CONTRACT BRIDGE

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 226, 23 September 1932, Page 6

CONTRACT BRIDGE

INSURING A FAVOURABLE

BREAK.

(By ELY CULBERTSON.)

Once the bidding i& ended the declarer is faced with jlfhe proposition of making his contract. In making that contract, th© expert player leaves just as little to chance as possible. For instancej it is foolish to assume that if six cards are outstanding in a suit they will be divided 3-3. That is one of the possible distributions, it is true, but there are others that merit consideration as well, and consideration of these other possibilities and probabilities will suggest to a good player tlie taking of steps to combat an adverse break of the cards. It is a reasonably safe principle when you have the means of coping with the worst to assume that the worst is in store for you, providing that by this assumption you have not injured your chances of making game if conditions are more favourable. North-South vulnerable. South, Dealer.

The Bidding. (Figures after bide in table refer to numbered explanatory paragraphs.)

South West North East -IV 2+(1) 2 V(2) Pass 4 V (3) Pass Pass Pass

I.—West, not vulnerable, makes tliis bid upon the theory of stopping a possible no trump game bid by Noi+h, which, if made, could probably be defeated with a Club lead. 2.—North has a close choice between bidding two Diamonds and supporting the Hearts. However, with adequate support for the Heart suit there would be no point in bidding Diamonds, whidv South might construe as a denial of assistance for the Hearts- The hand has four playing tricks in support of the Heart bid. 3. —South has one full honour trick above the requirements for an opening bid. The additional length and honour strength in trumps also furnishes a rebid. In the play South was disappointed when the dummy was laid on the table and it was disclosed that there were three losing Clubs in eaoh hand. He had hoped, because lie held three Clubs himself and opponent had bid that suit, that his partner might not have more than two. West took three rounds of Clubs, then shifted to the Spade. Here was the time for South to seriously consider the situation. If the Diamond suit breaks, North's Diamonds will afford discards- for South's two losing Spades. In fact, as there are live Diamonds in the dummy, one of them ie not needed in order to assure game. The "normal" break would be to assume that West had three Diamonds and that East also lied three. If this were 60, then all that is necessary is to draw three rounds of trumps and discard the losing Spades on the established Diamonds. However, South need not leave this matter to luck. He can and should first take two rounds of Hearts to test out the Heart situation, and if he finds; that the Hearts are divided 3-2 in the adverse hands, then he can take out an insurance policy against possible loss by testing out the Diamond situation.

The way Soutii successfully' played this hand was as above outlined, but instead of taking tie third round of trumps lie now led two rounds of Diamonds, winning the second round in the dummy hand. Both opponents followed on both leads of Diamonds, but South assumed that he did not know whether both would follow on the third lead, and to a.««ure himself against any danger of the adverse break, he led a small Diamond from the dummy and trumped it with an honour. True cnotiiyh, West had had but two Diamonds, but South was out of the woods. A .small trump now put dummy in t>he lead and South discarded his two losing Spades oil the now established Diamonds.

Careless play would have resulted in the defeat of the contract by one trick, as the only entry for the Diamond suit was in the trumps, assuming an unfavourable break in that euit. It is, of course, apparent that with five Diamonds in either East's or West's hand the contract could not possibly be made, regardless of. how South played. He had done all that could be expected of him when he used every precaution t6 make his contract safe.