Tactic Learned Best by Starting at Hind End; here’s Example.
lf you are a bumbledog (a planless card player), the squeeze will worry you. It needs planning, remembering and concentrating. Which is too much work for some players. A good routine will eliminate the need for remembering; reduce the need for concentrating: and make’ the planning reasonably easy.
Don’t let it surprise you that a squeeze is learned best by starting first at the hind end. Because that is what you are aiming at. And it makes you understand what you are leading up to.
Let me show you the tall end; of a deal just as the squeeze is ready to go into action. The first 10 tricks have been played. The three remaining cards in each hand are shown above.
South holds the three in spades, and hearts and diamonds. West has the spade ace and K Q in hearts. Dummy in the North has a small spade and ace-small in hearts, East has A K Q of clubs.
Diamonds Trumps.
Diamonds were trumps. South is in the lead and leads the trump trey in this spot. It is a card of a suit in which none of the other players have any cards left. West must play next. Since he is unable to follow suit, he must play a card from some other suit. And he has a choice of playing either, a heart or a spade.
If west coughs up the queen or king of hearts, dummy in the north, will sluff the small spade. That will permit dummy to take the two remaining tricks with his ace and a small heart. If West may elect to give up his spade ace instead of a heart. In that case dummy will sluff the small heart. North and South will then take the heart ace and small spade for the two last tricks.
The squeeze works here because West must play before North. That gives North a chance to hold what West throws. The squeeze is between the devil and the deep blue sea.