13th trick.
This squeeze works equally well if
West guards the ♦Q and East started
with four clubs.
However, if one defender guards both
clubs and diamonds and their partner
has at least three hearts, there is no
squeeze.

2.

♠-
♥ Q J 10 9
♦KQJ9
♣AJ732
♠K3
♥A4
♦A432
♣ K 10 9 8 4

Were you worrying about the ♣Q?
For shame. You should have been worrying about the ♥K. On this deal, the
only problem arises when the ♥K is
offside and clubs are 3-0. So start by
assuming West has the ♥K and that
clubs are indeed 3-0. Now what can
you do?
Well, if West has all three clubs, you
can always throw him in with a club
after stripping spades and diamonds
to force a heart return. So there is no
problem when West has the clubs, but
there could be trouble right here in
River City if East has the clubs. Therefore, to protect against this, ruff the
spade lead and cash the ♣A. If East has
the three clubs, finesse the club, draw
trumps, and take the heart finesse for
the overtrick.
If West has the Q-x-x of clubs, cross
to the ♣K, cash the ♠K, run the diamonds, and toss West in with the ♣Q
if they refuse to ruff. West will either
have to play a heart or give you a ruffsluff by leading a spade, eliminating
your heart loser.
◾

♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠

Bridge
Sprees
with
Gail & Jeff
Here is a personal invitation to
you from Gail Greenberg, world
champion bridge player and teacher,
and from Jeff Hand, national and
international champion and
teacher/director.

Please join us at:

Canyon Ranch
from August 12-19
After eight years of very successful
bridge camps in Lenox Massachusetts in the Berkshires, we decided
to go even more upscale and move
to the Canyon Ranch Resort and
Spa. What a grand success!! Virtually all of the people that joined us
are returning, plus a whole lot of
new folk who got the word and are
signing on.
Canyon Ranch, a world renowned
first class spa, offers all of its amenities to us at a group-discounted
price. Our special outings this year
will be a trip to the Tanglewood
Music Festival for the Boston Pops,
John Williams "film night favorites"
and a guided tour of the Clark Art
Institute. When you combine that
with Bridge Bridge Bridge morning,
afternoon and evening lessons/
duplicates/informal play with Gail
and Jeff, then you have it all!!!!!
For more information visit
www.bridgesprees.com or contact
Gail Greenberg 917-257-5277
gailhartegreenberg@yahoo.com
Jeff Hand 914-960-3055
hand_jeff@hotmail.com

♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠♣♦♥♠
April 2020 Bridge Bulletin

65
http://www.bridgesprees.com
April 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2020
