Almost a suicide squeeze

In the first round Gold Cup match we were behind for the first 24 boards, but just managed to turn the match around in the last set. Two consecutive boards in the last set provided interesting declarer play problems with a common theme.

West dealt and opened 2♥ which showed 5-9 HCP with at least 5-4 in the majors. A reasonable auction now would be double (take-out), 3♣ (about 8+ playing Lebensohl), 3♠ (showing a stopper in spades but not in hearts), 3NT. Or North might bid 2NT at her first turn. It didn't quite go like that, but I still ended as declarer in 3NT.

West led the ♥Q, which I won and tried a diamond to the queen. That lost to the king and a heart came back. When I played a diamond to the ace, West completed a peter to show an even number, so it didn't look as if the diamonds were breaking and the club finesse was not a good prospect after the bidding. So I exited with a heart to West.

At the table West cashed all her heart winners. I threw spades from dummy and a club and two spades from my hand. East could spare a spade and a club, but now two top spades squeezed East in the minors. It was almost a suicide or cannibal squeeze http://www.bridgeguys.com/squeeze/suicide_squeeze.html, but not quite as East is only squeezed later when I play the spades. If West hadn't taken her heart winners, I could have cashed the top spades and played two more rounds of diamonds to force East to lead away from the ♣Q.

I was hopeful of a swing but it turned out to be a flat board. At the other table West passed and North-South bid 1♠ - 2♣ - 3NT. A diamond lead didn't trouble declarer...

This was the next board

2♠ was weak with 5 spades and a minor. The defence started with two rounds of diamonds. I drew trumps and led a low club off dummy, hoping to find East with a singleton or doubleton ace. My king lost to the ace and a spade was returned, but with clubs breaking 3-2 I had a choice of endplays. I could either lead a club from hand and cover West's 4 with the 7, forcing East to lead a spade from the queen or cash a second spade and play the queen and another club, forcing West to give a ruff and discard. That was worth 10 imps when the opponents stopped in 3♥.

The link between these hands was a weak 2-suited opening providing a road map of the defenders' distribution. Without that information, I would almost certainly have gone down on both hands. On the first hand I would have tested for 3-3 diamonds and tried a club finesse, and on the second hand I would have played three rounds of clubs and hoped that the hand with three clubs also held the ♠Q.