This deal is from the
last round match of the Lancashire Swiss Pairs at Brierfield in October.
Alan Purdy ended in three notrump from the South hand. West led a diamond to the ace and a diamond was returned. Alan played two top clubs and found they were not breaking, so continued with five rounds of spades. West was squeezed out of all of his diamonds to hold on to Kx of hearts and Jx of clubs. Now queen and another club put West on play to lead away from the heart king. Nicely played by Alan, eleven tricks was a shared top for North-South. The only way for East-West to avoid this squeeze is for East to play the diamond jack at trick one, then West can keep a diamond exit. However, playing the jack would be a disaster if West had led from Kxxx of diamonds. If East had held AQxxx of diamonds, then playing the queen would be correct technique. |
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