Cannibal squeeze
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- This article concerns Contract Bridge and uses terminology associated with the game. See Contract bridge glossary for an explanation of unfamiliar words or phrases.
Cannibal squeeze or suicide squeeze is a type of squeeze in bridge or whist, in which a defender is squeezed by a card played by his partner. Normally, this occurs with less-than-perfect defense, but there are also legitimate positions where the defense could not have prevailed.
[edit] Examples
| ♠ | - | ||||
| ♥ | - | ||||
| ♦ | AQ | ||||
| ♣ | 62 | ||||
| ♠ | - |
N W E S |
♠ | - | |
| ♥ | 8 | ♥ | - | ||
| ♦ | 84 | ♦ | K4 | ||
| ♣ | 4 | ♣ | J10 | ||
| ♠ | - | ||||
| ♥ | - | ||||
| ♦ | 85 | ||||
| ♣ | K3 | ||||
West is on lead. If he cashes the high heart, a club is thrown from the dummy, and East is squeezed. Whichever card East discards, the declarer will take two tricks in that suit. Instead, West must lead a diamond to protect the partner from subsequent endplay (if he returns a club, the declarer will take the King and endplay West with another club, forcing him to lead into ♦AQ).
The most common position for a legitimate suicide squeeze occurs when a side suit is "tangled" (neither side can lead it without giving up a trick), and another suit is protected by the partner of the player on lead, as in the following diagram:
| ♠ | - | ||||
| ♥ | - | ||||
| ♦ | Q62 | ||||
| ♣ | - | ||||
| ♠ | - |
N W E S |
♠ | - | |
| ♥ | 8 | ♥ | - | ||
| ♦ | J8 | ♦ | K4 | ||
| ♣ | - | ♣ | 7 | ||
| ♠ | - | ||||
| ♥ | - | ||||
| ♦ | A10 | ||||
| ♣ | 3 | ||||
West is to lead; if he leads a diamond, it will "untangle" the suit for the declarer. However, when he leads the high heart, he induces a simple squeeze on his partner, who must either discard the high ♣7 or unguard the diamond king. (Dummy has an idle card, and East is to play before the declarer).
