The Schnapsen Log

The Homewrecker (solution)

Martin Tompa

“It’s really a fascinating situation. This was the position when there was one face-down card left in the stock,” says Uncle Hans, as he rearranges the cards face-up on the table.

Polona: (34 points)
♠ TQ
♥ A
♣ KQ
♦ —

You: (12 points)
♠ AK
♥ J
♣ —
♦ AT

Trump: ♦J
Stock: ♥Q

“I think you were in too much of a rush to cash your ♠A, dear,” Hans continues. “When you see your AK opposite Polona’s TQ, you should be very reluctant to open up that particular suit. You want Polona to do it for you. Leading ♥J is a disaster, as you probably saw. That leaves a trump lead. Did you consider leading a trump? It seems wasteful, but let’s see what would happen if you led ♦A.

“Polona can’t discard ♠Q. If she left her ♠T unprotected like that, you could cash ♦T and ♠AK to arrive at 66 trick points. She can’t discard ♥A either, because then you could cash ♦T, ♠A, and ♥QJ for more than enough. That means she is forced to break up her marriage and discard ♣Q. Here is the position after that trick and drawing the last cards from the stock.” Hans rearranges the cards on the table.

Polona: (34 points)
♠ TQ
♥ A
♣ K
♦ J

You: (26 points)
♠ AK
♥ QJ
♣ —
♦ T

“Now that her marriage is broken up, you can safely proceed with an elimination play. Pull her last trump so that she can’t use it as a safe exit card. Then throw her in with a heart.” Hans removes those cards from the table.

Polona: (47 points)
♠ TQ
♥ —
♣ K
♦ —

You: (38 points)
♠ AK
♥ Q
♣ —
♦ —

“Polona can cash her club, but then she is forced to open up the spade suit and you take both of them.

“You probably see now, dear, that leading ♦A instead of ♠A is a squeeze play. This particular type of squeeze play doesn’t exist in bridge, where there is no such thing as a marriage. I call it the homewrecker squeeze, because it breaks up a marriage! It’s a type of squeeze without the count because, once you’ve squeezed out the marriage, you let your opponent win some more tricks before winning the deal yourself.”

“That’s very clever, Hans,” says Aunt Polona. “But what if some card other than ♥Q was left in the stock? Will the lead of ♦A work then?”

“Good question,” replies Hans. “Yes, ♦A will work whichever card remains face-down in the stock. In fact, the other cases are easier. In all the cases you start with ♦AT, which pulls all the trumps and brings you to 38 trick points. If you draw either spade from the stock, you just run the spades for enough points. If you draw ♥A, you can cash ♠A and ♥A for exactly 66. And if you draw either club, you can run the same elimination play without even having to worry about the club marriage. Suppose it’s ♣Q that you draw, which is slightly worse for you than ♣K, and your opponent discarded the sensible ♥Q on your ♦A. Here is the position.” And Hans once again rearranges cards on the table.

Polona: (34 points)
♠ TQ
♥ A
♣ K
♦ J

You: (26 points)
♠ AK
♥ J
♣ Q
♦ T

“It’s nearly identical to the elimination play we saw before. Pull the trump and then use either ♥J or ♣Q for the throw-in. Eventually your opponent will have to open up the spade suit for you, which will hand you enough points.”

“Well, I wish I had thought of being a homewrecker, Hans,” you say admiringly, “especially since the most interesting card possible, ♥Q, was in the stock. I’ll bet that lead would have made you and your pretty marriage squirm, Polona!”

© 2012 Martin Tompa. All rights reserved.

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