The Squeeze

Run a long suit and watch the discards. Sooner or later a defender who holds the only guard in two of your suits runs out of cards to keep both, and has nothing safe left to throw. That is a squeeze. Squeeze play has a reputation as expert territory, yet the basic squeeze in bridge happens at every club, often without declarer noticing. Once you know the conditions, you can see one coming and arrange your play to make it work.

A defender with thirteen cards can guard many suits. As tricks are played the hand shrinks, and near the end a defender who holds the only stopper in two of your suits may need more cards than the hand has left. When you then cash a winner in a third suit, the defender must discard, and every discard gives up one of the guards. That winner is the squeeze card, and the suits you threaten are the threats (some books call them menaces).

Here is the three-card ending of the full deal later in this guide. The contract is in notrump, and North is on lead with the last club.

This is a simple squeeze: one defender, two threats, one squeeze card. West's problem is not bad defense. West needs all three cards and must throw one, so there is no right discard.

Every simple squeeze needs four things, which many teachers sum up with the word BLUE.

• Busy. One defender must be the only one guarding both threat suits. If the partner can also guard one of them, the defenders share the work and nobody is squeezed.
• Loser count. Declarer must be able to win all but one of the remaining tricks. With two losers left, the defender has a spare card to throw and is never squeezed.
• Upper hand. At least one threat must lie in the hand that sits after the defender you want to squeeze, that is on the defender's left. In the ending above, North's ♠7 sits to West's left.
• Entries. You need a way to reach the threat that has become good after the discard. North's ♥4 is the bridge to South's ♥A-Q.

A threat is a card that will win a trick only if the defender lets go of the guard. A single card such as North's ♠7 is a one-card threat. A threat that comes with its own entry, such as the ♥A-Q, is a two-card threat, and the most useful kind.

The loser-count condition is the one declarers most often miss. Suppose you need twelve tricks and have eleven winners. Two tricks are missing from the total, the one you need and one you must lose anyway. Until you lose that second trick, the defenders have a spare card and can discard without damage. Rectifying the count means losing the trick you can afford to lose early, usually by ducking a trick. The squeeze ending then arrives with exactly one loser left.

The simplest time to rectify the count is at trick one. If the opening lead is in a suit where you have a loser anyway, duck it. You keep control of the hand and remove the defenders' spare card in one move.

Positional and automatic squeezes

In a positional squeeze the squeeze works only against the defender who discards before the threat hand. If both threats are in North, West can be squeezed but East cannot, because North has to discard before East. In an automatic squeeze the hand opposite the squeeze card holds a spare card it can throw before the defender plays, so the squeeze works against either defender. In the ending above, South's ♥J is that spare card.

The Vienna coup

Sometimes a threat is blocked by your own high card. The Vienna coup is cashing that high card early, deliberately setting up a winner for a defender, to put the threat in the right hand and make the entries work. It looks like giving away a trick, but the defender who now holds the winner still has to keep it, and that is one more card the defender cannot use to guard something else.

Declarer can count eleven sure tricks and two losers. The twelfth trick has to come from West, who holds four spades (guarding dummy's fourth spade) and the ♥K (guarding South's ♥Q). Both conditions for a squeeze on West are in place, except the loser count.

1. 1.Duck the ♦Q at trick one. This rectifies the count. Twelve tricks are left, declarer has eleven winners and needs all twelve, so exactly one trick is missing.
2. 2.Win the ♦J continuation with dummy's ♦K.
3. 3.Play the ♠3 to the ♠Q, cash the ♦A (dummy throws the ♥2, keeping the ♥4 as the link to hand), then the ♠5 to the ♠A and the ♠K. West still holds the ♠J.
4. 4.Run the clubs. South discards the ♥5 and then the ♥J. On the last club West has the ♠J and the ♥K-7 and must throw one of them.

If West throws the ♠J, dummy's ♠7 is high. If West throws a heart, the ♥A drops the king. Twelve tricks either way. Without the duck at trick one, West would have a spare card to throw and the squeeze would fail.

• Not rectifying the count. Leave two losers and the defender has a spare card and the squeeze never bites.
• Cashing the threat suits too early. Keep the threats until the end, and cash the free winners in other suits first.
• Discarding the link card. The small card that reaches the two-card threat, like the ♥4 above, is the card in dummy you can least afford to lose.
• Taking a losing finesse first. If the finesse loses, the defenders often break up the squeeze. Play for the squeeze, and take the finesse only if it is still needed.
• Watching only your own cards. Count the defender's discards. If the ♠J has gone, the ♠7 is high; if not, play for the heart.

Squeezes are often the last chance after a finesse or a favorable break, and they share their preparation with the endplay: both need you to eliminate the defenders' safe cards. When you defend, good signals are how partners decide which suit each of them guards. Try any deal of your own in the double dummy solver to see whether a squeeze makes the contract.

What is a squeeze in bridge?

A squeeze is an ending in which a defender who guards two suits must discard one of the guards when declarer cashes a winner in a third suit. Whatever the defender throws, declarer wins an extra trick.

What does BLUE mean in squeezes?

BLUE lists the conditions for a simple squeeze: one defender Busy guarding both threats, the Loser count down to one, a threat in the Upper hand (to the left of the defender), and Entries to reach the threat that becomes good.

What is rectifying the count?

It means losing the tricks you can afford to lose before the squeeze, so that you can win all but one of the remaining tricks. Ducking the opening lead is the usual way to do it.

What is the difference between a positional and an automatic squeeze?

A positional squeeze works only against the defender who plays before the threat hand. An automatic squeeze works against either defender, because the hand opposite the squeeze card has a spare card to discard first.

How do I know if a squeeze is possible?

Count your tricks. If you are one short, look for a defender who has to guard two of your suits, check that you can lose everything you must lose first, and make sure you keep an entry to each threat.