Rare play makes for an interesting game

There are plays in bridge that many players have never heard of, much less seen. And while it is true that most of them have very little practical value, they are nevertheless fascinating to both the connoisseur and the everyday player.

A typical example is the play known as the "stepping-stone squeeze", illustrated by this deal from a rubber-bridge game.

South wound up in three diamonds doubled, and West led the jack of spades. East took dummy's queen with the ace and cashed the A-K of hearts before returning a spade to dummy's king. When declarer then played five rounds of trumps, this became the position:

Declarer cashed his last trump, discarding the 10 of clubs from dummy, and poor East was in trouble. He could not afford to discard a spade because South would then be able to overtake his eight of spades with the nine and cash dummy's four of spades. So East discarded the jack of clubs instead.

South thereupon cashed the eight of spades and exited with a club to dummy's king. East won with the ace, but was forced to return a spade, providing a stepping stone to dummy's nine of spades. So South made three diamonds doubled.

It is true that an opening club lead by West would have defeated the contract, but then there would have been no "stepping-stone squeeze" to talk about.