Vice squeeze

The Vice is an advanced 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:

{{BridgeSuit|K10|QJ|Ax|xx}}If West can be forced to abandon QJ, the defenders will take only one trick in the suit.{{Clear}}

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 {{gcb|rectifythecount|the count}}.

Examples

{{BridgeHandNWES

|Label =

|Lead = South to lead

|—|K 10 4|—|—

|—|Q J|10|—

|—|A 9 7|—|—

|5|3|8|—}} Hearts are the "vice suit", and the second menace is the declarer's {{Diams}}8. This is a position akin to automatic simple squeeze. When South leads the high {{Spades}}5, West must not discard the {{Diams}}10; when he parts with a heart honor, declarer leads the heart and East must cede the last trick to dummy's heart ten.{{Clear}}

{{BridgeHandNWES

|Label =

|Lead =

|—|K 10|K 5|—

|—|Q J|10 9|—

|—|A 9|7 4|—

|5|3|8 2|—}} 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 {{Diams}}K were absent, the West can discard the diamond winner, as the declarer will not have the entry to enjoy it.{{Clear}}

References

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

Category:Contract bridge squeezes