The Elementary Squeeze

people have visited this site.

One Two Three Four
Five Six Seven Eight
Nine Ten Eleven Twelve
Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen
Seventeen Eighteen Nineteen Twenty
Twenty-one Twenty-two Twenty-three Twenty-four
Twenty-five Twenty-six Twenty-seven Twenty-eight
Twenty-nine Thirty Thirty-one Thirty-two
Thirty-three Thirty-four Thirty-five Thirty-six
Thirty-seven Thirty-eight Thirty-nine Forty
Forty-one Forty-two Forty-three Forty-four
Forty-five Forty-six Forty-seven Forty-eight
Forty-nine Fifty-A Fifty-B Fifty-C
Fifty-one Fifty-two Fifty-three Fifty-four
Fifty-five Fifty-six Fifty-seven Fifty-eight
Fifty-nine Sixty Sixty-one Sixty-two
Sixty-three Sixty-four Sixty-five Sixty-six
Sixty-seven Sixty-eight(a) Sixty-eight(b) Sixty-eight(c)
Sixty-nine Seventy Seventy-one Seventy-two
Seventy-three Seventy-four Seventy-five Seventy-six
Seventy-seven Seventy-eight Seventy-nine Eighty
Eighty-one Eighty-two Eighty-three Eighty-four
Eighty-five Eighty-six Eighty-seven Eighty-eight
Eighty-nine Ninety Ninety-one Ninety-two

The squeeze is traditionally the play that separates the expert from the not-so-expert player, and I'm here to say, don't you believe it. Oh, if you're talking about one who rarely misses even the most difficult and intricate of squeezes, I'm certainly willing to attribute the word expert to such a player. Nevertheless, the basic, elementary two-suit squeeze I hold to be fully within the competence of reasonably good players who play perhaps once or twice a week and make no pretence to being an expert.
The elements that go toward the successful execution of a basic squeeze are threefold, I would say, to wit:
(1)You must retain access to both hands. Being in a hand is having access to it.
(2)You must have threats in at least two suits. If you have threats in three suits, that should make your task all the easier.
(3)It is very helpful, though not absolutely indispensible to every squeeze, to be able to win every trick but one.
Let me go over these points. Having access or entries to winners is hardly a new thought to any experienced player so I won't emphasize this, but would only like to say you want to start early looking to preserve entries, and don't want to wipe them out carelessly.
What does a threat card look like? Well, it can look like any card in the deck, including a deuce. But having made that sweeping statement, I will point to two very common threats that you'll want to keep your eye on. First are four-card suits. They can be prolific providers of threats. Consider this: If you have 3 cards opposite four, though the suit may break evenly, if it doesn't, only one person can protect the fourth round. If you have two cards opposite four, though both opponents might be able to control the third round, only one can control the fourth. So if you have A K Q x opposite a doubleton, only one person can prevent the run of the suit, and if you have A K x x opposite a low doubleton in a trump contract, if you cash the honors and ruff the third round, only one peson can guard against that last card. And of course, you want and need threats that only one person can guard.
And secondly, I would cite intermediate highs: kings, queens on down to 9's. These are likelier to prove a threat than lower cards for self-evident reasons. So if you have A J 5 in one suit and A 7 4 2 in another, each opposite a low doubleton, you'll want to favor the former as a potential threat. The latter suit looks as though both hands can beat the 7, and so it's not likely to be a second-round threat.
And lastly, rectification of the count, or putting yourself into a position where you can win every trick but one. I have a mild objection to the term, "rectification of the count," principally because it sounds as if you must do something, when in fact, sometimes the opponents do it for us and sometimes the guy who shuffles the cards does it (when you have 12 top tricks, not missing an ace). But however this gets done, I cannot emphasize it enough.
Now, mind you, I've already acknowledged that you can sometimes squeeze an opponent before bringing about this great desideratum. So I'm not saying it's the only way squeezes get done. But I am saying that when you can bring this about or notice that it has been brought about, then you may very well be in a position to pull off a squeeze. So I would say without qualification that after counting winners, you'll want to lose those tricks you safely can up to the point of being able to run all but one trick. Then move in.
Now, you'll want to take finesses first and you'll want to knock out aces where you have picture cards to establish some winners, the upshot being that on the majority of the hands where we're declarer, by the time we get done with all the housekeeping, either the opponents have taken all the tricks they were ever going to get and we can run all the rest of the tricks or we have no entries to dummy, or we have only one suit left outside of trump, or the like. The majority, yes. But that still leaves a minority where circumstances will be ripe for a squeeze, where you can duck a round or two without losing communication. Then you'll want to lose just enough -- one trick if you've 11 top winners, 3 tricks if you have 9 -- and then start moving.
Cash out extra entries, keep one entry only in a threat suit, come to the other hand and run your winners. If you do that, I'll guarantee that you'll fall into squeezes you didn't know were there. Seriously, if I have no finesses to take, if I have no picture cards to promote, I would start losing tricks before I even know where the squeeze is going to be. But if there is to be one, it will jell as I run my winners. It will jell. So on to some hands: