THE GAME OF BRIDGE

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 78, 29 September 1934, Page 19

THE GAME OF BRIDGE

In the course of a duplicate match recently played between teams from Croekford's and the Albany Club's, a I hand which evoked much interest was one in which "psychic" bids were, employed with varying success at three of the .four tables-playing, Only one table- adopting straightforward methods of bidding. The hand was as' follows:^- ' 4k x.x.x. •" ' fp None. 4> 10.x.x.x. ■ + Q.J.X.X.X.X. 4 Q.10.X.X. I K^tb 4V A.K.J.x.x.x. 9 Q.x. S V. V A.X.X.X.X. 4> A.K. J.x.x. £ S Q. 4k None. 4> x.x.x. Jf, 10.9.8.x. The bidding: East-West vulnerable. Tablo No. 1:— ■..-..■■ West. North. ■ ■ East South. ■ 1 + No bid 24 ■ 2N.T. i No bid 5f .double,. 5 No bid . C 4 . Nobtd. No bid double Result—l 2 tricks to East-West. Table No. 2:— ~> ..- • l^ .. -Nobid 2^. 'No bid 34 No bid 5f double. G 4 No bid No bid No bid .Besult—l2 tricks to East-West. Tabl9 No. 3:— ' . West. ' North. East ' South. 1 No bid 2 4k No bid 3 4 'Nobid 4 4» x? bid 5 Jft ' . No bid T ♦ . >'<>bid No bid No bid ' ' Result—l 3 tricks, to East-West. Table No. 4:— 1 + No bid ' - ♦ Xa oid 3 4> No'bid 3 9 No bid 64k Nobici 7 ♦ ' No bid No bid •. No bid , . | Result —12 tricks to East-West—one trick down on contract. At tables 1, 2,, and 4,. South .led a heart, a second lead on the bidding, as, holding six of. the suit i himself, there was just a chance that: his partner might be void in that", suit,'and he was lucky enough to find this to be the case. This lead, of course, defeated the grand.slam called at table 4, which was extremely hard luck, as East-West actually held all the honourtricks in the pack, except a half-trick in clubs. At table 1, Souths daring "psychic" of 2 no-trumps was calmly] ignored by East-West, who were not to be bluffed, but proceeded to call the small slam in spades in spito of Souths . call. over both the suits bid by his opponents. West, of course, instantly detected the "psychic" and realised its object, but having received definite information from his partner, was not at all worried by. the 2 notruuip bid. At table 2, West brushed Souths inhibitory double aside and bid the small I slam in spades. South, by doubling the heart bid, hoped to bluff East-West out of bidding a slam, but the ruse was of no avail. . .

At table 4, where there were no opposing bids, the bidding proceeded normally to the grand slam, which was defeated by unequal distribution.

At table 3, a brilliant "psychic" was employed, but in this case, not by the opponents. East was responsible for this bid. He did not want to call his second suit of hearts, which ho wished to conceal, at any rate for the moment, so he called 4 .clubs, knowing the bidding could not die. After his partner's

Weekly Chat on Contract

Specially Written for "The Post" by "Approach Bid"

A "PSYCHIC" AND ITS RESULTS

response of 5 clubs, East bid 7 t spades. South, as leader, was completely, misled by this camouflage.-Hearing clubs . bid by East and. supported by West, and holdiiig four clubs himself,"be saw a possibility of-his partner. bcing'Void . in that suit. Ho led a small club, and East then had a "lay down" grand slam. .'lt will.be noticed that'at .no'ne'of the tables was the four-five nortrump convention used, presumably because its use was barrod by'the. Portland "Club-as a card-showing convention .'(though.'no ■' mention of this is made in. the record of the match). . ' " A point of interest in this connection is that although the 4-5 no-trump'con-vention, is considered illegal, the veryplayers who so strongly condemn'its use will, without the slightest hesitation, mako impossible bids with the sole object of misleading and confusing-their . opponents. The-4-5 no-trump convention has at least the merit of giving honest information to the whole table, which is certainly, not the case f with a "psychic" bidder. . It may be''said that the "psychic" bidder- runs the risk of a penalty double,..but,as the "psychic" is usually niade by a non-vulner-able player,' whose partner lias already passed, and who has an escape-suit in the event of a double, he is not" taking a very expensive;' risk, especially if his opponents are vulnerable and 'have shown signs of slam bidding. . . ;; A "PSYCHIC" DOUBLE. An onlooker; watching the bidding of the following ■ hand, in which a small slani in. diamonds had been icaciied by vulnerable partners, was :amazed'-.' ■to hear' an absolutely trickless : opponent doublo the bid. A rodoubje fpllpwecl, and the hand was-played,at that,contract, with the result.that a grand slam was made. At the end of tlit hand, the onlooker asked the doubler: "Why on earth did. you double without the vestige of a .trick in .your; hand, J", The doubler's reply was: "My partner had passed a 1-diamoud . bid, I'had absolutely nothing in my hand, the opponents had already called a small slam, which I was pretty sure they vtould advance to-a grand slam, so I doubled, hoping to stop the1 bidding at the small slam. I was quite prepared■ for a redouble, which was much cheaper for us than a grand slam." Quite true, the doubler made a big save in points. For the grand slam the score would have been 140+2250+500=2890 points, whereas on the redouble the score was 480+400+750+500=2130,-a difference of 760 points. West's double was a very clever bluff, as North \c6uld. still call the grand slani if he wished, and in that case West would have lost nothing by his double of: the small -slam. North, however, would not risk'the grand slam after West's'double.; • • North dealt'the hand,- both1- rside» being vulnerable. \ ; ;' ■. ' ■ ♦:"*.«;■ ':■■■;■■■. V K vQ-e- • •' . ■ ■ ' , " Q.10.0,b\5.3. - ' . *a.s., , '_. ' ■; '.. m 10.7.4.3. ~ 9.8.5. - »♦.«- •' I- i\ ♦ s' 7- ■ 4^10.3.1.3.2. : Soulh I jfr-3.6.' 4k.K.7.<. V A.J.2. '.•■', , . 4> A.X.-1. . . ... ■ *K.Q.9.t . The bidding:— . '.' ; ' ' North, East. South. Witt. 14 No bid 3d|k No.birf 3 N.T. No bid 4 N.T, ' No bid 5 N.T. No bid 6 + ' double No bid No bid ledoubie RoUt No bid A'obid