A clash squeeze is a three suit bridge squeeze with a special kind of menace, referred to as clash menace. The clash menace is one that might fall under a winner in the opposite hand, because it can be covered by another card in an opponent's hand. If the clash squeeze can force the opponent to discard his guard, then the clash menace can be cashed separately from the winner opposite. For example, consider this layout of the spade suit: [1]
| A 2 | ||
| K | W N↑ S↓ E | J 10 |
| Q |
The ♠Q is the clash menace. If, when South plays another suit, West can be forced to discard the ♠K, then the ♠Q and the ♠A can be cashed on separate tricks. Notice the presence of the ♠2, a companion that releases the clash menace to be cashed separately from the ♠A. The ♠2 also serves as a simple menace against East, requiring West to retain his clash-menace guard to allow his partner to guard the suit. [1] [2]
Clash squeezes were described and analyzed by Chien-Hwa Wang in Bridge Magazine , in 1956 and 1957.
Here is a simple, positional clash squeeze, with the ♣8 as the clash menace:
| ♠ | — | ||||
| ♥ | — | ||||
| ♦ | J 8 | ||||
| ♣ | 10 3 | ||||
| ♠ | — | N | ♠ | — | |
| ♥ | J | ♥ | — | ||
| ♦ | 10 9 | ♦ | 7 5 | ||
| ♣ | 9 | ♣ | 7 6 | ||
| ♠ | 6 | ||||
| ♥ | 10 | ||||
| ♦ | 3 | ||||
| ♣ | 8 | ||||
South leads the ♠6. If West discards the ♥J, the ♥10 becomes a winner. If West discards a diamond, the ♣3 is discarded and the ♦J and ♦8 are cashed. If West discards the ♣9, South discards dummy's ♦8 and cashes the ♣8. Then the ♦3 to dummy allows the ♣10 to score. Note the presence of the Vise theme.
This is a secondary clash squeeze:
| ♠ | K 4 | ||||
| ♥ | — | ||||
| ♦ | 10 2 | ||||
| ♣ | 9 6 | ||||
| ♠ | 7 6 5 | N | ♠ | 9 8 | |
| ♥ | — | ♥ | — | ||
| ♦ | 9 | ♦ | 6 5 | ||
| ♣ | 8 7 | ♣ | 10 4 | ||
| ♠ | A 3 2 | ||||
| ♥ | J | ||||
| ♦ | 8 | ||||
| ♣ | 3 | ||||
South cashes the ♥J. If West discards a spade, South will make one of his small spades. If West discards a club, one of dummy's clubs will become a winner. And if West discards the ♦9, South cashes the clash menace, the ♦8.
Here is a simultaneous, double clash squeeze:
| ♠ | — | ||||
| ♥ | J 3 2 | ||||
| ♦ | J | ||||
| ♣ | 10 | ||||
| ♠ | — | N | ♠ | — | |
| ♥ | 9 8 | ♥ | 6 5 4 | ||
| ♦ | 10 4 | ♦ | 9 5 | ||
| ♣ | J | ♣ | |||
| ♠ | J | ||||
| ♥ | 10 7 | ||||
| ♦ | 8 2 | ||||
| ♣ | {{{16}}} | ||||
South leads the ♠J and West is clash squeezed. Discarding the ♣J gives up immediately. If West discards a heart, South cashes the ♥10 and ♥7 before crossing to the ♦J for the ♥J. If West discards a diamond, South discards the ♣10 and East is squeezed in the reds.
Finally, here's a non-simultaneous double clash squeeze:
| ♠ | 10 4 3 | ||||
| ♥ | — | ||||
| ♦ | — | ||||
| ♣ | J 4 | ||||
| ♠ | 9 6 5 | N | ♠ | 8 7 | |
| ♥ | J | ♥ | 10 | ||
| ♦ | — | ♦ | — | ||
| ♣ | 10 | ♣ | 8 7 | ||
| ♠ | J 2 | ||||
| ♥ | 9 | ||||
| ♦ | J | ||||
| ♣ | 9 | ||||
This double clash squeeze consists of a clash squeeze against West, followed two tricks later by a simple squeeze against East. South leads the ♦J. West cannot throw the ♣10 because that establishes South's clash menace, and a spade sets up North's spades. So West throws the ♥J. Now South cashes the ♠10 and the ♠J, in that order, to squeeze East in hearts and clubs.
There are other positions, including trump squeezes with clash menaces.
In contract bridge and similar games, a finesse is a card play technique which will enable a player to win an additional trick or tricks should there be a favorable position of one or more cards in the hands of the opponents.
The double squeeze is a type of squeeze play in the card game of bridge.
In contract bridge, a simultaneous double squeeze is a double squeeze in which both opponents are squeezed by the same card, as opposed to non-simultaneous double squeeze where the two opponents are squeezed in different tricks.
The simple squeeze is the most basic form of a squeeze in contract bridge. When declarer plays a winner in one suit, an opponent is forced to discard a stopper in one of declarer's two threat suits.
Safety play in contract bridge is a generic name for plays in which declarer maximizes the chances for fulfilling the contract by ignoring a chance for a higher score. Declarer uses safety plays to cope with potentially unfavorable layouts of the opponent's cards. In so doing, declarer attempts to ensure the contract even in worst-case scenarios, by giving up the possibility of overtricks.
An endplay, in bridge and similar games, is a tactical play where a defender is put on lead at a strategic moment, and then has to make a play that loses one or more tricks. Most commonly the losing play either constitutes a free finesse, or else it gives declarer a ruff and discard. In a case where declarer has no entries to dummy, the defender may also be endplayed into leading a suit which can be won in that hand.
The stepping-stone squeeze is an advanced type of squeeze in contract bridge. It is used when the declarer has enough high cards to take all but one of the remaining tricks, but does not have enough communication between the hands to cash them. It was analyzed and named by Terence Reese in the book "The Expert Game", also titled "Master Play in Contract Bridge".
A strip squeeze is a declarer technique at contract bridge combining elements of squeeze and endplay.
In contract bridge, the trump squeeze is a variant of the simple squeeze in which one threat is a suit that if unguarded can be established by ruffing.
Pseudo-squeeze is a type of deceptive play in contract bridge. The declarer goes through the motions of executing a genuine squeeze where none exists, in the hope that a defender misreads the actual position and misdefends. The pseudo-squeeze simply gives the defender able to recognize the possibility of a squeezed position a chance to go wrong.
Morton's fork is a coup in contract bridge that forces an opponent to choose between:
A compound squeeze is a type of play in the game of contract bridge. In this squeeze one opponent is squeezed such that some form of other squeeze emerges involving either or both players. Usually this term is used to reference a pentagonal squeeze. In this form of squeeze both players guard two suits, and one player guards a third suit. On the play of a card the player guarding three suits must give up one of the shared guards . Now each opponent singly guards one suit, and there is a third suit that is jointly guarded. This means that a double squeeze matrix exists. Note that there are pseudo compound squeezes, where the triply squeezed opponent can select the 'correct' shared suit, such that the entry situation precludes the proper functioning of the double squeeze.
The trump coup is a contract bridge coup used when the hand on lead has no trumps remaining, while the next hand in rotation has only trumps, including a high one that would have been onside for a direct finesse if a trump could have been led. The play involves forcing that hand to ruff, only to be overruffed. A similar motive is met in coup en passant, where indirect finesse is used instead of direct.
A triple squeeze is a squeeze against one player, in three suits; a more explicit definition is "three simple squeezes against the same player."
A guard squeeze is a type of squeeze in contract bridge where a player is squeezed out of a card which prevents his partner from being finessed. The squeeze operates in three suits, where the squeezed player protects the menaces in two suits, but cannot help his partner anymore in the third suit after the squeeze is executed.
Backwash squeeze is a rare squeeze which involves squeezing an opponent which lies behind declarer's menace. A variation of this, known as the "Sydney Squeeze" or "Seres Squeeze", was discovered in play at a rubber bridge game in Sydney, Australia in 1965, by the Australian great Tim Seres; it was later attested by famous bridge theorist Géza Ottlik in an article in The Bridge World in 1974, as well as in his famous book Adventures in Card Play, co-authored with Hugh Kelsey.
The Vice is an advanced squeeze in contract bridge. Its distinguishing motive is presence of a "vice" menace in one suit, where one defender holds cards of equivalent rank which split the declarer's pair of cards in front of him, where his partner has a winner in the suit. It was first attested by Terence Reese in the book "The Expert Game", a.k.a. "Master Play in Contract Bridge". In other words, the defenders have a "high" finesse position, equivalent to the one in diagram:
An entry squeeze in contract bridge exerts pressure by threatening the length of a defender's holding in a side suit. In many familiar squeezed positions, such as a simple or double squeeze, the rank of a defender's holding prevents declarer from cashing a threat until the squeeze has matured. This situation is also present in entry squeezes, but in addition a defensive holding interferes with declarer's entries, preventing declarer from effectively going back and forth between his hand and dummy.
A knockout squeeze is a squeeze in three suits, one of which is the trump suit. The defender's trump holding is needed to prevent declarer from making a successful play involving trumps, including one as prosaic as ruffing a loser. Because the knockout squeeze does not threaten to promote declarer's trumps to winners it is termed a non-material squeeze. Other non-material squeezes include entry squeezes, single-suit squeezes and winkles.
The saturated squeeze is a type of squeeze play in the card game of Bridge.