It’s surprising how many bridge players seem to think they’ll never be able to execute a squeeze. They talk as though squeezes are the preserve of experts – a view no doubt reinforced by all those technical terms like ‘rectifying the count’ and ‘isolating the menace’. But there are plenty of books to guide people through simple squeezes, putting them within anyone’s grasp. And in any case, even beginners sometimes manage to catch their opponents in a vice simply by cashing all their winners. One of my favourite examples comes from a friend who’s a professional, and was partnering an inexperienced client (South):West led the ♦️3 to East’s ♦️K and South’s ♦️A. When trumps split 4-1, South could count only 11 tricks – the ♠️K was stranded. However, she cashed her winners, coming down to ♠️Q♦️109 opposite ♠️K3♦️5. Little did she know that a ‘stepping-stone’ squeeze was about to take place. One defender had to keep two diamonds or she could simply concede a diamond; the other had to keep two spades or she could overtake the ♠️Q with dummy’s ♠️K and cash the ♠️3. On cashing the ♠️Q and exiting with the ♦️10, if the opponent with honour-doubleton diamond won, their honour would swallow partner’s singleton honour; if the opponent with one diamond won, he or she would have to play a spade to dummy’s ♠️K. What actually happened was that West came down to ♦️Q7 and East to ♠️J ♦️J. On the play of the ♦️10 West won with the ♦️Q, felling East’s ♦️J, and had to play a diamond to South’s ♦️9 – slam made!