Puzzle 7E75 Main
No Squeeze
by Richard PavlicekPuzzle 7E75 Main |
| by Richard Pavlicek |
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 |  A 4 2 A 7 5 2 A K Q J 10 6
| 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 | ||
| ? ? ? ? | 
| ? ? ? ?
| ||||||
| K 8 7 5 K 4 3 4 2 A K Q 8 | ||||||||
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 West’s club spots equals the sum of East’s spade spots. |
Note: Spot cards are deuce through 10
What are the exact East-West hands?
| Puzzle 7E75 Main |  | Top No Squeeze |
SolutionFor 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 (he’ll 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, East’s 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). East’s third spade must be the nine, else his spade-spot count could never be great enough to equal West’s 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 | A 4 2 A 7 5 2 A K Q J 10 6
| 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 | ||
| Q J 3 Q J 9 9 J 9 7 4 3 2 |
| 10 9 6 10 8 6 8 7 6 5 3 10 5
| ||||||
Lead: 9 | K 8 7 5 K 4 3 4 2 A K Q 8 | |||||||
And as most people would surely agree: Who really cares!
| Puzzle 7E75 Main | | Top No Squeeze |
© 1979 Richard Pavlicek