Puzzle 7E75 Main |
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You may not approve of the bidding, but there you, in a grand slam with 12 tricks. Where there are 12, there are usually 13 or so say the squeeze experts. Certainly there are excellent squeeze chances here:
7 NT South | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | Any Vul | West Pass Pass Pass Pass All Pass | NORTH 1 ![]() 2 ![]() 3 ![]() 5 ![]() 7 ![]() | East Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass | South 1 ![]() 3 ![]() 4 NT 5 NT 7 NT | ||
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West leads the 9, and 7 NT cannot be made. The following conditions exist:
1. At least one defender has a singleton. |
2. West has exactly two even spot cards. |
3. The sum of Wests club spots equals the sum of Easts spade spots. |
Note: Spot cards are deuce through 10?> |
What are the exact East-West hands?
Puzzle 7E75 Main | ![]() | Top No Squeeze |
For starters, both majors must split 3-3. If not, declarer would have a positional major-suit threat behind at least one defender, allowing 7 NT to be made on a compound squeeze. (To understand this, see my article on Pure Squeezes.) For the same reason, East cannot hold five or more clubs. So West cannot have a club singleton; nor East a diamond singleton (East will have too many clubs); nor East a club singleton (hell have at most 12 cards). Therefore, the 9 lead must be the singleton, giving West 3=3=1=6 shape, and East 3=3=5=2.
If West has only one even club spot, his minimum club-spot count is 26 (J-9-7-5-3-2); whereas, Easts maximum spade-spot count is 25 (10-9-6). Therefore, West has two even club spots; and East has all the even major-suit spots ( 10-6
10-8-6). Easts third spade must be the nine, else his spade-spot count could never be great enough to equal Wests club-spot count. The only West club holding with a spot total of 25 is J-9-7-4-3-2. So the full deal must be:
7 NT South | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | Any Vul | West Pass Pass Pass Pass All Pass | NORTH 1 ![]() 2 ![]() 3 ![]() 5 ![]() 7 ![]() | East Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass | South 1 ![]() 3 ![]() 4 NT 5 NT 7 NT | ||
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Lead: ![]() | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
And as most people would surely agree: Who really cares!
Puzzle 7E75 Main | ![]() | Top No Squeeze |
© 1979 Richard Pavlicek