Guard squeeze
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Guard squeeze is a type of squeeze in contract bridge where a player is squeezed out of a card which prevents his partner from being finessed. The squeeze operates in three suits, where the squeezee protects the menaces in two suits, but cannot help his partner anymore in the third suit after the squeeze is executed.
The following example shows a guard squeeze:
| ♠ | - | ||||
| ♥ | K5 | ||||
| ♦ | Q | ||||
| ♣ | 8 | ||||
| ♠ | - |
N W E S |
♠ | - | |
| ♥ | Q10 | ♥ | - | ||
| ♦ | K | ♦ | 8 | ||
| ♣ | J | ♣ | Q98 | ||
| ♠ | 2 | ||||
| ♥ | 4 | ||||
| ♦ | - | ||||
| ♣ | K10 | ||||
South plays the ♠2 and West must keep all his red cards to protect menaces of ♥5 and ♦Q in the dummy, thus he must discard the jack of clubs. Now, the declarer plays a heart to the king and can finesse the East's queen of clubs.
| ♠ | - | ||||
| ♥ | K10 | ||||
| ♦ | Q | ||||
| ♣ | 8 | ||||
| ♠ | - |
N W E S |
♠ | - | |
| ♥ | Q9 | ♥ | J | ||
| ♦ | K | ♦ | A | ||
| ♣ | J | ♣ | Q9 | ||
| ♠ | 2 | ||||
| ♥ | 4 | ||||
| ♦ | - | ||||
| ♣ | K10 | ||||
A double guard squeeze is very rare. Again, in the diagram South leads the spade 2. If West discards ♣J, the position comes down to the one from the previous diagram. So, he must discard the diamond king. The declarer ditches now unnecessary club from the table, and the pressure comes to East—he must not throw the ♦A nor a club, and after the discard of the ♥J the declarer has a free way to finesse West's queen.
