[Free]

Here's a hand me and my partner got tonight:

Scoring: MP

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We ended up in 6♠, played by south (relay system). My partner played some ♠s, finessed his ♣J (which held) and played further to get to this end position:

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On the last ♦, East was squeezed. He tried to discard his ♥, but partner ruffed his small ♥ (dropping the K), got back to his hand and made his ♥Q.

6♠+1. Very nice played, I'm proud to play with him

[fred]

Pretty indeed, but I think he misplayed it - no offense intended.

Would have been better to cash the Ace of hearts before the club finesse, then when the CJ holds, ruff a heart, diamond to your K, and ruff another heart before running all the dummy's remaining winners.

East would still be squeezed, but declarer does not have to guess the distribution in the end game if you play it my way. In the trump squeeze ending your partner reached, declarer had to guess the distribution after the last diamond was played.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[Free]

fred, on Jan 18 2005, 01:17 AM, said:

Pretty indeed, but I think he misplayed it - no offense intended.

Would have been better to cash the Ace of hearts before the club finesse, then when the CJ holds, ruff a heart, diamond to your K, and ruff another heart before running all the dummy's remaining winners.

East would still be squeezed, but declarer does not have to guess the distribution in the end game if you play it my way. In the trump squeeze ending your partner reached, declarer had to guess the distribution after the last diamond was played.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

I'm probably just too tired, but I just don't see how ruffing 2♥s in the beginning helps in squeezing East. Don't you get communication problems?

[Flame]

I see it now.

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[fred]

Ruffing 2 hearts doesn't help squeeze East. The point of ruffing 2 hearts is to bring down a possible Kxx of hearts with West - in this case you don't need a squeeze at all. If you somehow knew that East had the King of hearts, you wouldn't have to get involved in ruffing hearts - after the club finesse wins just cash the Ace of hearts and run the spades and diamonds ending in dummy.

The main point is that you will always know what to do after the squeeze card is played if you follow my line. If you see East pitch the King of hearts you will know your Queen is good. Otherwise discard the Queen of hearts - your only chance will be that the King of clubs is now unguarded.

In the trump squeeze ending you have to guess which King has been unguarded. Granted that a strong player will usally guess right (especially against less than expert defenders), but there is no need for guessing at all.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[Free]

Ofcourse you're right Also tnx to Flame's nice endposition I see it now.

[Flame]

There is another wrong way to make this work.

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This is a criss cross squeeze and like the ruffing squeese you will need to know which K is ungarded.
I would also be pround to have a partner who make this 7 even if he choose the not so perfect squeeze.

[DrTodd13]

Does Love call this particular squeeze a criss-cross squeeze? I thought he categorized this one as a "simple" squeeze.

Todd

[fred]

I don't have the book in front of me, but I am pretty sure that Clyde Love includes the Criss-Cross squeeze in his chapter on simple squeezes (that is, 1-loser, 2-suit squeezes in which ruffing is not involved). So you are both right. It is called a Criss-Cross squeeze, but Love considers this position to be a member of the class of squeezes known as "Simple Squeezes".

About what should make you proud of your partner, for me it varies greatly from partner to partner. For some partners going through the whole session without miscounting their points is enough to make me proud. Some of my other partners could play hands like this one in their sleep, but I am proud of them on the rare occasions that they get through a session without being rude to either me or our opponents.

Probably well over 90% of bridge players never knowingly execute a squeeze so it would usually be appropriate to be proud of your partner whenever he or she intentionally wins an extra trick by playing for any kind of squeeze.

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[slothy]

fred, on Jan 17 2005, some UnGodly hour, said:

....(1) I don't have the book in front of me, but I am pretty sure that Clyde Love includes the Criss-Cross squeeze in his chapter on simple squeezes.....

.... (2) About what should make you proud of your partner, for me it varies greatly from partner to partner. For some partners going through the whole session without miscounting their points is enough to make me proud.....

.... (3) Some of my other partners  could play hands like this one in their sleep

... (4) but I am proud of them on the rare occasions that they get through a session without being rude to either me or our opponents....

.... (5) Probably well over 90% of bridge players never knowingly execute a squeeze so it would usually be appropriate to be proud of your partner whenever he or she intentionally wins an extra trick by playing for any kind of squeeze.

.... (6) Fred Gitelman

(1) Just criss-cross-referenced the book and you are correct Fred. He does....

(2) We must be pitchin' from different mounds, Fred. Playing with a partner who makes the effort to (occasionally) count his points is enough to make ME proud [and those who dont bother to count mine whilst they are dummy after I have 'accidentally' miscalculated my own]

(3) I would like to see that...I dont bet very often . However sleep research has proven that some people have incredibly acute spatial awareness whilst in a state of REM. More incredibly, Latvian research in the 1960s showed that sleeping, feral armidillos who snored loudly were less likely to take an intra-finesse than ones who didnt snore at all. Duplicated research with ocelots in 1975, however, disproved the latter theory. I dont know about you but i prefer to remain open-minded.

(4) Ah well suppose i better stop playing with partners who have chronic cases of Tourettes syndrome.

I have to say i was proud of my partner in a competition last weekend where he consoled a woman who burst into tears after her p berated her for going off in a cold 3NT by offering her his Coke and his hankerchief. Very noble of him. Even though in a moment of savage guilt after the tourney had finished he confessed that he hadnt washed the handkerechief for over 3 weeks and he had a perverse attraction to the way she touched the cards in dummy it was the thought that counted....

(5) are you suggesting that the other 15% are too enumerate and dont understand Math to execute a squeeze!! Shame on you!!

(6) List Feng Shui. One of the primary Taoist principles is never to introduce a list with an odd number of elements as people never read them.

Sloffy

PS On a serious note, I (knowingly) executed my first (knowing) criss-cross squeeze in a club game about 3 weeks ago. Unfortunately, it was a skip movement and we had forgotten to jump so it didnt count But it was worth watching an obnoxious player squirming in his over-sized suit and making the fatuous comment that i could have made the hand on a simple finesse and later him being told by a much better player than him he was lucky i was absent-minded and had left the room for a cigarette and missed the TD call hee hee)

[Flame]

Never read love, my squeeze guru is Ben (inquiry) and he called this one criss cross in his "intrudaction to squeeze" and yes it was on the simple squeezes section.

[joker_gib]

Squeezes that are acting against one opponent in two suits are called "simple squeezes" and criss-cross is one of them.

[Free]

joker_gib, on Jan 18 2005, 09:57 AM, said:

Squeezes that are acting against one opponent in two suits are called "simple squeezes" and criss-cross is one of them. 

Exactly! Kelsey also calls this a criss-cross.

About my partner: he doesn't play bridge very long, but he's quite talented and reads a lot! He's even younger than me (also student). He's interested in everything about bridge, and he plays almost every day in local clubs! Where does he find the time...
He forgot some squeezes in he past, but clearly he's getting better

[fred]

joker_gib, on Jan 18 2005, 08:57 AM, said:

Squeezes that are acting against one opponent in two suits are called "simple squeezes" and criss-cross is one of them.

Correct, but the presence of exactly 1-loser at the time the squeeze card is played is another necessary condition for a squeeze to be "simple".

Fred Gitelman
Bridge Base Inc.
www.bridgebase.com

[toothbrush]

Free, on Jan 18 2005, 05:42 AM, said:

joker_gib, on Jan 18 2005, 09:57 AM, said:

Squeezes that are acting against one opponent in two suits are called "simple squeezes" and criss-cross is one of them. 

Exactly! Kelsey also calls this a criss-cross.

About my partner: he doesn't play bridge very long, but he's quite talented and reads a lot! He's even younger than me (also student). He's interested in everything about bridge, and he plays almost every day in local clubs! Where does he find the time...
He forgot some squeezes in he past, but clearly he's getting better

thanks p