A hug and a squeeze from a loved one may well be a pleasurable experience.  To be squeezed by your opponent at the bridge table, however, is downright uncomfortable.  In bridge, the term “squeeze” applies to the play of a card by declarer late in the play of the hand which forces an opponent to discard a card that gives up one or more tricks. Satisfaction is clearly one-sided: it lies with the declarer executing the squeeze play and not with the hapless squeezee.

The card discarded by the opponent on declarer’s play of the squeeze card may be a potential winner or simply a card needed to protect a winner, but the result is equally painful. Consider the following 3-card ending:

Declarer, South, has two certain tricks with the black Aces but needs to score the last 3 tricks to bring home the contract or make an overtrick. The play of the ♣A squeezes West.  If West discards the ♥A, declarer discards the ♠10 from dummy and wins the last two tricks with dummy’s ♠A and the now established ♥K, while if West discards a spade, declarer discards the ♥K and makes the last two tricks with dummy’s ♠A and ♠10.

The above squeeze situation is classed as "positional": The threatening cards are in the North hand, sitting over West who has all the “busy” cards – winners or cards protecting winners.  Swap the East and West hands and the squeeze no longer works because dummy must discard before East. So, for example, if the ♥K is thrown from dummy, East can safely discard the ♥A and retain both spade honors to prevent declarer making the last two tricks with the ♠A and ♠10.  However, East could be squeezed in a similar layout if the South hand contained a secondary threat in hearts.

Consider the following hand that came up at a recent local tournament:

My right-hand opponent, East, dealt and opened 1♠. I doubled for takeout and after my partner’s forcing 2♠ response showing game-going values, I ended up as declarer in an easy 3NT contract. West led a small spade. I played low from dummy and won East’s ♠9 with the Queen. On the bidding, all the missing high cards were almost certain to be with East, so I crossed to dummy, overtaking my ♣K with the ♣A and finessed diamonds successfully winning the hand with the ♦9.  I returned to the table with the ♣J overtaking it with dummy’s ♣Q. East discarded a small heart. When I cashed dummy’s three remaining high clubs, East discarded the ♠3, the ♠8 and another heart and I parted with my 3 low hearts. I then finessed diamonds again and cashed the ♦A dropping East’s ♦K. On the ♦Q, I discarded dummy’s small heart and East reluctantly threw his ♥Q - his only “non-busy” card!  I had taken 10 tricks with 3 cards remaining:

On the play of ♦J, I threw dummy’s ♥K but the threat of the ♥J in my hand left East well and truly squeezed with no safe discard.  Thirteen tricks. Thank you very much.

Believe it or not, the above hands would be classified as “simple squeezes” – one opponent squeezed in two suits. There are, in fact, nine classifications of squeezes of varying complexities – simultaneous double squeezes, triple squeezes and the like - all of which are anything but simple.  Those of you who have never experienced the extreme satisfaction of executing a squeeze, don’t be discouraged:  your time will come as mine did some forty years ago playing in a Regional Swiss Teams tournament in Cleveland, Ohio. My partner, and then bridge mentor, is still considered one of the top bridge analysts in the States.

After opening 2NT, I ended up as declarer in a pretty marginal 6NT contract. I won the opening club lead with the ♣J in my hand. If the ♦Q was with West, I had 12 tricks on top so I won the ♦A and played a small diamond to dummy’s ♦J. Bad news- it lost to East and I didn’t see a clear way then to make more than 11 tricks.  It seemed that East would make the marked return of a heart, but no. She led another diamond giving me the distinct feeling she had the ♥K. It suddenly occurred to me that if she had the ♠K as well, I could trap her in a criss-cross squeeze. After cashing 3 more diamond and 3 club tricks, the remaining cards were:

I now led the ♣Q on which I discarded the ♠10 and East had no safe play. Whatever King she bared, I would play the Ace of that suit, dropping her King and then cross to the other hand with the Ace in the other suit to cash the now established Queen.  6NT made. My first squeeze and still the most memorable.