Executing a Strip Squeeze.
Bridge Column for November 25, 2001, Harvey Bernstein
Neither side vulnerable.  North deals.
                              North
                              S: Void             
                              H: K 10 9      
                              D: J 10 8 4    
                              C: A K 8 7 5 3
            West                             East
            S: 7 5 2                         S: Q J 10 9 3   
            H: J 8 7 6 5                     H: A Q 3      
            D: 9 6 2                         D: K Q 5             
            C: 6 4                           C: Q 2         
                              South                         
                              S: A K 8 6 4 
                              H: 4 2        
                              D: A 7 5     
                              C: J 10 9   
          The Bidding:  
                  North    East    South    West                  
                   1C       1S      3NT     Pass
                   Pass    Pass 
     Thanks to Gene Benedict of Toledo for sending this hand from
the Flight A Swiss Teams at the Wolverine Regional Bridge
Tournament in Detroit, MI that was held in October.  Phil Becker
of Beachwood sat South and his partner was Nancy Adair of
Plymouth, MI (formerly of Akron).  
     The auction was the same at both tables as was the opening
lead of the two of spades.  Both declarers recognized the
potential problem in the club suit.  If declarer plays the ace
and king of clubs and drops the queen, the suit blocks.  The only
hope is to play a club from hand and duck in dummy.  This works
even though West wins the trick.  The spade return allows
declarer to win the ace and play five rounds of clubs.
     At the opposition table, declarer watched East discard a
spade, a heart and a diamond while he threw a spade and a
diamond.  On the sixth club, East discarded the queen of hearts. 
Declarer also discarded a heart.  West's play was immaterial.
     At this point, there are seven tricks home and the ace of
diamonds was always going to score.  Declarer called for the ten
of hearts from the table.  East won the ace and cashed two good
spades.  He followed with the king of diamonds.  Declarer won the
ace but had no way to get to the king of hearts in the dummy and
had to concede one down.
     The play at Becker's table was identical with one exception. 
When East discarded the queen of hearts, Becker kept both of his
little hearts and discarded a second diamond.  East was able to
cash two spade tricks, but when he played the king of diamonds,
Becker won the ace and played the carefully preserved four of
hearts to the king in dummy for his ninth trick.
     It is interesting to note that the North-South hands combine
for only 23 high card points and still offer a good play for nine
tricks.  The extra club length is very helpful, but even more so
is the fact that almost all of the outstanding high card points
are concentrated in one hand.  This makes the defense very
difficult.  The player with all of the points must guard all of
the danger suits on the run of the clubs.  Technically, East is
being subjected to a "strip squeeze".
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Bernstein is a free-lance writer in Solon.