West | North | East | South |
2♠ | Dbl | ||
4♠ | Pass | Pass | 6♥ |
All Pass |
The deal, reported by Tim Bourke in the International Bridge Press Association Bulletin, features a nifty strip squeeze.
West leads the ♠10 to the ace. By playing five round of trumps and the ♣A, declarer arrives at this position:
On the play of the ♥9, West feels unbearable pressure. He must let go of a diamond (dummy discards a club) or declarer’s clubs will run. Declarer then plays the ♦K and again West faces two bad choices. If he takes the ♦A, dummy’s ♦Q 8 will be good. If the ♦K is ducked, West is put on lead with another diamond and he must lead away from the ♣J.
Note that declarer cannot afford to cash two high clubs. If he does, in the end game dummy is forced to discard down to a singleton ♣10, and West can scuttle the contract by winning the second diamond and playing the ♣J.
The full deal: