THE BRIDGE TABLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20058, 22 September 1928, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE BRIDGE TABLE.

ENTRY INTO DUMMY. BY MAJOR TENACB. Of all tho hands which are lost that might have been won, a good majority, I should say, aro lost owing to the failure of the declarer to take proper advantage of the entry cards in dummy. Time and again 1 have seen winning cards, which should have been kept to open a long suit or take a finesse, wasted on merely winning a trick. This is the sort of thing that happens: Declarer, left in a no-trumper, finds the following cards in his own band and dummy. I i

v —lU I A' leads the jack of hearts, and Z, realising it must be from king, jack, ten, and nover bothering whether or not he may need the entry card iater, claps on the queen and wins the trick. Then he notices the velvet couch on which he will lie if only he can make all the clubs. lie puts the lead into his own hand, plays the ten, and passes it np in dummy. It wins. Now for the finesse of the jack, and the ace in the third round will, in all probability, drop the king. But, alas! B has the king twice guarded, and has waited for the second round in the hope that it will exhaust Z's clubs. He plays his king on the jack, and returns his partner's heart, and, although Z can make his ace, and, perhaps, a contract of " one," lie cannot make those three clubs in dummy, which would give him game. Planning the Campaign, Here it is at the first trick —the most critical point in the play—that the mistake is made. If only the declarer would pause before playing to the first lead, take stock of the situation, and plan his campaign, such mistakes should not- be common. Ho is entitled to at least half a minute's thought; and in that time ho should be able to decide how often he can enter dummy, and what he should do when he enters it; whether establish a suit, or bring it in, or finesse a card in his own hand. The opponents will also be busy during that half-minute in planning their defence, so that no one should object to the delay. Occasionally the opportunity occurs to make another entry in dummy in the middle of a game. Here is a case in point:

If Z drops bis king of clubs on B's ace, the queen in dummy will enable him to get at the hearts. He cannot, of course, know that the last two are divided against him; but since such a division offers him the best prospect, be had better assume it. The Business Double. I frequently receive letters giving a diagram of lour hands, and asking: " Should I have doubled or sliould I have bid up the suit?" This business double is one of the most difficult problems at auction. If the bid is "two" of a major suit, the deciding tricks may well depend on the lie of the cards; and a double, announcing where adverse strength is held, may tell the declarer which way to finesse or enable him to place the lead with some degree of certainty. If, on the other hand, the bidding is high, there is a chance of freak hands about, and against freak hands no double is certain. There is always the possibility, too, of driving the opponents, into a suit you cannot defend, and thus helping them to game. It is held that the best time to double is when you are one game down in the rubber; for the odds are then against your winning the rubber, and a successful double ensures you against heavy loss. To some extent this is true, but you should not allow the single fact that you are one game down to decide the matter. It may be the second game of the rubber for you; but, if they win it, it is the deciding game for your opponents, the double makes their task easier. All this looks as though I were tending to the conclusion that the business double does not pay. I would not go so far as to argue that; but my own practice is not to double unless I see" the prospect of 300 in penalties. A Lesson in Bidding. A correspondent has sent me a deal which he thinks is almost good enough for 'competition. It is as follows: S—A H-K x r>-A 10 9 X x x C—9 x x x S—lo x y S—Q 9 x lI—Q Jx x x a b H _ A 1Q 9 D_Qx" Z D -~ KJ * C—x L_ C ~ A QJ s S—K J x x x x x ll—x D—x C—K 10 x x Score Y-Z one game, love all in the second game. Bidding: Z, one spade; A, i two hearts; Y, two spades; three hearts; Z and A, no bid; Y, doublo. What should 13 say ? The problem does not present a great deal of diflicuity. B should leave the double in, as it-" suits his hand down to the ground. But it is not only its simplicity that makes the problem unsuitable for a competition; a greater draw back is the wildness of the previous bidding. Z lias not the two quick tricks necessary for an initial bid and his length of spades docs not compensate for the deficiency. A should pass the first round. Y might venture one no-trump, and B should pass. Z should take out to two spades, and A could then show his hearts without deceiving his partner. Y should pass, having already declared his full .strength by the initial bid of no-trumps, and "l> has no reason to interfere. If thero is a problem in the deal I think it is the one now presented to Z. Should he pass or bid up T At the score I should pass. If A fulfils his contract, Z has a three-to-one chance of winning the rubber. If A goes game, Z will still have an even chance of winning tho rubber, and if A fails in his contract, Z will keep his three-to-one chance and will have penalties above the line as an insurance against any loss that may occur*