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".
The following position is an example of a Stepping-stone squeeze:
| ♠ | A J | ||||
| ♥ | 2 | ||||
| ♦ | — | ||||
| ♣ | 2 | ||||
| ♠ | Q 3 | N | ♠ | — | |
| ♥ | A | ♥ | — | ||
| ♦ | 3 | ♦ | 9 8 7 6 | ||
| ♣ | — | ♣ | — | ||
| ♠ | K | ||||
| ♥ | K | ||||
| ♦ | 2 | ||||
| ♣ | A | ||||
South has three winners: The ♠K, ♠A, and ♣A. However, after cashing the ♠K, there will be no entry to the North hand to enjoy the ♠A. However, on the play of ♣A, West is squeezed. Discarding a spade allows South to overtake the ♠K to get two tricks in the suit. Throwing the ♥A lets South cash the ♥K. Therefore, West parts with the ♦3. Now South is able to play the ♠K and lead the ♥K, putting West on lead with only the ♠Q remaining in hand.
The name stepping-stone alludes to South's use of West's ♥A to cross over to the abandoned ♠A.
This squeeze would work equally well with the East and West hands reversed.
An interesting variation is the following ending playing in no trumps with the lead in South:
| ♠ | A K 6 2 | ||||
| ♥ | — | ||||
| ♦ | 5 | ||||
| ♣ | — | ||||
| ♠ | Q 9 5 | N | ♠ | 8 7 4 | |
| ♥ | A 9 | ♥ | K 8 | ||
| ♦ | — | ♦ | — | ||
| ♣ | — | ♣ | — | ||
| ♠ | J 10 | ||||
| ♥ | Q J 3 | ||||
| ♦ | — | ||||
| ♣ | — | ||||
Needing all but one of the remaining tricks, the declarer leads the ♠10 covered by West, dummy winning with the ♠A. When the winning diamond is led from dummy (declarer throwing a heart) both defenders are subjected to a stepping-stone squeeze. If they both throw spades then declarer cashes the spades in dummy. If one defender keeps two spades then declarer plays a small spade to the ♠J and leads a heart. Now the defender who kept spades wins his stiff honour and must lead a spade to dummy's winner. His partner cannot overtake as this sets up the ♥Q.
In contract bridge and similar games, a finesse is a type of 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.
A squeeze play is a technique used in contract bridge and other trick-taking games in which the play of a card forces an opponent to discard a winner or the guard of a potential winner. The situation typically occurs in the end game, with only a few cards remaining. Although numerous types of squeezes have been analyzed and catalogued in contract bridge, they were first discovered and described in whist.
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.
In the card game of contract bridge, to hold up means to play low to a trick led by the opponents, losing it intentionally in order to sever their communication. The primary purpose is to give as many tricks to opponents as needed to exhaust all the cards in the suit from one of their hands. If that hand regains the lead, it will not be able to put the partner on lead to cash its tricks. Hold up is one of basic techniques in play.
In trick-taking games, to ruff means to play a trump card to a trick. According to the rules of most games, a player must have no cards left in the suit led in order to ruff. Since the other players are constrained to follow suit if they can, even a low trump can win a trick. In some games, like Pinochle and Preferans, the player who cannot follow suit is required to ruff. In others, like Bridge and Whist, he may instead discard. Normally, ruffing will win a trick. But it is also possible that a subsequent player will overruff. This is not always a bad thing—see uppercut below.
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.
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.
In contract bridge, the principle of restricted choice states that play of a particular card decreases the probability its player holds any equivalent card. For example, South leads a low spade, West plays a low one, North plays the queen, East wins with the king. The ace and king are equivalent cards; East's play of the king decreases the probability East holds the ace – and increases the probability West holds the ace. The principle helps other players infer the locations of unobserved equivalent cards such as that spade ace after observing the king. The increase or decrease in probability is an example of Bayesian updating as evidence accumulates and particular applications of restricted choice are similar to the Monty Hall problem.
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.
The Devil's Coup is a declarer play in contract bridge that prevents the defense from taking an apparently natural trump trick - often called "the disappearing trump trick".
A winkle squeeze is a rare squeeze/endplay in contract bridge in which a trick is offered to the defenders but whichever wins the trick is then endplayed. Often one defender would be forced to offer a finesse or ruff and discard while the other could overtake and thereby promote a trick in that suit for declarer. The winkle squeeze was named and analyzed by Terence Reese in Master Play in Contract Bridge.
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.
These terms are used in contract bridge, using duplicate or rubber scoring. Some of them are also used in whist, bid whist, the obsolete game auction bridge, and other trick-taking games. This glossary supplements the Glossary of card game terms.
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:
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 is a move inn contract bridge
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.