A BRIDGE CLINIC

Southland Times, Issue 21832, 8 October 1932, Page 12

A BRIDGE CLINIC

(By

“Horatius.”

CONTRACT

A correspondent has sent me a hand Ifrom a Contract game played recently in Invercargill, and he comments ; “The bidding was bad, of course:”

The bidding given with this hand is incomplete. It says that South was dealer and opened with Two Spades to which North replied with Two NoTrumps, but the auction finished with a bid of Six (I presume in Spades) doubled and redoubled, and, as my informant observes, this was “asking for it” The it in this instance, according to the correspondent was 6000 for eight tricks down, so that- N—S were vulnerable. We are informed that West led the Ace of Clubs. But first the bidding. It must be admitted that freak distributions will defeat . the soundest of calling, but with the Ap-proach-Forcing System in use there should be no danger of a slam bid here. The correct bidding is:

After the two responses in No Trumps, South must realize that North has a weak hand. He rebids his Spades to show that he does not need much help in that suit from North, and then he shows his second biddable suit, which North prefers. East’s double shows where the opposing strength is and South should leave the bid there. If he is nervous he will go back to Spades and be doubled by West, but he will not redouble. The bidding and his own cards should warn him of the possibility of freaks about. Against a Four contract West would not have led the Ace of Clubs. If he did it would be a piece of bad luck for South. Assuming that West opened in this way, South would be forced on the second lead and would try the Queen of Spades. If West covers North will trump and East's over-trump discloses the position. West has seven Spades and this means that East has a long suit of Hearts. When East leads Diamonds as a return, South's King making, the Declarant knows West has no Diamonds and no Trumps!'Again he leads the Spades, forcing East, whose only answer is the Diamonds, which is followed by another Spade, taking East’s third trump. East’s third Diamond lead is taken by South with the 10 of Hearts. Another Spade must be lost, to allow South to make two in that suit as well as the A—K of trumps. This means that South is down two, a loss of 600. At Spades he cannot fare well because he will lose eight tricks. Properly applied the Culbertson System will guard against these furious rushes to slam bid, but any partnership failing to reach a game bid on South’s holding will never do well at Contract. Properly applied! That is important. The dear Colonel Buller who goes red in the face whenever Culbertson’s system is mentioned cites this hand as proof of the system’s weakness:—

This was from the North v. South match in England, in which South (led by Buller) won over a team led by Kempson and playing '“Culbertson with 'variations!” Kempson was sitting South and the bidding was (N-S vulnerable):

In the other room Captain Mundy was sitting South and Major Buckley North. The bidding was:

Now in the first room South’s correct answer to North was Three Hearts, a slam invitation and forcing. He holds 2 Honour Tricks and good distribution. He should show his biddable suit, especially as his card distribution makes it clear that in Spades game is probable. If this boldness is considered too much, the double of Two Hearts by South should tell North there is a big holding there. Of course, three Hearts discloses the Ace in South’s hand. Now, North will go to Four Diamonds and South’s six playing tricks, in view of North’s bidding of two suits will send him to Five Spades, making his slam invitation quite clear. North’s strength and his just estimate of South’s bidding should have moved liixn to consider . Grand Slam, but certainly the Little Slam was his call. The grand slam was a fair call in theory, because South’s Three Hearts should have indicated 3 or 4 Honour Tricks but it should not be taken until the risks are very small. Actually, of course, the grand slam is r ade because West holds the King of

Diamonds and the Spades are evenly divided.

The British team leapt to the slam and it happened to be there. The even distribution of the Spades was really the deciding factor. Had North been as cautious as Kempson’s partner the bid instead of Six Diamonds would have been a pass. South stretched his hand (Buller says “Mundy stretched his hand very far”) and he stretched it' further for game! South was over-bidding and it came off, but if Kempson had followed the ApproachForcing system he would have reached Six Diamonds or Six Spades more gradually but more reasonably.

AUCTION

Be watchful of your Informatory Doubles and remember that they show strength in honours. Many people employ the Informatory Double with thought of this aspect of the matter and wonder why the response made is unexpected. Here is a case from actual play.

North dealt and bid One Club. East doubled and after South’s pass West left the double in. North made game. East complained that his partner had passed the double instead of going into No-Trumps, which would have given him the chance to call his Hearts. But West, thinking East had made a double could see the prospect of 400 or 500 in penalties. He held two outside tricks and six trumps, as well as the Queen of Diamonds. Crediting West with some tops in Spades and Clubs, he thought it was clear that North would be punished badly. East on the other hand had made a false call. He had fished about for West’s suit, when the chances of a response in Spades or Hearts was extremely remote. East should have bid his Spades and hoped for the chance to show his Hearts on the next round. His Spade call would probably, have been overcalled by South with Two Diamonds, and then the Heart bid would have led to game for E—W. The Informatory Double is sound when it is made on Three Honour Tricks,, and can take a weak call in a senior suit or has a sound rescue suit. It is important to remember that the call declares strength in honours. There are occasions when it can be made on 2J Honour Tricks, with good distribution, but it is wise to have the rescue biddable suit in order to avoid disaster when partner has a dud hand. If you hold honour strength but have no biddable suit as a rescue and cannot relish a weak answer in a major suit, pass and hope for the best. For instance, if you hold: S: x-x-x-x H: x-x D: A-K-x C: A-x-x-x and the dealer has bid Spades, your double would be extremely dangerous. You hold 3 Honour Tricks, but the major suit answer you are most likely to get is Two Hearts, and you cannot enjoy that, any more than you can bid either of the minor suits if the Heart call is doubled. Your partner may hold: S: x-x H: K-x-x-x-x D: Q-x-x C: x-x-x He will call the Hearts and you may go down four tricks. Your Club rescue will not help. But if you pass, you will take your tricks and hold your opponents short of game. Where the Informatory Double is used on the basis of Three Honour Tricks, the responding partner always prefers a 4-card major to a 4-card minor suit even when the latter is stronger. The 4-card major suit headed by a Jack is preferred to any 5-card minor, but the 6-card minor is preferred to a major 4-card suit of average strength. Of two major suits of equal length prefer the Spades, in spite of strength. If you hold no 4-card suit other than the opponent’s bid, your response is the lowest three-card minor, so that if this does not suit your partner he will be able to propose another suit without increasing the contract. If you hold at least One Honour Trick and a stopper in the adverse suit bid One No-Trump, but if you hold a 4card major suit with an honour it is better to bid this even if you have a stopper, but where you have a 4-card minor suit, prefer the One No-Trump if you have One Honour Trick in the hand.

In all this the plan is to put the emphasis on the major suits, because your partner should have made the double with the expectation of a response in a major suit, possibly no better than 4card in length and not strong. Where the responders call is overcalled by the opponents the doubler must credit his partner with a weak response since he has forced it out of him. If he has a sound call in another suit he may make it, and give the responder the chance to accept that or disclose whether or not his original response was strong or weak. Of course, a double by the original doubler will mean business.

S. W. N. E. 1st Rd. 2S No 2NT No 2nd Rd. 3S No 3NT No 3rd Rd. 4H No No Dbl 4th Rd. No No No . —

S. W. N. E. 1st Rd. No No IS 2H 2nd Rd. 4S No No No

S. W. N E. 1st Rd. 2H No 4D No 2nd Rd. 5D No 6D No 3rd Rd. No No