An accidental squeeze.
Bridge Column for February 15, 2002, Harvey Bernstein
North-South vulnerable.  South deals.
                              North
                              S: J 2              
                              H: 9 8         
                              D: K J 10 6 5  
                              C: A K 8 7 
            West                             East
            S: A Q 9 8 7 6 5                 S: 4            
            H: 10 5                          H: K Q 7 4    
            D: 8                             D: A 9 7 4 3         
            C: 10 5 3                        C: 9 6 2       
                              South                         
                              S: K 10 3
                              H: A J 6 3 2  
                              D: Q 2       
                              C: Q J 4    
          The Bidding:  
                  South    West    North    East                  
                   1H       1S      2D      Pass
                   2NT     Pass     3NT     Pass
                   Pass    Pass     
     Thanks to Jack Shapiro of Beachwood for this hand from the
Flight A Pairs on January 19th at the Rock and Roll Regional
Bridge tournament in Independence.  Shapiro held the South cards. 
Stan Dub of Shaker Heights sat North.
     The auction was fairly normal.  West might have done more
than simply bid one spade at his first turn.  It would not be
unreasonable, at this vulnerability, for West to bid three or
four spades.  Of course, if that had happened, there would not be
a story to tell.
     Against three no trump, West led the eight of diamonds
through dummies bid suit.  It was a fair certainty that South had
a spade stopper so leading another suit was probably a good
choice.  Shapiro played low from dummy and East played low as
well.  Shapiro won the queen in the South hand and returned a
diamond.  West played the eight of spades.  The king was played
from the North hand and East won the ace.
     The four of spades went to West's queen.  The ace was cashed
and a third spade was taken by the king.  
     Shapiro played four rounds of clubs.  East had to find three
discards.  If he let go a diamond, all three of North's diamonds
would cash.  His only hope was to discard three hearts, hoping
that West held the jack of hearts.  This proved not to be the
case.  After cashing the jack and ten of diamonds, Shapiro led a
heart to the ace.  With the king appearing, the jack of hearts
took the last trick.
     While Shapiro had not planned to execute a squeeze against
East, he played the hand properly and the squeeze occured
naturally.  Plus 630 was a fine score and was worth 21 out of 25
possible matchpoints.
     If West bids more aggressively and becomes declarer at four
spades, doubled, he should be defeated only two tricks for a
score of minus 300, which is much better than minus 630.  Of
course, South could declare four no trump, which, as we see,
makes, but that is unlikely to happen.
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Bernstein is a free-lance writer in Solon.