The Book that Belongs
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BELLADONNA STRIP SQUEEZE.

The underlying techniques for using this class of squeeze to produce two tricks is well catalogued, but that is not true for those squeezes that manufacture two tricks when only two suits are involved.

The best known example of the latter is the great Giorgio Belladonna's performance on a deal played on a bleak Winnipeg evening nearly 40 years ago:

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At both tables, West led a club and declarer called for dummy's queen. After ruffing East's ♣A, both declarers counted 10 tricks.

They began by cashing ace and king of trumps and finding them 2-2. After that, most declarers would proceed as Jim Jacoby did.

He pinned his hopes on East having a doubleton spade honor, which would give him 11 tricks, or even an unlikely ♠J-x-x, which would result in 12. If the former was the case, he would still need to rely on squeezing West in the majors for his 12th trick.

Consequently, he crossed to dummy with the jack of trumps and discarded a heart on the ♣K. Next he finessed the ♠10.

As the cards lay, West won the trick with the ♠J and exited in clubs. East began with two low spades, so there was no chance of recovery and Jacoby failed in this ambitious slam.

When Belladonna played the slam, he crossed to dummy with the jack of trumps and threw ♠10 on the ♣K. After Belladonna ruffed a club and cashed another trump, these cards remained:

♠ 7 6 5 2
♥ K 6 2
♦ -
♣  -

♠ K J 9
♥ Q J 5 4
♦ -
♣ -

♠ 8 3
♥ 10 8
♦ -
♣ J 9 2

♠ A Q
♥ A 9 7 3
♦ 9
♣ -

Needing six of the last seven tricks, Belladonna had only four winners, but when he led his last trump, what could West do?

If he threw a spade, dummy would discard a heart and then Belladonna would play the ♠A followed by the queen, setting up two spade tricks in dummy. He would make three spades, two hearts and a trump.

West would fare is no better discarding a heart, for then Belladonna would discard a spade from table and continue with ace, king and another heart, setting up a long heart trick. Then West, with only spades remaining, would have to lead into declarer's spade tenace. Belladonna would make two spades, three hearts and a diamond.

How to Play:

There is a Chinese saying:
'An image is worth 1000 words!'

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Online Player Guided Tour

1 - Bidding: Click the 'Play' button in the middle of the page to display the bidding box.

When you are ready, click the 'Start Bidding' button.

When a bid is alerted, it is shown on a yellow background. You can then click that bid to display the related alert.

When there is a comment or a question about your own bid, you can read it on the bidding box comments pane, and then, click the 'Ok' button to continue bidding.

Click 'Close Bidding Box' to proceed to playing the hand.

2 - Playing: The lead is automatic if you are declarer, otherwise you'll see the 'It's your lead' warning in the center pane.

You will play your cards and dummy's as if you were at a live table.

2.1 -Touching cards are considered equivalent! e.g. if you have 876 and you play the 7 while Vu-Bridge expects you to play the 6, then the 7 will blink and the 6 will be played.

2.2 -Sometimes there will be a comment or question during the play.
You should read it and click the 'Click to continue' button at the top of the comment text.

If its a question, there will be a 'Show Answer' button to click at the bottom of the comment panel.

2.3 - When a comment bears a 'Finish flag' button, you can click it to reveal hidden hands and continue playing. We use this to explain technical coups like end-plays, squeezes etc.

2.4 - You can review the last trick by clicking on the last won or lost trick (back of card) at the bottom of the screen. The last trick will show during 3 seconds and then play will continue.

2.5 - You can click the 'Undo last trick' button at the left of the screen in order to redo one or several tricks and review the attached comments.
You can review the auction by clicking the 'Auction' tab in the same area.
3 - Moving the comment panel:

When the mouse hovers the dark green background of the bidding box or the comment panel, you'll see a crosshair cursor and you can drag and move it around the page.

The left and right arrows on the top left corner of the comment panel allows you to increase or reduce the width for better readability.

4 - When a hand is finished, you can click the 'Board List' at the top of the comment panel, and play other hands From the same Series.

To play other Series, visit the Vu-Bridge's home page and click the 'Bridge Hands' button.