THE BRIDGE TABLE

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 60, 12 March 1927, Page 18

THE BRIDGE TABLE

MAJOR TENACE

I have often watched with, amazement the expressions of players at an auction table. Their brows are drawn in a supreme effort of concentration and their faces are lined with worry. It is incredible that they are amusing themselves, playing a game for probably only a nominal stake. The worry does no good, even when it is about something which the player can control; rather, it lowers efficiency. But the tragedy is that in nine cases out of ten the worry is misdirected. It is about some such question as, will the heart finesse come off?- Or, how are the spades divided? —questions which were settled by the deal and which nothing can alter. Two causes, I think, account for this unnecessary worry. The first is the sense of responsibility with which most flayers who wish to improve their game are afflicted. They cannot rid themselves of the notion that if they lose a contract or a game the fault is somehow due to their play. Their conscience is not so acute when they are defending, though heaven knows the defenders, playing under a heavy handicap, have a good deal more to worry about than the declarer; they assume that the cards were against them and attribute their failure to this. The second cause is that they never decide exactly what it is that they have to do, and, in consequence, they try to do too much. Never, at any time during the play do they know whether or not they can get game. They just set out earnestly to make all they can. In the result, they are quite likely to risk contract or game merely for the sake of one or two overtricks which matter not a straw in the final score; and they worry themselves to death about the risk.

The only way to play auction, both for pleasure and for such profit as the stakes will yield, is to try for just what the score indicates to be required, nothing more If you want one odd trick for game, try for that odd trick; when that is safe you can play for more. If the opponents want one, try to prevent them from getting it, first by bidding up your hand for all it is worth, and perhaps a little beyond: second in the play.

This is the procedure: Glance at the score before or during the deal to be sure of the position. Many players I know neglect this until after the bidding has opened. This is not, of course, illegal; and I should always assume that it was done in perfect good faith; nevertheless, I think lt is better etiquette to make no reference to the score once the hands have been picked up. Bid according to the score, and after the first lead and the exposure of dummy, stop, and decide exactly what you can do. Suppose you are left m to make a contract, decide whether you can make it, and if so. by what play if you cannot make contract, decide-how tew under-tricks you must lose, and what play is the least expensive. If contract is sate and there is a chance of game, decide how to play for it. Take no unnecessary risks; and those that must be taken, take boldly and without hesitation. They may come off, they may not; that does not lie with you. All you can do is to play the hand to the best advantage. As for the concentration which so many players show so painfully, if all of it were rightly used they would be past-masters of the game. The trouble is that they try to concentrate on at least four things at once, not realising the contradiction in terms. A great chess player once said that the only way to play that game is to go straight for simplicity. The same is true ot auction. Here is an example of how to simplify play:—

has been left in at love-all to make one spade' and A has led the jack of clubs. Quite obviously the contract is in no danger, for there are eight certain tricks between the two hands, however the cards arc played. But opponents may make the other five—three diamonds, one club, and the king of trumps—thus savin" the game. If, however, A's jack of clubs Mas led from tlio king, jack and others- if Z can catch the king of spades, and if the six unseen diamonds are evenly divided between the opponents, Z can snatch two of these tricks; and he needs two for game. His .first step, then, must be to let the jack of clubs come up to his queen. If B overtakes with the king, well Ihe game is lost, and there is nothing to regret. If the queen holds, he has the choice between finessing the spades mid exhausting the diamonds. The spade finesse, however,

will do later, and i£ he can persuade A to lead tym to him it may not be necessary. Z therefore, opens " the diamonds, and all he has to do is to count the cards oi the Euit as they are played. The chances of game are remote, but Z can do no more than make the most of those chances.

Last week I dealt briefly with the informative _ double of no-trumps. The suit double is rather more complicated. In the nrst place it can be made on bids of "one " i i°i '\ ntl '"tnree>" *'hile the informative double of no-trumps is confined to bids of •one- In the second place, the suit double can be made on a greater variety 01 hands. Generally speaking, the double pt a salt indicates weakness in that suit but strength in the others. For instance, Wltl? I sue!l a holding of this, a player could double a bid of "one heart"; spades X 6 10, x; hearts, x, x; diamonds, A, Q, x; clubs A, J, x, x This double is more prontably used against a minor suit In these circumstances, the unbidden as well as the bidden minor suit may be weak in the doubling hand, provided that both majors are strong. In no circumstances £e SleakWll be d°Ubled " both "^

Of course, greater strength Ie required to double bids of "two" or "three" than is required for bids of "one." Likewise, too, second-m-hand does, not require such a cast iron holding to double a dealer who has bid initially as fourth-in-hand would require The initial bid is usually something of a gamble and second-in-hand is sittmg over the bidder. Fourth-in-hand, however has to face the possibility of being led through from dummy and finessed