CONTRACT BRIDGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 116, 19 May 1933, Page 6

CONTRACT BRIDGE.

SIGN-OFF BIDS. (By ELY CULBERTSOtf.) This is the sixth of a series of articles by Mr. Culbertson, dealing with the additions ana refinements made necessary in Contract bidding by the new scoring. In bidding at Contract the assumption is that •every time a player speaks, his partner may infer some added strength, and thus is in tuin encouraged to make another bid himself. It is, of course, true that there are hands such as Spades 0, Hearts 9 8 7 5 4 3, Diamonds 8 2, Clubs 10 8 3 2 where a player is sorely tempted to "rescue" his partner's one no trump with a bid of two Spades. It is quite apparent that the hand is worthless at any bid .except tv\o Spades, where there is hope of establishing thiee low-card winners. However, the trouble ir> that partner has no means of distinguishing between "strength" and "weakness" when bids are made with such worthless hands, and thus the opening hand, whose holding is quite likely even far above an average, is apt to rabid until the partnership hag reached the Contract far beyond its ability to fulfil. Thus, this situation cannot easily be handled, fpr if all takeouts meant weakness, the partnership would lose the benefit of strength inferences on thousands of other hands —a much greater evil. For these reasons it is a fundamental principle of the Culbertson system of bidding that, with a few exceptions, every bid is an encouraging bid and a pass is, as a rule, the only "rescue." The only exceptions occur in such cases where the "rescue" inference is eo clear that no possible misunderstanding can arise between partners. Some of these "rescue" situations arise after a double of partner's suit bid> of one, or after a penalty double of a low Contract by the partner himself. Others occur in a group of bids which are known as sign-off bids. A sign-off bid is a warning to partner that the hand, though previously bid, is below the minimum he has the riprht to expect in honour strength and that a further bid by him is at his own risk. A sign-ofi' bid is recognised by the fact that (1) the responding hand had bid. and then rob id its puit at least twice; and, at the same time (2) (lie sign-off bid is always in the range of three bids. The hand below illustrates the use of the sign-off bid: I

South dealer. Neither side vulnerable. A—lo 4 —A K 7 2 A—A J9 52 —A 9 : N f IW E | I s I <£, —K J 9 8 5 3 V—s 3 ♦ -6 —J 8 5 3 The Bidding. (Figures after bids in tabic refer to numbered explanatory parngraphs.) South West North East Pass Pass 1 Pass 1 A (1) Pass 2 V Pass 2 A (2) Pass 2 NT Paso 3 4k (3) Pass Pass PaG3 I—Strength-showing.l—Strength-showing. 2—Might still be strength-showing. 3 —Definite sign-off.