A 8 8 A 7 5 2 A K Q 9 6 3
2 led
	Q 3 A 9 5 K 10 9 8 J 10 7 4

W	N	E	S
	1	1	1NT
3	3NT	AP

Partner has 8 likely tricks in his own hand, so with my promised heart stopper it was easy for him to bid 3NT.

I have 10 tricks on top; the question is whether I can make 11. I can't afford to lose the lead once they knock out my heart stopper. That means I can't establish an extra trick in diamonds, even if the opponents' diamonds are 3-2, as I'd have to lose a diamond trick first. And I can't benefit from the Q either.

Or can I? Somehow this hand suggests a squeeze. On the bidding, East probably has the K; if he has three or more diamonds as well I must be able to squeeze him in spades and diamonds. I've got all those clubs in dummy. When I run them, won't East will have trouble with his discards?

Suddenly, I have a vision:

	8 – A 7 9
	Q – K 10 9 –

Well, I don't know that my vision is as detailed as that, but the point is that when I lead my last club from dummy and everyone has to come down to three cards, East won't be able to keep three diamonds and the K.

The books all say that the first step in a squeeze is to lose some tricks to "rectify the count." Indeed, the key play in squeeze problems in books is usually ducking the first trick. That's what I need to do now. Not as a standard notrump holdup play; I'm not trying to run one defender out of hearts so that it will be safe to lose the lead to him later. But if I win the first trick I won't be able to lose the tricks necessary to set up my squeeze.

My goal is an eleventh trick, so I need to lose two tricks to rectify the count. I duck the opening heart lead. East wins the King and returns the 4 and I duck that too, discarding a diamond from dummy. The count is rectified. West leads a third heart, and I discard another diamond from dummy and win the A in my hand.

Now I start running the clubs. Do I need to watch the discards carefully? Not really! At the critical moment all I'll need to know is whether the K has appeared. So I don't pay much attention, but East seems to be throwing mostly spades. After four club tricks I cash the A, to simplify the situation. We are down to:

	A 8 – 7 Q 9
	Q 3 – K 10 9 –

One more prepatory step is needed. If I simply run two more club tricks, then I can discard the 9 on the first but on the second I won't know what to discard. If East has bared his K and kept two diamonds, I'll need to keep the Q3 and discard the 10; if he's down to two spades and a single diamond, I'll need to dump a spade. But how would I know which it is? I wouldn't.

The solution is to cash the A first. Then on the last club East either has or has not played the K and I know what to discard. This is a Vienna Coup! How exciting. By cashing the A I establish East's K; then I squeeze him out of it.

But wait, what's this? On the A East drops the K! He's bared it already! Now I don't even need to squeeze him out of it by finishing the clubs.

I claim the rest. East comes up with some excuse about how his partner's discards showed a spade honor, so he thought he didn't need to keep his spades.

I am pleased but somewhat disappointed. Do I get credit for my squeeze, so meticulously planned from trick one, or did I merely make an extra trick from a defensive error? I think I get the credit. East in fact had three diamonds to the Queen, so even if he had discarded differently, it would have made no difference. He would have been squeezed on the last club. In my mind, it's a squeeze play, with Vienna Coup, planned from the first trick.

We get 9.5 matchpoints out of 12. Making ten tricks would have been worth only 5.5. West could have held me to ten tricks by leading a spade initially (then I wouldn't have been able to rectify the count), but on the bidding his heart lead was a natural choice.

We come in first overall. And by a margin of 3.27 matchpoints, so the extra trick on this board just put us over the top. That's the first time we've won the Unit Game. Not bad, considering the field included at least two world champions – playing together!

The full deal:

	A 8 8 A 7 5 2 A K Q 9 6 3
J 10 9 5 2 Q 10 6 2 J 6 5 2		K 7 6 4 K J 7 4 3 Q 4 3 8
	Q 3 A 9 5 K 10 9 8 J 10 7 4

[WBL Unit Game, A/X division, 12-22-2016]