Vice Squeeze

A vice squeeze operates against a defender's doubleton of touching rank, e.g. Q-J or J-T, when it protects the other defender's top winner in the suit. It was first described by British expert Terence Reese in his book, "Master Play in Contract Bridge."

		Dummy
		KT2
		—
West		—		East
QJ		—		A95
8				—
—		South		—
—		4		—
		5
		9
		—

South is playing no-trumps and only has one winner left, the 9. But when South leads that card, West is "caught in the vice." Forced to keep his heart lest South's 5 become a winner, West elects to discard a spade. Now South can continue with a spade to the queen, king and ace. East must return a spade to dummy's T.

Compare this to a 3-card ending in which East is missing the A:

		Dummy
		KT2
		—
West		—		East
QJ		—		653
8				—
—		South		—
—		4		—
		5
		9
		—

When South leads the 9 and West pitches a spade, South simply proceeds with a spade to the king and ten. As such, this is a positional simple squeeze, not a vice squeeze.

The vice squeeze is also related to the guard squeeze, which is a squeeze that creates a finessing opportunity against one defender:

		Dummy
		K2
		5
West		—		East
QJ		5		T73
8				—
—		South		2
8		A94		—
		—
		9
		—

South has a natural loser in spades. But when she leads the 9, West is squeezed in three suits. When West discards a spade, East is exposed to a finesse. At the next trick, South crosses to dummy's K (picking up West's Q) and takes a simple finesse against East's T. Compared to the vice squeeze, though, a guard squeeze operates against a finessable card rather than a top winner.

		Dummy
		5
		KT8
West		KQ95		East
KQJT82		AQ987		76
QJ9				A653
32		South		876
54		A943		K632
		742
		AJT4
		JT

West 2 Pass

North Dbl 3NT

East Pass All Pass

South 2NT

South ducks the opening spade lead and wins the second round, pitching a diamond from dummy. The first order of business is establishing dummy's club suit, so South floats the J around to East's K. South is relieved when East returns a diamond, instead of a heart to West's theoretical ace. 9 tricks are now available: 1 spade, 4 clubs and 4 diamonds. A squeeze in the majors offers a potential overtrick as well.

So South proceeds to run dummy's clubs. A spade and two hearts are discarded from the closed hand, while West jettisons two diamonds and a spade. The layout becomes:

		Dummy
		—
		KT8
West		KQ9		East
JT8		—		—
QJ9				A653
—		South		87
—		9		—
		7
		AJT4
		—

Now South reels off the diamond winners. West discards two spades and a heart before coming under pressure from the last diamond:

		Dummy
		—
		KT8
West		—		East
J		—		—
QJ				A65
—		South		—
—		9		—
		7
		4
		—

When West parts with a heart, South leads a heart to the queen, king and ace. Dummy's T becomes an overtrick.