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Within a month after playing my first ever Compound Squeeze I was South on this hand in no-trumps with no opposition bidding. Fortunately the opening lead was kind.
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First trick, playing 4th highest leads from an honour, 2nd from small cards (standard British):
3
4
K
A
You might as well sort the s out so you lead another,
T
5
2
6. You have to take the
finesse so you do.
2
7
J
K.
Now, how do take twelve tricks on the return of
After the last hand I was looking for Compound Squeezes. The basic requirements are two B menaces, ie a menace against both opponents accompanied by an entry. These are North's 6 and the
J. Of course they are only actually a menace against one opponent but when it is not known which opponent you can sometimes play a Simple Squeeze as a Double Squeeze or Compound Squeeze, and a Double Squeeze as a Compound Squeeze. I learnt this from Clyde E Love's book, Bridge Squeezes Complete. A further requirement is a single menace sitting over the opponent and this seems to be the
9. So how about a Compound?
I could not see it, and finally decided regretfully that after the T return there was no Compound. I played
A,
A,
Q,
T,
Q, not really quite sure who I was squeezing in what! When West discarded a
on
Q the
9 was of no further interest so I discarded it. After 3 rounds of
s I found West had the
guard. His last 2 cards were
J and
J so I took the
finesse since he had no
s.
Afterwards I checked my notes to see why the Compound did not work. With only one honour with the B threat in the hand containing one threat (K) this is what is called a Type L restricted Compound. According to my notes:
That means that:
Suppose E returns a instead of a
. Now we have two honours with the B threat in the hand containing one threat (
K and
A) and this is what is called a Type L unrestricted Compound. According to my notes there is no other requirement!
Cash Q discarding a
, cash the
s discarding a
from dummy, decide which suit West has abandoned. If West does not have
length now cash
A then
K, discarding
9 if it is not good. Either the
Q falls or the
s run. If West appears to have abandoned
s play 3 rounds of
s. If the
9 and 4th
are not good the
Q will fall. One of the advantages of the Compound is that if the
Q is doubleton offside you get 12 tricks while a finesse would lose.
So the T return spoilt my second Compound in a month!
The classification of Compound Squeezes (slightly amended and improved from Love) is here.
Editor's note:
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