AUCTION BRIDGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 33, 8 February 1929, Page 6

AUCTION BRIDGE.

I CONCERNING THE SCORE. (By A. E. MANNING FOSTER.* Have you noticed—of course von have—how tow players keep the score correctly; \t the end of a lon- rubber it is the i-.vvption rather than the rule to find all four plaver> agree to the total. Nine time.-, out. of ten someone lias furgotten to mark an honours score or a bonus ;"..:• a double. Sometimes it is onlv a matter of a f-w points, but those few points mav affect the sum to be paid. When there is a bet upon the rubber an 1 the scores are very <-losc. a slight discrepant may make a lot of difference. The bets r,, „-;;',, the points, and if no money change hands tin. bet ]- off. Practice varies 'in chilis. In -~niplaces the rubber is called a 'wash-out" if the total is less than 50. but in most clubs anvthiiiover 20 win*. Occasionally, however, there arc large variations in the score, and long argument* ensue before the final total is agreed. What often happens is that two of the players are engaged in a post-mortem, and th-v torget to mark the score. Another frequent source ot error is caused bv marking simplhonours as soon as they are notice.!. Thi« is ~„t on the block by the player* who hold then,. TVothers don't mark it up. At the end ~ft!„. ] I:ln ,i it is forgotten. The consequence is that thscores disagree. Then there arc numerous plavers who do not. write down the individual m-oV-after each hand, but merely mark the total i.Ju> or milium At the end of the rubber tliev annum,,, the result, with which those who pursue the «U----tasnioned method of scoring -oklom a-ree and more complications ensue. All these argumentand delays can be avoided by the .-impie proee--of checking the score at the end of each hand It takes only a few seconds to do this, and it is quite worth while.

Some players won't be bothered to keep the .-core at all. They rely upon their partners or opponents This is a* mistake. Everv plaver ought to keep the score for himself, and'to km.w the score without having to ask anvone else at the table. The bidding and the plav'are affected by the .-core. Often a player -av.-: "I did no? realise the state of the score, partner, or T should have called differently." It is exasperating when your partner wants two tricks onlv for"game He has them "sitting.'' But. because he is under the impression that he. needs three tricks. Intakes an unnecessary finesse which fails, and he makes only one trick, when he had a certain two. It is small consolation when he savs: ■\Sorrv. partner. I didn't know the score; I thought we wanted three tricks for game." There is nothing in the laws to prevent anv player asking the score at any point in the plav. At the same time, it is unfair for a plaver to direct attention to the state of the se,„-e with the purpose of putting his partner "wise" on the mnttrr. Nor ought any player, who is keepim the score him-clf. to a-k the -core during the progress of the game when presumably he"ought to know it.

If a rubber is started and not fini-hed. the winners of one game add 121 point- I half the rubber points, to their s C ore. If b,,ih side- have won a game, these points are not added, a- thev cancel. If neither side has won a uanv. i!i». players take the score as it stands. Ret- on unfinished rubbers are "oil"." Disputes sometimes arise as to how many tricks have been made in the play of a hand. This is generally due to the careless stacking of the cards. In tlie section on etiquette appended to the code of law- it istated that while tricks should not be stacked or formed into a "book." they should lie -o arranged that they can be easily counted. And. it may be added, the proper arrangement of the tricks not only doe- away with any question as to the correct number made, but* facilitates ready reference in ca=e of alleged revoke-:. There are three little matters of scoring in which players are apt to go wrong. A plav.-r contracts to make a grand -lam. He fails'bv one trick, but- claims to -core ~>o point* for a little slam. He cannot do this under law -J>. Similarly, a player makes four by card-, but one of his opponents revokes. He takes two tricks from them, thus making -;x by card-. But licannot score for a little shim. Then there is the case where a player bids Three Spade-, which is doubled. He is one down on hi-; contract, but an adversary has revoked. He can take two tricks from the other side, giving him-e!f four by cards, for which he scores 72 points i Four Spades doubled I ; but he cannot -core any bonus above for having made hi? contract or for tit.over tricks.