Vice 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.

The Vice is a type of advanced type of squeeze in contract bridge. Its distinguishing motive is presence of a "vice" menace in one suit, where one defender holds cards of equivalent rank which split the declarer's pair of cards in front of him, where his partner has a winner in the suit. It was first attested by Terence Reese in the book "The Expert Game", a.k.a. "Master Play in Contract Bridge". In other words, the defenders have a "high" finesse position, equivalent to the one in diagram:

	K10
QJ		Ax
	xx

If West can be forced to abandon QJ, the defenders will take only one trick in the suit.

A similar motive is encountered in guard squeezes, however, in the vice, the defenders have a winner in the suit. Since that winner will take a trick, this squeeze is without the count.

[edit] Examples

		♠	-
		♥	K104
		♦	-
		♣	-
♠	-	N W         E S		♠	-
♥	QJ			♥	A97
♦	10			♦	-
♣	-			♣	-
		♠	5
		♥	3
		♦	8
		♣	-

Hearts are the "vice suit", and the second menace is the declarer's ♦8. This is a position akin to automatic simple squeeze. When South leads the high ♠5, West must not discard the ♦10; when he parts with a heart honor, declarer leads the heart and East must cede the last trick to dummy's heart ten.

		♠	-
		♥	K10
		♦	K5
		♣	-
♠	-	N W         E S		♠	-
♥	QJ			♥	A9
♦	109			♦	74
♣	-			♣	-
		♠	5
		♥	3
		♦	82
		♣	-

When the second menace (diamonds) is in dummy, it must be a two-card menace accompanied by an entry, otherwise West can safely abandon the suit; if the ♦K were absent, the West can discard the diamond winner, as the declarer will not have the entry to enjoy it.

[edit] References

• Terence Reese, The Expert Game (American title: Master Play in Contract Bridge, ISBN 0-486-20336-0)