A TRULY SPECTACULAR SQUEEZE............... ( Article by Johnny Supremo )

I have performed many squeezes in my time, but none seemed as spectular as the one my partner embarked upon a few days ago in a recent league match. After a pre-emptive 3 diamonds on his left, I naturally jumped to 4H whereupon the subsequent bidding landed my partner in 7C ( doubled by his RHO ).

I tabled a healthy AKQ......QJ1098x.....AK.....xx, to prop up his rather lop-sided , one suited hand of .....Jxxx........void.........Qxx.....AKQJ9x.

His LHO led out the King of hearts, which he was forced to ruff in hand. Initially, there appeared 13 tricks on top ( 6C, 3D, and 4S ) but there were serious entry problems. The double surely meant the clubs were breaking 5-0 to his right, and a finesse of the club 10 was necessary. So quite wisely he used a diamond to enter dummy, confident his RHO did indeed hold one in this suit. Next came the crucial KQ of spades, followed by the successful finesse of the club 10. Now came a run on the clubs to remove his opponent's trumps. Trick tally so far was 9 ( 5C, 1D, 2S, and a heart ruff ).

But as he played out the last club, his LHO had to find a discard ( infront of dummy ) from 97 of spades, the Ace of hearts, and J10 of diamonds. And still remaining in dummy was Ace of spades, King of diamonds and QJx of hearts. Declarer of course was now down to Jx of spades, and the Qx of diamonds.

Discarding the boss heart was out of the question, so his LHO discarded the 7 of spades, whereuon declarer jettisoned his Ace of spades from dummy. Next, declarer played out his two winning spades, forcing his LHO to make another agonising choice : either pitching away the boss heart or diamond 10. Choosing the latter, declarer naturally jettisoned the diamond Ace from dummy, claiming the last two tricks with the Qx of diamonds.

What I had witnessed was the extremely rare REPEATED JETTISON SQUEEZE ...........something you're more likely to come across in a book than at the table. It was spectular to watch, and see it unfold at the table, because this was only way to bring home this amazing grand slam.