The Game of Bridge

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 144, 14 December 1940, Page 17

The Game of Bridge

AN UNUSUAL BIDDING SITUATION

By "Approach Bid."

The following, bidding situation was recently submitted to Mrs.' Culbertson by a correspondent. Her reply with regard to"*"the point in question will be found both interesting and helpful to users of the 4-5 no-trump convention who may find themselves in the same position as the inquirer. North opened the bidding with one spade on: £ A.X.x.x., p K.x.s.s., x.s., A.x.x. East passed, and South made a forcing-to-game take-out of three diamonds. North signed off with three no-trumps. South then bid four diamonds and North, forced now to respond to this less-than-game bid, called four no-trumps, feeling that, having already signed off, the four no-trump bid would show that he could neither rebid his own suit, nor support even a rebid of his partner's suit, but wished to play the hand at no-trumps. South, however, took the bid for a conventional- slam bid. North asks for advice on this point, and also, how he should have bid after the four-diamond bid. ' ■ Answer: "In this bidding sequence the four no-trump bid most certainly should not have been interpreted as a conventional slam bid. As usual a process of pure logic should make this matter clear. The opening bidder could not know that his three no-trump bid would be taken out, hence if he had had any slam aspirations whatsoever, he would not have made that bid. Whenever a player makes a call which may well close the auction (such as three no-trumps), four of a major, or five of a minor) any subsequent bid that he may be forced to make should not be interpreted conventionally. Thus, in this particular sequence it should have been completely obvious that since the opener was satisfied to end up at three notrumps, his four no-trump bid was intended as the "cheapest" call available, not as any invitation towards a slam. "This is not to say that the four notrump bid was the best available. It was a very close point whether the opener should have bid four no-trumps or four hearts at the point in question. Anaemic as the heart suit was, perhaps a four-heart bid would have been more descriptive of the hand actually held." Another bidding situation concerning a four no-trump bid, and one which is not clearly understood, is illustrated in the following hand, played in a teams-of-four match:— A 7.6. 9 A.X.6.2. + 8.7.5. Jf, X.10.5.3. £ 3- 2- NSrtE I * 9-8.5.4, V 105-3- S S3 V Q-7-4. ♦ KJ.4.2. . | g 10 .9.6. «£> J. 9.6.2. South. i 7.5.4. 4 A.K.Q.J.10. J. 9.8. A.Q.3. $ A.Q. East dealer. Both sides vulnerable. The bidding: Room 1. East. South. West. North. Pass 2 4|t Pass 3 9 Pass . 3 4|fc Pass 4 N.T. Pass 6 £ Pass Pass Pass Room 2: East. South. West. North. piss 2 4> Pass 3 y £J;tss 3 $ Pass 3 N.T. !'ass 4 4 Pass Pass When the responding hand (after, an opening bid of two in a suit by his partner) holds 2£ honour-tricks and no biddable suit, his response is 4 notrumps. Holding a biddable suit in a hand containing 2£ honour-tricks, he must call his suit first, and on the next round show his possession of 2£ honourtricks by bidding 4 no-trumps. It is essential that his partner should be told the full strength of the hand, in order to estimate the slam possibilities of the partnership hands. A suit take-out after partner's opening bid of two in a suit can be made 01. as little as— 1 4- honour-trick with any biddable suit headed by Ace, King, or Queen Jack, or 1 honour-trick with any fivecard biddable suit headed by Ace, King, or Queen-Jack. If this happens to be the limit of a responding hand's value, there is little prospect of a slam, and in Room 2, North's 3 no-trump response on the second round was distinctly a sign-off, denying values not already shown. South, therefore, gave up any idea of a slam and played the hand at a contract of four spades—making twelve tricks.

In Room 1, South, adding North's 2£

honour-tricks to his own, plus.the biddable heart suit, in which he held three trards to the Jack, bid six spades over partner's 4 no-trump response, . and scored the slam bonus of 750 points. There is no reason why a 4 no-trump bid made by the responding hand (after an opening two-bid in a suit by his partner) should be confused with a 4 no-trump bid when made by the opening two-bidder. It stands to reason that the two-bid must include most of the high-card strength in the pack. The 4 no-trump bid by the responding hand simply shows the honour-trick valuepossibly two King-Queens and another King; it need not necessarily show an Ace.