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Strip Squeeze or Blocking Play

Mr. Lin asked us a deal last Saturday. This deal happened in pk of Xinrui Bridge. Mr. Lin said the contract went down in a second. What's more, Fu, our coach, also let the contract down quickly.

Board 2
Dealer: East
Vul: N-S
East    South    West    North
 1♢        2♣       Pass       2♢
Pass     2NT      Pass      3NT
 AP

Lead: ♢4

How to play now?

For many professional players, strip squeeze must emerged in their brain at the first glance. ♠K, ♡A and ♢A had been supposed in East. Cashing all the ♣ and throw in East at last. So they would play ♢Q in the first trick. For other players, they would played ♢Q by the night of nature, hoping ♢A was in West. However, in the first situation, strip squeeze didn't work here. You just had 1♠, 1♢, 5♣, totally 7 tricks. If you had 6 cards ♣, strip squeeze would exist. In last 5 cards, East should remain 2♠, ♡A and 2♢ and he had to discard ♢ winners.
So is there any chance here? Definitely, yes. Following small ♢, there was chance that West hold ♢TXX or ♢JXX which create a block between defenders. You would have enough time to knocking out ♡A. If East hold ♢AJTXX, the contract was down naturally.

The full deal
Board 2
Dealer: East
Vul: N-S

They were amazed at my reaction speed. I solved the problem quickly because I had seen such situation before. The similar deal happened in round 2 of Hong Kong Intercity Bridge Championships 2018. Link: http://www.pabf.org/Tour/Board.aspx?tourid=11792&sectionID=4948e26b-f111-4ce5-b713-de447329294d&round=2&stanza=0&board=28

Board 28
Dealer: West
Vul: N-S
West     East
Pass      1NT
3NT        AP

Lead: ♠3

I saw this deal on BBO VG, Besties vs New Combination, which left deep impression on me.

South led ♠3 in a normal speed. ♠5->♠Q->♠A. The declarer cashed ♣AK, following ♣8 on the second trick and the played ♣J. South won with the ♣Q while North discard a small ♡ and a small ♢ in order. Then South shifted ♡5.

In my opinion, the declarer might play not jump K. Analyzing the leading speed and the discarding by North(he wouldn't discard ♡ first if he hold 4♡ and 5♢), South might not hold 4 cards ♡. Only one situation that AXX in South, playing ♡K was right. Whatever ATX or AJX or JXX or TXX or JTX, playing ♡K was meaningless. ♡ would be blocked between defenders. For declarer, ♡ was the connection between table and hand, declarer couldn't allow defenders to win on the first trick and cut his connection. And then the declarer could knock out ♠K safely and have enough entries in hand. On the table, the declarer jumped K. North won with the ♡A and declarer must duck the second ♡. South caught the declarer's mistake. Winning with the ♡J and shifting to ♢2, it was impossible for declarer to play ♢8 on this trick, although this was the only and last chance for East to bring contract home. (no entry to cash ♡Q or ♠, the last chance was to win 4 tricks on ♢ while North had discard a ♢)

The defense was indeed impressive, but the suit combination was worthy to be mentioned. QX-- K9X, 9 always played an important role!!!


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