'The Expert Game'
by Barry Rigal
Next month Terence's Reese's magnum opus The Expert
Game', largely reworked and rewritten by me, and about one third increased in length, will be republished in the UK, nearly 40 years after
it originally came out. Unfortunately in the USA, where the book was sold under the title
'Master Play', copyright reasons will prevent its being sold through the normal channels. However, you might
be interested in an excerpt from the revised version. Reese was largely responsible for first
promulgating material on what were then the exotic subject of winkles, vise-squeezes and stepping stones. The
book now includes a discussion of the use of trumps in squeezes.
Here are two hands featuring members of the GNYBA in action, by coincidence from the last
two Cavendish pairs events, from the chapter entitled
Trump squeezes and one-suit squeezes...
"There is a whole genus of squeeze plays which require declarer to achieve an accurate
reading of his opponents' cards. By and large the squeeze without the count, that is to say where a trick
still has to be lost, forms some of the trickiest of positions. The strip-squeeze is but one example. There
you endplay an opponent with his winner to lead into your tenace; however there are other more
complex examples involving the use of trumps. The following two examples both show how
ruffing-squeezes materialise, and how good players build up a picture of the whole hand and convert that
assessment into a winning endgame.
T 5 3 2
Q 7 4
T 3
A J 7 4
K Q 9 7 6 4
K 9 8 5 J T 6 3 2
Q 6 8
K 6 5 2 Q T 8 3
A J 8
A
A K J 9 7 5 4 2
9
When this hand occurred in the Cavendish Pairs the field generally elected to open One
Diamond, although the hand offers an impossible rebid no matter what happens next, which argues for a
strong opening to me. Be that as it may, a sizeable percentage of the field went overboard in Six
Diamonds, and only one pair were lucky enough to make it when the opening lead by an uninspired West was
the SK. However the contract is actually lay-down on any lead but a club, and should be brought in if
East makes the understandable early discard of a spade, allowing South to read the position in that
suit. Declarer simply runs all his trumps but two, and this is the ending which materialises:
T 5
Q 7
--
A J
K Q 9 7 6
K J T
-- --
K 6 Q T
A J 8
--
4 2
9
At this point, on the lead of the penultimate trump, West must bare
his CK, and declarer leads to the CA and ruffs a heart, reducing West down to three spades; now a low spade from hand
endplays West at trick twelve.
Of course if West keeps two hearts in the five-card ending, a club to
the CA squeezes him out of his penultimate heart or out of a spade trick. The ending forces West to release a non-material
card, his exit card, because declarer still has a trump left.
A very similar play by Brian Glubok, won him the award for the play of the 1995
Cavendish tournament.
Q 8 6 4
J 9 6
Q J 7
8 4 3
K 9 7 5 3 A J T 2
7 3 2 10
10 K 9 8 4 3 2
K Q 9 2 7 5
Void
A K Q 8 5 4
A 6 5
A J T 6
Glubok reached Four Hearts having shown a very strong hand with hearts, and a subsidiary
club suit. Most tables had few problems on a diamond lead, but here West led a low trump to
the H9, H10, and HK. Brian expected that the opening lead was based on a good club holding, and he next led a
low diamond to the DJ and DK. Not surprisingly, this was too tough for the defence to read, and
East played back the C7 to the C10 and
CQ. A second trump was won in dummy, and a spade ruffed
in hand. Now Glubok cashed two more trumps, and led the
DA.
This was the five card ending;
Q 8
--
Q
8 4
K 9 A J
-- K
-- 9 8
K 9 2 5
--
4
5
A J 6
When Brian played a low diamond to the DQ, West was forced to let go of a spade. Now
Glubok ruffed a spade to hand, and exited with the
CJ, unblocking the C8 from dummy. In the two-card
ending the defender had to lead from the C92
into the CA6 tenace. Again, West was forced to let go of
his exit cards so that he could be stripped and endplayed.
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