Template:Short description The simple squeeze is the most basic form of a squeeze in contract bridge. When declarer plays a winner in one suit (the squeeze card), an opponent is forced to discard a stopper in one of declarer's two threat suits.
The simple squeeze takes place against one opponent only and gains one trick only. That opponent must hold the defense's only stoppers in declarer's two threat suits. The simple squeeze requires that declarer has rectified the count: declarer must have already lost as many tricks as he can afford, and can win all but one of the remaining tricks with top cards.<ref>Template:OEB</ref> Positional squeezes, described next, also require that the defense's stoppers be located favorably for declarer. Other requirements are also discussed in this article.
Positional squeezesEdit
Template:BridgeHandNWS Template:BridgeHandNES In Example 1, when the Template:ClubsA is cashed, West is squeezed in the major suits. West must discard before North plays. If West discards a spade, dummy discards the Template:HeartsK and declarer then wins the Template:SpadesAJ. If West discards the Template:HeartsA, dummy discards the Template:SpadesJ and declarer then wins the Template:SpadesA and the Template:HeartsK.
The squeeze will not work if East's and West's cards are swapped as shown in Example 2. Here East can wait to see which threat card is played on the Template:ClubsA and discard accordingly; if declarer throws the Template:SpadesJ, East discards a spade, and if declarer throws the Template:HeartsK, East discards the Template:HeartsA. (This example assumes that West holds at least one heart after following to the Template:ClubsA; else, South's Template:Hearts2 becomes a legitimate threat and the squeeze is automatic—see the next examples.)
The positional squeeze, is so called because its success depends on the position of the threats Template:HeartsK and Template:SpadesJ relative to the defense's stoppers, the Template:SpadesKQ and the Template:HeartsA. Either the Template:HeartsK or Template:SpadesJ, or both, must be in the upper hand: the hand that plays after the squeezed defender.
Automatic squeezesEdit
Template:BridgeHandNWS Template:BridgeHandNES The positional squeeze which works against one defender only can be distinguished from the automatic squeeze, which works against either defender.
Consider the layout in Example 3, where the Template:SpadesJ and the Template:HeartsK are divided between declarer and dummy. When South leads the squeeze card, the Template:ClubsA, West is squeezed. If West discards a spade, dummy throws the Template:Hearts2 and declarer then wins dummy's Template:SpadesAJ. If West discards the Template:HeartsA, dummy throws the Template:SpadesJ and declarer then wins the Template:HeartsK and dummy's Template:SpadesA.
If the defense's stoppers are in the East hand instead of the West hand and the North-South hands are unchanged as in Example 4, then when declarer leads the Template:ClubsA and dummy discards the Template:Hearts2, East is squeezed. If East discards a spade, declarer then wins dummy's Template:SpadesAJ. If East discards the Template:HeartsA, declarer then wins the Template:HeartsK and dummy's Template:SpadesA.
This is still a simple squeeze, but it is termed an automatic squeeze to distinguish it from a positional squeeze. The fact that declarer's two threats are in different hands means that no matter which defender holds both stoppers, at least one of the threats lies in the upper hand (the Template:SpadesJ if West is to be squeezed, the Template:HeartsK if East is to be squeezed).
EntriesEdit
A successful simple squeeze poses several requirements. The count must be rectified, the defense's stoppers in the threat suits must be held by one opponent only, at least one threat card must lie over the squeezed defender, and at least one threat must lie opposite the squeeze card. In addition to these requirements, one of three general types of entry positions must be present.
The threat opposite the squeeze card has an entry in its own suitEdit
Template:BridgeHandNWS Template:BridgeHandNES Earlier, Examples 1 and 4, illustrated positional and automatic squeezes; here, they also illustrate one way to satisfy a simple squeeze's entry requirement.
One of the threat cards is the Template:SpadesJ. It lies opposite the squeeze card (the Template:ClubsA), and it is accompanied by an entry (the Template:SpadesA) in its own suit. The hand containing the squeeze card must of course have another card (here, the Template:Spades4) that can be used to cross to the Template:SpadesA after the squeeze has taken place.
Split two-card threat and twin-entry threatEdit
Another entry position in the simple squeeze gives dummy, for example, an immediate winner and a small card in declarer's threat suit. This position is termed a split two-card threat or split two-card menace. The split two-card threat "splits" the threat between declarer's hand and dummy. Template:BridgeHandNWS Template:BridgeHandNES In Example 5, the spade threat is the Template:SpadesJ. The split two-card threat splits the spade threat's immediate winner, the Template:SpadesA, from the threat itself. Dummy holds an immediate winner in the suit where declarer holds the threat.
When the squeeze card, the Template:ClubsA, is played, West might discard the Template:HeartsA. Then dummy throws the Template:Spades3 and cashes the Template:SpadesA and the Template:HeartsK. If West discards the Template:SpadesQ instead, dummy throws the Template:HeartsK. South plays the Template:Spades2 to the Template:SpadesA, removing West's remaining Template:SpadesK, and takes the last trick with the Template:SpadesJ.
Notice that the simple squeeze with a split two-card menace is a positional squeeze. It will not operate against East if West's cards in Example 5 are transferred to East, as in Example 6. In Example 6, the split two-card menace is still present but if dummy discards the Template:Spades3 on the Template:ClubsA, East discards the Template:SpadesQ and declarer must still lose to the Template:HeartsA. If dummy instead discards the Template:HeartsK, East throws the Template:HeartsA and declarer must still lose to the Template:SpadesK.
Template:BridgeHandNES The problem in Example 6 is that declarer does not hold an entry to the Template:SpadesJ threat after playing the squeeze card. The twin-entry threat converts the positional split-threat squeeze to an automatic squeeze. See Example 7.
Dummy holds winner-and-small in declarer's threat suit, as with the split two-card menace in Examples 5 and 6, but now declarer also has a winner (the Template:SpadesK) in that threat suit. This is a twin-entry squeeze and is automatic: with these cards in North and South, either West or East could be squeezed.
In Example 7, declarer leads Template:ClubsA and dummy follows suit. If East discards a spade, declarer wins the Template:SpadesA, the Template:SpadesK and the Template:Spades9. If East discards the Template:HeartsA, declarer wins the Template:SpadesK, the Template:SpadesA and the Template:HeartsK. The same sequence occurs if West instead of East holds the guards in spades and hearts.
The criss-cross squeezeEdit
The third general type of entry position in the simple squeeze occurs when declarer has an entry in dummy's threat suit and dummy has an entry in declarer's threat suit. This situation is termed a criss-cross squeeze. It is regarded as a comparatively rare position.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:BridgeHandNES Template:BridgeHandNES Example 8 illustrates the criss-cross squeeze. Dummy's threat card is the Template:HeartsQ and declarer has an entry, the Template:HeartsA, in that suit. Declarer's threat card is the Template:SpadesQ and dummy has an entry, the Template:SpadesA, in that suit. When declarer cashes the Template:ClubsA, East is squeezed. South cashes the A in whichever suit East discards from, crosses to the other A, and cashes the remaining Q.
This is an automatic squeeze: it works regardless of which opponent guards the two threats. However, the position is usually ambiguous. After the squeeze has taken place, declarer is often uncertain which guard (in Example 8, the Template:SpadesK and the Template:HeartsK) is now a singleton.
For example, if East unguarded the Template:SpadesK earlier in the play, the situation might actually be as shown in Example 9. In this case, declarer cashes the Template:ClubsA and East throws a small heart. If declarer now judges that East has bared the Template:HeartsK, he will cash the Template:HeartsA. When the Template:HeartsK does not fall, declarer will subsequently be stuck in dummy, losing the final trick to the Template:HeartsK. A similar outcome can result if East bares the Template:HeartsK early in the play.
The possibility of this sort of ambiguity is inherent in the blocked entry position that characterizes criss-cross squeezes. A defender who can see what's coming can discard deceptively, putting declarer to a guess after the squeeze has matured.
The Vienna coupEdit
Template:BridgeHandNES Template:BridgeHandNES One particular entry configuration may require special handling. In the layout shown in Example 10, the threats (Template:SpadesJ and Template:HeartsQ) are divided between the North and South hands and East holds the guards in the threat suits. Furthermore, North holds a winner in each threat suit and South holds no winner in either threat suit.
Suppose that South leads the squeeze card, the Template:DiamondsA, in the position shown. East simply discards either heart, because the South hand can neither retain nor regain the lead, and the North hand must eventually lose the Template:SpadesJ to the Template:SpadesK.
The solution is to unblock the Template:HeartsA before leading to the Template:DiamondsA. After the unblock, the position is as shown in Example 11. The unblock of the Template:HeartsA transposes Example 10 into Example 11, a simple automatic squeeze with the Template:HeartsQ positioned to exert pressure against East. Compare Example 11 with Example 4, which shows the same basic position.
The unblocking solution remains the same even if the East and West hands were interchanged.
The play, prior to the squeeze card, of the winner that blocks South's threat is called the Vienna coup. The term has long been regarded as unduly connoting brilliance: "In short, the aura of glamor which has always seemed to surround this play is wholly fictitious."<ref>Clyde E. Love, Bridge Squeezes Complete, Dover Publications, 1968, Template:ISBN, Chapter 1.</ref>