The End Position
The play started: heart to the Ace, Queen of hearts to the King, Queen of spades, diamond to the King, Ace-King of spades (clubs from South), diamonds. This resulted in the following position. Four cards remained, declarer had won eight tricks and lost one, and declarer (South) had the lead. South was about to cash the last two diamond winners:
Now the five of diamonds, West had to discard a club, North discarded the ten of clubs, and East the ten of hearts. But on the four of diamonds, West had to discard a club, blanking the King. Now North’s nine of spades was useless and was discarded, and East had no defense. This endplay is called a double squeeze; West is squeezed in the black suits, and East is squeezed in hearts and clubs. As with many squeezes, there was nothing difficult about the play; declarer simply had to be aware that both opponents might be under pressure. Declarer also needed to keep track of hearts (in case East discarded hearts in order to keep Q4 of clubs). Plus 490 scored 93%, and plus 460 was 75%.
Bonus from Val: NS did well to bid three notrump; many ended in five diamonds; plus 400 scored only 39%. Deal C039.
To explore alternative lines of play and defense, use this link: https://tinyurl.com/yv8a6rt7
In Chapter 5 of Real World Bridge 4: Competitive Bidding Part One, we discuss defending against the opponents’ pre-emptive bids.