Compound Squeezes

by David Stevenson

A Summary of how to play Compound squeezes
based on the classification of Clyde E Love

Editor's note: It is necessary to understand the classification in the article Double Squeezes before reading this article.

A Compound Squeeze is a squeeze where one opponent holds three suits, and the other opponent holds two suits. When the free suit is run, the opponent with three suits is triple squeezed and has to give one suit up. This leaves a Double Squeeze position.

The basic requirements of a Compound Squeeze are that there are two B threats, ie threats held by both opponents, and accompanied by an entry in that suit, also a threat against one opponent. As Love demonstrated, the single threat must lie over the opponent threatened, and you cannot have all three threats in one hand. Love decided to call the one threat hand South for classification purposes, so North contains two threats. Note that declarer might be North or South.

A Type R Compound Squeeze is one where the South hand contains an R threat, and the North hand contains two B threats. After the triple squeeze, East gives up one suit, and that threat becomes an L threat. Now a Type R Double Squeeze follows. Note that it is called a Type R Compound Squeeze because the triple squeeze is against the opponent to the right of South.

A Type L Compound Squeeze is one where the South hand contains a B threat, and the North hand contains a B threat and an L threat. After the triple squeeze, West gives up one suit. If he gives up the B[S] suit, ie the suit with the B threat South, then that threat becomes an R threat. Now a Type R Double Squeeze follows. Alternatively, if he gives up the B[N] suit, ie the suit with the B threat North, then that threat becomes an R threat. Now a Type B Double Squeeze follows.

There are further requirements. Unlike Double Squeezes, there must be some F winners to execute the triple squeeze. Love also realised that in some cases all the F winners can be cashed before anything else: these are called Unrestricted [U] Compound Squeezes, and the last F may be North or South. In other cases all the F winners except one can be cashed, and that one must be South, and then other things must be done before the last F is cashed: these are called Restricted [R] Compound Squeezes. Exceptionally there is a Restricted type where all the F winners can be cashed first, however there is ambiguity on what to discard so it is similar to other Restricted squeezes.

So we finish with five types of Compound Squeezes. One of them is a special case, which we shall consider later, called the Type BR. The other four are Types RU, RR, LU and LR. The following are the additional requirements:

Type RU [ie Right, unrestricted: East is triple squeezed and the last F winner may be cashed]:

There must be a R winner South, and also an entry South in either B suit or the R suit

Type RR [ie Right, restricted: East is triple squeezed and the last F winner may not be cashed]:

The last F winner must be South, and also an entry South in either B suit or the R suit or the last F
Exceptionally, if the South entry is in the B suit, then the squeeze still works if the last F is cashed

Type LU [ie Left, unrestricted: West is triple squeezed and the last F winner may be cashed]:

There must be an additional winner South in South's B suit

Type LR [ie Left, restricted: West is triple squeezed and the last F winner may not be cashed]:

The last F winner must be South, and also an entry South in either North's B suit or the L suit. There must be an entry North in either South's B suit or the L suit.

Of course, it is all very well knowing these requirements, but how do you actually play them? In each case you cash the F winners executing the Triple Squeeze, and then run the Double Squeeze.

In practice, Type R ones are easy [relatively]: after the Triple Squeeze you get rid of the L winners, ie cash the winners in the suit abandoned by East, return to the South hand, and cash the final squeeze card, an R or F winner.

Type L ones are a bit more tricky since the defenders can decide whether to set up a Type B or a Type R Double Squeeze. After the Triple Squeeze you just have to look at the Double squeeze requirements.

There is also Love's "Alternate threat squeeze", which I call Type BR, which will sometimes work when the requirements for Type LU or LR fail.

Type BR [ie Both, restricted: West is triple squeezed and the last F winner may not be cashed]:

The last F winner must be South, and also an entry South in North's B suit. There must be an L winner North, and also an entry North in either South's B suit or the L suit. There must also be a threat in North's B suit in the South hand.

The reason this works is somewhat different: after the Triple Squeeze, if West abandons South's B suit then the Type R squeeze works as normal. However, if West abandons North's B suit then that threat is discarded! Then a Type R squeeze works but upside down: the South hand becomes the two threat hand.

There is an example of this, the rarest of all the Compund Squeezes, in the article Interesting Game from the Euro Championships.

Perhaps it would help to restate the requirements in tabular form. Remember that a B threat is always accompanied by an entry.

Type	Opp with 3 thrs	North	North	North	South	South	South	Cash last F?
		thr	wnr	ent	thr	wnr	ent
RU	East	B+B			R	R	B/R	Yes
RR	East	B+B			R	last F	R	No
RR	East	B+B			R	last F	B	Yes
RR	East	B+B			R	R	last F	No
LU	West	Bn+L			Bs	Bs		Yes
LR	West	Bn+L		Bs/L	Bs	last F	Bn/L	No
BR	West	Bn+L	L	Bs/L	Bs+Bn	last F		No

With apologies to Love, and after thirty years experience and re- reading, these rules are both slightly simpler and more accurate than Love's. Of course they are complicated, but you try to find a simpler classification!

Editor's note:

• If you want to comment on this article, why not write direct to me, David Stevenson? I shall be pleased to hear from you!
• Thanks to Tobias Forster of Germany for pointing out a flaw in my previous analysis.
• In fact after re-reading and re-checking I have made other corrections in January 2011 and I hope it is now correct.

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