[lenze]

I was dummy, sitting north when my student of over a year had this four card ending. Spades were trump. It was known that west held the only heart bigger than dummy's 9. South correctly played the spade ten, pitching the club 6 from dummy. She then fell from grace by leading a club to take the finesse. If she had played the last trump, west would be forced to come down to one club (Having to hold the high heart). So now when she led a club, and the king did not appear, she would play the Ace from dummy, dropping the king offside.

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[inquiry]

saving it to be sure to win the last trick?

Have you covered show up squeezes and other squeezes with your student? If not, don't be too hard on them. This hand is a good TEACHING tool for the NEXT time... :-)

Ben

[Trpltrbl]

This a nice hand to explain to them that it doesn't hurt to play the last trump. It is nice to let them know how squeeze work, or how you set them up etc.

Mike

[WGF_Flame]

You have high expectations of your students.
I know ppl who play 30 years and wouldnt know to play the last trump here.

[mishovnbg]

WGF_Flame, on Mar 26 2004, 01:31 PM, said:

You have high expectations of your students.
I know ppl who play 30 years and wouldnt know to play the last trump here.

If I don't have high expectations of my students, they will not be my students...

Spoiler

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Misho

[EricK]

The last trump is like a security blanket. It stops the opponents running the rest of the tricks.

In the example given, the player was, I suspect, always planning to take the finesse, and saw that if she took the last trump before taking the finesse she might lose the last two tricks.

Squeezes don't come naturally to 99.9% of bridge players. If you haven't covered this type of squeeze (the show up squeeze) explicitly, then it is a bit harsh to condemn a student for not working it out.

Judging by the amount of squeezes I play for, I must be missing loads of opportunities to squeeze the opponents - and I know quite a bit about squeezes. So for someone who is still at the early learning stages it is not that surprising that they miss even simple squeezes like this.

Eric

[lenze]

I had a nice experience regarding this topic last night. I played with an an old partner from 30 years ago in Dallas. On one hand, I placed him in a aggressive 6 Diamond contract. He was NOT afraid to lead the last trump, executing the squeeze, making 7 for a top.