THE BRIDGE TABLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20490, 15 February 1930, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE BRIDGE TABLE.

BIDDING IN CONTRACT.;

BT MAJOR TENACE.

Once the principle is established that initial bids of more than one are made primarily lo call forth a bid from a weak partner who could not make a bid at all without some such encouragement, there is very little more to bo said about tho actual strength required for such bids. The initial, bid of two, wo saw, is made updn seven probable tricks, so that partner can raiso if ho holds just the normal expectancy for a bid'of.one —three probablo tricks. If ho holds' but one probable trick the contract is safe,* and if he has two probable tricks tho combined hands will perhaps make one trick more than tho contract.

But partner should not raise with only two probable tricks unless there is an intervening bid. The reason is obvious. Unless game or slam can bo won, it is more profitable to keep the contract low and scoro bonus for overtricks than to bid up lo tho full capacity of tho combined hands. For instance, if two partners undertako a contract of two in a major suit and win nine tricks, they score sixty below the line and fifty above as their bonus for tho overtrick. But if they bid three odd and just fulfil their contract they scoro ninety below the lino and nothing above. Initial Bid of Three, An initial bid of three should bo made on eight probable tricks, so that partner can raise to the gamo contract if he holds only two probable tricks. A player who makes an initial bid as high as this, however, should provide against .finding his partner with an ill-fitting hand. The very requirement for tho bid is in itself a provision of a sort, for hands worth eight probable tricks all concentrated in one suit are rarely met. If partner knows that at least two of the probablo tricks shown by an initial bid of three are in a suit other than the suit bid, he will have less hesitation in taking out when he holds strength, but cannot support the suit bid, than lie would have if ho thought tho strength of the hand was concentrated in one suit. Here are some typical hands for an initial bid of three:— (1). Spades—A, Q. 10, 3; hearts—A, K, Q, 5, 4, 2; diamonds—7.; clubs—6,4. (2) Spades—lv, Q, J, 8, 6, 5, 3, 2; hearts—lo, 2; diamonds —A Q; clubs—2. (3). Spades —A, Iv, Q, J, 10; hearts—A, Q, 7; diamonds —K, J, 10, 4; clubs—s.

Winners and Losers. ! The regular mathematical progress that marks the requirements for initial bids of j one, two, and three must be broken when ! we come to initial bids of four. Auction players know that the difference between I three odd tricks and four odd tricks is j more than merely one trick. That is why i in bidding up to three odd tricks they count their winners, but before bidding four take careful stock of their losers. Two hands in combination may be worth ten tricks or even more, but may be helpless to prevent the opponents from scoring four tricks; and since there are only thirteen tricks in each deal, if the opponents win four tricks tho two players cannot make more than the nine which are left. To bid four odd initially, a player should count nine probable tricks in his hand, and ho should not count moro than three " quick " losers. Consider this hand: —Spades—A, K, Q, 7, 5, 3, 2: hearts—none; diamonds —A, K; clubs — 10, 7, 4, 2. It contains nine almost certain winners with spades as trumps, but j there are four " quick " losers in clubs. Now consider this band:—Spades—7; hearts-K, Q, J, 10, 7, 4, 3, 2; diamondsA, K, 2; clubs—lo. The hand is worth nine tricks with hearts as trumps, but it contains only three " quick " losers—one in spades, one in hearts, and one in clubs. The two or diamonds / is not a "quick loser, for the ace and tho king protect it and give the player a chance to dispose of it by a ruff, discard, or in some other way. A player should bid four initially on tho second hand, but should content himself with threo on the first. Higher initial bids can be made only on freak hands, and players may be left lo judge for themselves when their strength warrants them in bidding five or more without hearing from their partners. Unfortunately they will seldom have the opportunity to exercise their judgment on these problems. Bidding Two Suits.

are two otlicr matters connected with the initial bid which aro supposed to require special treatment. Ono is the bidding of two-suiters and the other is the so-called invitation to slam. The early contract players objected to tho straightforward auction method of showing a hand containing two strong suits. lliey heU that if a player bid one of tho suit_ ot higher value on tho first round, he might bo overcalled preemptively by tho opponents or " jumped " by partner and prevented altogether from showing his second suit. Hence the _ wonderful and quite unworkable conventions of bidding two diamonds to show a major two-suiter and two clubs to show a minor two-suiter. This has long since been dropped, and we aro back at? the simple auction practice. Some authorities, however, think that a two-suiter should not prevent the holder from bidding more than ono initially it his strength warrants it. But to my mind, the very fact that a player has two biddable suits is in itself a _ declaration of great strength. Any misunderstanding created by tho first-round bid of one is removed when the second suit is shown on the second round, and tho two bids taken together give a very accurate picture of the hand. But if a player tries to convey tho full strength of a two-suit hand on tho first round ho may never be able to depict tho type of hand ho holds by bidding the second suit. \ Tho so-called slam invitation is the elaborate ace-showing system invented bv Mr. E. V. Shepard. According to this, the initial bid of two declares that the player can prevent any loss in tho suit bid, and has slam possibilities in the other suits. I havo tried the system and have found it more ingenious than practicable. It works out beautifully on paper, but in practice at the card table it is full of pitfalls.