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Those of you familiar with Géza Ottlik and Hugh Kelsey's brilliant Adventures in Card Play, widely regarded as the most advanced book on card-play ever written, may recall the authors' detailed exploration of the exotic "entry-shifting squeeze." Playing in a recent regional tournament in Saratoga Springs, New York, in partnership with Gerry DiVincenzo, one of Vermont's best players, Gerry noticed declarer missed a chance to pull off an entry-shifting squeeze in real life.
This was the hand:
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South played in 3H after we balanced over 2H. Gerry opened with a trump, won cheaply in dummy as I withheld my jack. Declarer played a spade to my partner's ace; he shifted to the diamond queen, the ace winning in dummy. A second spade was won by me and I continued diamonds, declarer winning the king. She then cashed her Q of spades (a mistake) and exited a club. Clearly her intent was to ruff two clubs in hand, so we led another trump in the below position (she needs all but one of the remaining tricks): |
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Declarer, after long cogitation, inserted the 10 of trump from hand and when that held decided to play low from dummy. Now, however, she had no way to make her contract. If she ruffs a diamond in dummy, she has no quick way back to hand to ruff the last diamond; when she plays a club to clear a way, I can win and lead my last trump, leaving declarer with a diamond loser at the end. She tried instead leading a club immediately, but when I won and led the third round of trump, Gerry knew declarer had to win this trick in the dummy and so discarded a diamond. Declarer could now cross-ruff two tricks but had to end in dummy and lose a club at trick 13 for down one. |
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As we went to dinner after the session, Gerry pointed out that declarer missed a chance for an entry-shifting squeeze. Here (to left) is the position again as I led the second round of trump. The key is she must win this trick in dummy needlessly high with the ace or king. Now when she exits with the second club and I play the third round of trump, she puts in the queen from her hand and Gerry is squeezed! If he discards a diamond, she underplays in dummy to stay in hand, and ruffs her fourth diamond good. On the other hand, if Gerry discards a club, declarer can overtake with the trump king in dummy, and now ruff dummy's fourth club good! This beautiful symmetric position can only work if you are careful on the earlier rounds of the suit to create this wonderfully flexible situation where you can either overtake or underplay at the crucial moment, right after the squeezee's discard. Neat, huh? |
6 3 2 
A K 9 7 
A 5 
10 8 6 5