An endplay (also ''throw-in''), in
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
and similar games, is a tactical play where a defender is put on lead at a strategic moment, and then has to make a play that loses one or more tricks. Most commonly the losing play either constitutes a
free finesse, or else it gives declarer a
ruff and discard
In trick-taking games, to ruff means to play a trump (cards), trump card to a trick (other than when trumps were led). According to the rules of most games, a player must have no cards left in the suit led in order to ruff. Since the other players ...
. In a case where declarer has no
entries to dummy (or to his own hand), the defender may also be endplayed into leading a suit which can be won in that hand.
Example
For example, South is declarer in 6 and West leads the diamond king. If the adverse spades are divided 2-1, there are 12 certain tricks (six spade tricks, two hearts, one diamond and three clubs) and the possibility of a 13th by correctly guessing the two-way finesse (or dropping the queen) in hearts. But if the spades are 3-0, declarer will need an endplay to avoid the heart guess.
He should start by winning the diamond ace and ruffing a diamond in dummy, then cash the spade ace and spade king. If this reveals a 3-0 trump split, he now ruffs another diamond in dummy. If this is not overruffed, the contract is now assured.
Declarer's now plays the king, ace, and queen of clubs, discarding a heart from dummy to reach the end position shown below:
Declarer exits with a spade, and whoever wins is endplayed. If the defender leads a heart, North-South must make three heart tricks; if a club or diamond, declarer will ruff in one hand and discard a heart from the other, making an extra trump trick. Or if the defender has fewer than three clubs and chooses to ruff before the above position is reached, he is likewise endplayed, having to lead a heart or a diamond.
Combining Endplay and Squeeze
A
strip squeeze
A strip squeeze is a declarer technique at contract bridge combining elements of squeeze and endplay
An endplay (also ''throw-in''), in bridge and similar games, is a tactical play where a defender is put on lead at a strategic moment, and then h ...
is a particular kind of
squeeze that is based on endplaying the squeezed defender.
References
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{{WPCBIndex
Contract bridge card play