A steppingstone squeeze occurs when a defender is reduced to giving declarer an entry to an otherwise inaccessible winner. It is a type of strip-squeeze originally described by Terence Reese in "Master Play in Contract Bridge" in 1960. (The other two that Reese presented were the
vice squeeze and the winkle.)
To illustrate:
| | North | | |
| ♠ J 2 | |
| ♥ — | |
| West | ♦ 3 | East |
| ♠ 9 8 | ♣ 6 | ♠ 7 |
| ♥ — | | ♥ 5 |
| ♦ Q 4 | South | ♦ — |
| ♣ — | ♠ — | ♣ 7 |
| ♥ Q | |
| ♦ K 8 | |
| ♣ 2 | |
South is on lead needing 3 tricks. He only has 2 winners in hand — the
♥ Q and
♦ K — and no way to reach the good
♠ J in dummy.
If South plays the
♥ Q, though, West will be squeezed. To protect the
♦ Q, West might decide to discard a spade. In that case South continues with the
♦ K and the
♦ 8. West, thrown in, must ignominiously lead a spade to dummy's jack.
The steppingstone squeeze is so named because declarer uses a defender as a surrogate entry, or step, into the other hand.
Example
The following deal was authored by the late writer Alan Truscott (1925 - 2005) for The New York Times.1 South landed in a 1NT contract and received an opening lead of the ♠ 4:
| | North | | |
| ♠ A J 7 | |
| ♥ J 6 4 2 | |
| West | ♦ 10 8 7 4 | East |
| ♠ 4 3 2 | ♣ J 6 | ♠ 10 9 8 |
| ♥ A 8 | | ♥ 9 7 5 3 |
| ♦ Q J 5 3 | South | ♦ A 6 |
| ♣ A K 9 8 | ♠ K Q 6 5 | ♣ Q 5 4 2 |
| ♥ K Q 10 | |
| ♦ K 9 2 | |
| ♣ 10 7 3 | |
"As it turned out, a minor suit lead would have defeated the contract, but West tried a spade in the hope of finding a spade suit in his partner’s hand. The declarer won with the
♠ A in dummy and led a heart to his king. West won with the ace and shifted to clubs. After four rounds of the suit, West was on lead in this position:
| | North | | |
| ♠ J 7 | |
| ♥ J 6 4 | |
| West | ♦ 10 8 | East |
| ♠ 3 2 | ♣ — | ♠ 10 9 |
| ♥ 8 | | ♥ 9 7 5 |
| ♦ Q J 5 3 | South | ♦ A 6 |
| ♣ — | ♠ K Q 6 | ♣ — |
| ♥ Q 10 | |
| ♦ K 9 | |
| ♣ — | |
"West continued with a spade, the only play to give South a problem. This severed the North-South communications, making it impossible to cash six winners in the major suits. However he plays, South finds himself cut off from either the
♥ J or his own fourth spade trick.
"South did not choose to stake everything on the position of the
♦ A, so he cashed his three spade tricks, throwing a diamond from dummy. East became the victim of a ‘steppingstone squeeze,’ a rare ending. In order to keep his three hearts, and prevent South from overtaking the ten with the jack in dummy effectively, East had to throw the
♦ 6. South cashed his queen and ten of hearts, noting the discard from West at the 11th trick.
"The declarer had to lead from his
♦ K at the 12th trick, but East had to take the ace and give dummy the last trick with the
♥ J."
References
1Truscott, A. (1968, December 5). Solodar and Bethe Form Pair at Last Minute and Win Title.
The New York Times.
