A hand

Here’s an interesting hand that came up in a pairs session with Agent 99.

Game All, dealer West
♠ Q 5 4 3
♥ 7 6
♦ Q 10 5 2
♣ A 6 5

  []

♠ A 10 2
♥ 5
♦ A K J 7 6 4 3
♣ Q 4

W    N    E    S
Pass Pass 2♥   3♦
4♥   5♦   All Pass

Trick one was the ♥2 to East’s ♥Q, and he continued with the ♥A which was ruffed small. On the ♦A, West contributes the ♣7, and follows up with the ♣2 when you continue with another diamond to dummy’s ♦10. Now what?

East has shown ♥AKQ, so both black kings must be on your left. It has to be right to try a spade to the ten now. This loses to the ♠J, but West is end-played. In fact, if spades are 3-3, making the fourth round a threat for a club discard, he must exit with a club now to avoid conceding two tricks! (A heart allows you to discard a spade and ruff the suit out). But even so, West is dead meat if the clubs are 6-2 (which is not so unlikely in this layout). With two tricks lost and ten winners in sight, you can simply cash the ♠A and run the diamonds to inflict a simple squeeze.

             ♠ Q 5 4 3
             ♥ 7 6
             ♦ Q 10 5 2
             ♣ A 6 5
♠ K J 8                   ♠ 9 7 6
♥ J 8 3 2      [ ]        ♥ A K Q 10 9 4
♦ -                       ♦ 9 8
♣ K J 9 8 7 2             ♣ 10 3
             ♠ A 10 2
             ♥ 5
             ♦ A K J 7 6 4 3
             ♣ Q 4

Agent 99 was the declarer, but didn’t manage to navigate through this one. We didn’t feel so bad when we noticed first that four hearts is cold, and second, that West can kill the squeeze by exiting with the ♣K. That still concedes the tenth trick, of course, but it takes out dummy’s entry.

I wanted to talk about this hand in one of my lectures, but I was assured that it was way, way past what the target audience would understand.