BRIDGE NOTES

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21258, 1 September 1934, Page 7

BRIDGE NOTES

CONTRACT INFLUENCE AT AUCTION 3P3CfAJ.-V V.'RITTEi TOZ Tfll i'RKSS..' [By WiLLJAV SHACKLE j Though contract bridge js undoubt-' edly becoming popular, there is little question that it is still only played by 4 a small number of enthusiasts when compared with the great number of j bridge players generally. > Because contract is a much more i controversial game than auction, al-1 most all writers on bridge in the press! confine their articles to contract, while | the mail bags of these writers arej filled by contract queries. ! Many so called "cock-and-hen" clubs; have been formed at Home for con-i tract bi-idge, but still the men's clubs j continue in most instances to play ] auction. Domestic and social bridge' is played by at least a million people j whose main interest and desire is to I enjoy their recreation in peace and! qui ♦cness. Yet because of the fact that I contract is the newer game and its ex- I poncnts are louder in its praises there : seems a tendency to think of the two j games in a wrong ratio. This is illus- < trated when we realise that though [ many books have been published re- : cently on contract, no book on auc- ■ tion bridge has been published during : the last two years. Contract bidding, however, has defl- I nitely influenced auction bidding, for: it is now almost generally realised j that principles of the contract game > can in some few instances be applied to auction. Because there is no neces-1 sity to bid to game in order to score : it, the old idea was never to raise one's ' partner unless he had been . overbid. - Contract has taught us the advantage ! of the immediate pre-emptive raise i over partner's initial bid. ; The following extract is from "The \ Times," London, which until recently ; was publishing contract notes, but I which seems to be again reverting to • auction: —"Suppose Z bids one heart: A no bid: Y now bids, if his hand fits, , two or three hearts at once, instead of : waiting to see if one heart is over- ; called by B. The advantage of this j procedure is manifest in many cases and is on the lines of contract. The \ immediate raise instead of the de- j fcrred raise is designed to show the i opener that he has hit upon the right suit, and also to prevent conversation ! on a low level between opponents. "Still more important is the imme-. diate raise when dealer or first bidder! has called one No Trump. Here, with ' no bid by second hand, partner raises at once to two or even three. No | Trumps, or bids three of a suit to ; indicate that his take-out ii- nut from' weakness. The raise of one No Trump . to two is a very important point, and although it is true that it was used by some auction players before the j days of contract, it was not so general as now. "The old idea at auction was that you never put your partner up at once J unless compelled to do so. You waited j for the opponents. But now it is re- ' cognised that when vou have a hand' of all-round strength, or more especially when you have a long minor suit which can be established and a card of entry, it is advisable to raisethe No Trump bid at once to prevent a lead-directing bid by fourth in hand., "TTere is a case in point:-

"Z bids one No Trump: A no bid. ; If Y now leaves the one No Trump, ! B bids two Hearts. Should Z then ' proceed to two No Trumps, A and B | save the game, as A leads a heart. ; But if, after the one No Trump, V | bids at once two No Trumps, B is i unlikely to bid three Hearts. A opens ' with a spade and Z makes bis eonj tract. The point is the prevention of j a lead-directing bid by B.''