What is this called?
Alan Malloy
A2
-
K2
-
- QJ
J2 -
AQ JT
- -
K
KT3
-
-
He has two tricks, and hopes to squeeze West for a third. He leads the
king of spades, and West has no answer: a heart discard allows declarer
to win all four tricks, while the queen of diamonds lets declarer
overtake with dummy's ace of spades and exit with a diamond to West, who
now must lead away from the heart jack for the third trick. At first it
appears that West can survive by discarding the diamond ACE, letting
South have the ace of spades and king of diamonds and no others, but
declarer counters by refusing to cash the king of diamonds, exiting with
the deuce instead.
The position is interesting, and I wonder what it's called. It feels
basically like (Love's term) a vulnerable-stopper strip-squeeze, but
with the overtaking element compensating for the lack of a diamond in
South's hand: South's shape in a classical position would be 1=2=1=0.
We can also rearrange the East-West diamonds so that they can avoid the
endplay, giving West AJ and East QT. Now West's ace-discard really does
hold declarer to two tricks: is there a name for that play?
--
Cheers,
Alan (San Jose, California, USA)
patri...@gmail.com
Wait--even if we rearrange the diamonds and West pitches the AD on the
KS, can't South play low from dummy and then play the KT of hearts,
stepping-stoning West into giving dummy the last trick?
Alan Malloy
Oh, very pretty. I thought I'd spotted all the subtleties, but that one
escaped me. Yes, apparently there is no way for the defense to escape so
long as west has the diamond ace to go with his hearts. Even if you give
west - A J98 - and he pitches the ace of diamonds, then you can endplay
him with a heart exit. So much for naming the clever defensive coup
here, then!
Richard Pavlicek
> South, on lead, is declaring 3NT.
>
> A2
> -
> K2
> -
> - QJ
> J2 -
> AQ JT
> - -
> K
> KT3
> -
> -
It's a step-winkle (a winkle with stepping-stone elements),
a term I coined for this old article:
http://www.rpbridge.net/7k43.htm
--
Richard Pavlicek
Web site: http://www.rpbridge.net
henry...@yahoo.com
Far be it from me to disagree with Richard, but it looks more like an
unbalanced entry shifting squeeze to me. South leads a card and
determines whether he wants to be in the south or north hand depending
on West's discard.
My admittedly inadequate experience with winkles (a squeeze that
overcomes a blocked position, if my memory of Professor Rubens is
correct) suggests that there is no blocked position to overcome in
this ending.
OK, time for the teacher (RP) to correct the insolent student (that
would be me...)
Henrysun909
Richard Pavlicek
>>
>> A2
>> -
>> K2
>> -
>> - QJ
>> J2 -
>> AQ JT
>> - -
>> K
>> KT3
>> -
>> -
The Sun never sets on the r.g.b. empire:
> Far be it from me to disagree with Richard, but it looks more like
> an unbalanced entry shifting squeeze to me. South leads a card and
> determines whether he wants to be in the south or north hand
> depending on West's discard.
>
> My admittedly inadequate experience with winkles (a squeeze that
> overcomes a blocked position, if my memory of Professor Rubens is
> correct) suggests that there is no blocked position to overcome in
> this ending.
>
> OK, time for the teacher (RP) to correct the insolent student
> (that would be me...)
LOL, I'll give it a try.
In a typical winkle, declarer has enough tricks but can't reach
them, and the defender must choose between a tenace throw-in and
an unblock, which fits the ending well. The fact that West can
pitch the DA (even from AJ if East had the DQ) then be thrown in
with a heart to feed dummy the last trick adds an additional
stepping-stone element; hence step-winkle.
To me, an entry-shifting squeeze cannot have a loser in the
entry-shifting suit. Ottlik, who didn't use the terms "winkle"
and "stepping-stone" as I recall, showed something like:
A2
K
K
-
- QJ
A -
A -
QJ KT
K
-
-
A32
Leading the SK wins 3/4. He called it an "unbalanced entry
shifting squeeze" which to me seems contrived. I would call it
a double stepping-stone (West basically chooses which defender
is thrown in to give declarer or dummy the last trick). Also
note that it's unlike the original diagram since there's no
tenace (winkle characteristic).
Bed time.
rhm
In the above diagram declarer has 3 tricks in the form of 2 spade
tricks and a heart trick, only he has no way of cashing them.
Squeezes to resolve a blockage are one of the most complex situations
at the table. You need excellent card reading (or play for your only
chance) and you do not get much practice, because such blockage can
usually be resolved earlier in the play.
Stepping stone looks right to me because you strip an opponent of his
exit cards and then use him to get to to the other hand, which you can
not reach directly.
Like here it is sometimes combined with an endplay should an opponent
try to avoid the stepping stone.
Rainer Herrmann
Richard Pavlicek
: In a typical winkle, declarer has enough tricks but can't reach
: them, and the defender must choose between a tenace throw-in and
: an unblock...
But should be:
: In a typical winkle, the defender must choose between a tenace
: throw-in and an unblock, the _latter_ of which gives declarer
: enough tricks but needing help to reach them.
Endings that _begin_ with "enough tricks but can't reach them" are
characteristic of a stepping-stone, so maybe the ending in question
should be a "winkle stepping-stone", but surely "step-winkle" sounds
better, which brings the obvious conclusion: Who really cares?
Derek Broughton
You, for one :-)
--
derek