A strip squeeze is a declarer technique at contract bridge combining elements of squeeze and endplay.
This squeeze occurs when declarer has two or more losers remaining. [1] By cashing winners, declarer forces the squeezed defender to discard cards so that he cannot defeat the contract. Eventually, the defender will be forced to unguard a potential winner, exposing it to capture or be put on lead and forced to lead a suit that will cost his side a trick.
| Example 1a South in 6♥ | ♠ | A 3 2 | |||
| ♥ | A 6 3 2 | ||||
| ♦ | 4 3 2 | ||||
| ♣ | 4 3 2 | ||||
| ♠ | K 7 6 5 | N | ♠ | J 10 9 8 | |
| ♥ | 5 4 | ♥ | 7 | ||
| ♦ | 6 5 | ♦ | J 10 9 8 7 | ||
| ♣ | K Q 10 6 5 | ♣ | 9 8 7 | ||
| Lead: ♣K | ♠ | Q 4 | |||
| ♥ | K Q J 10 9 8 | ||||
| ♦ | A K Q | ||||
| ♣ | A J | ||||
South is in a 6♥ contract with 11 top tricks on the ♣K lead. To perform a simple squeeze, South would have to lose a trick at some point to rectify the count. This will not work on this hand because the only menaces South has are in clubs and spades. Ducking a trick in clubs would allow East to guard the suit.
South must rely on a strip squeeze to make the hand. The first club trick is won, and the hearts then the diamonds are cashed.
| Example 1b | ♠ | A 3 | |||
| ♥ | — | ||||
| ♦ | 2 | ||||
| ♣ | 4 | ||||
| ♠ | K 7 | N | ♠ | J | |
| ♥ | — | ♥ | — | ||
| ♦ | — | ♦ | J 10 | ||
| ♣ | Q 10 | ♣ | 9 | ||
| South on lead | ♠ | Q 4 | |||
| ♥ | — | ||||
| ♦ | K | ||||
| ♣ | J | ||||
South remains with ♠Q 4 ♣J and ♠A3 ♣4 in dummy. West must choose between baring the ♠K or ♣Q. If West keeps ♠K x, South puts West on lead with a club to lead away from the spade. Otherwise, South plays a spade to the Ace to drop West's King.
An experienced West will try to make things as difficult as possible for South so that the correct route to 12 tricks is not certain. Making the key discard before the final winner is cashed will introduce as much ambiguity as possible. Although in double-dummy it is impossible to go wrong, occasionally South will make the wrong decision in competition.
Squeezes often require declarer to know the location of specific high cards or the number of cards a defender holds in a particular suit, in order to know what cards the squeezee will be forced to play. Examples 2a and 2b illustrates:
| Example 2a | ♠ | A J | |||
| ♥ | K | ||||
| ♦ | 2 | ||||
| ♣ | — | ||||
| ♠ | K Q | N | ♠ | 3 2 | |
| ♥ | A | ♥ | — | ||
| ♦ | 7 | ♦ | Q | ||
| ♣ | — | ♣ | 8 | ||
| South to lead | ♠ | 4 | |||
| ♥ | 2 | ||||
| ♦ | 3 | ||||
| ♣ | A | ||||
| Example 2b | ♠ | A J | |||
| ♥ | K | ||||
| ♦ | 2 | ||||
| ♣ | — | ||||
| ♠ | K Q | N | ♠ | — | |
| ♥ | A | ♥ | — | ||
| ♦ | 7 | ♦ | Q | ||
| ♣ | — | ♣ | 3 2 8 | ||
| South to lead | ♠ | 4 | |||
| ♥ | 2 | ||||
| ♦ | 3 | ||||
| ♣ | A | ||||
Again South needs three of the remaining tricks in a notrump contract. In Example 2a the presence of the diamond loser means that when South cashes the ♣A, West is not squeezed. He can safely discard his idle ♦7. However, when South next plays the ♦3, West is squeezed again. East wins the ♦Q, but must lead to dummy's winners.
In Example 2b East's ♠3 2 are replaced by the ♣3 2 and declarer must know East's club length in order to make the correct play. If South cashes the ♣A and then leads the ♦3, East wins the ♦Q and will take the rest of the tricks. In this case, the correct play is for South to lose the ♦Q immediately, before taking the ♣A, in order to rectify the count. Now East is forced to lead a club to South's ace, and West is squeezed as before.
But with East's hand as shown in Example 2a, losing the ♦Q first does not work. East can return a spade, and declarer will score only the ♠A. Not only does the squeeze position disappear, but there is no entry to cash the ♣A.
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.
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. Historically, ruff meant to "rob" i.e. exchange a card with the stock.
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".
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.
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.
A triple squeeze is a squeeze against one player, in three suits; a more explicit definition is "three simple squeezes against the same player."
Loser on loser play is a type of declarer's play in contract bridge, usually in trump contracts, where the declarer discards a loser card on an opponent's winner, instead of ruffing.
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.
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:
An entry squeeze is a move in 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.