A BRIDGE CLINIC

Southland Times, Issue 25312, 15 June 1935, Page 13

A BRIDGE CLINIC

AUCTION AND CONTRACT ON THE DEFENCE (By Horatius.) When you are put on the defensive by the cards do not become needlessly reckless, and remember that losses incurred to save rubber cannot be counted as gains until the rubber is finished. The psychic bid is often used, but let it be said it is rarely wise to indulge in psychics if you are vulnerable, because the punishment might be severe. No psychic bid should be made unless your partner has passed, and unless you are sure that your partner is not one of those players who will rush blindly forward as soon as you have given an indication of strength. The aim of a psychic bid is to mislead the opponents, and to interfere with their bidding. A No-Trump psychic. bid made before anyone else has bid is very dangerous because if all the strength is behind you, the opening lead may bring on disaster. A suit bid is better because it will be less likely to go wrong. On the other hand a No-Thump bid after an opponent’s opening bid may not be so serious and it will indicate a stopper in your hand. Here is a case where a No-Trump psychic made when vulnerable led to a heavy penalty.

West and North passed. East bid “One No-Trumps,” was left with the contract, and made only one trick—the Queen of Spades. He was thus six tricks down, vulnerable—a penalty of 1,350 points under the old scoring. Today the loss would be 600, so that East could be more careful. Here he expected to be doubled, if the . enemy sought to punish him, and then to escape into Hearts. He pleaded that if he had bid Hearts, South would have bid Two Hearts and so reached a small slam in Diamonds or a Grand Slam. But the Grand Slam can be made only if the defence is faulty. If East opens with One Heart, and South’ goes two Hearts, the bidding by North and South might go. S. N. 2H 2NT 4D 5D 6D ? North in view of his undisclosed Ace of Spades and Queen of Clubs, coupled with the knowledge that South holds at least 4—4 J Honour tricks, solid Diamonds and strong honours in Clubs, may go to Seven, which can be set in Spades. Admittedly East’s subterfuge might have worked, but third-hand bluff NoTrump bids are so common and they are immediately suspected. True this was a vulnerable bid, and therefore more likely to deceive. The danger was that South might hold sufficient strength to see through the bluff, and then the very element of vulnerability would make it possible for him to pass and so decline to give East an opportunity to escape... Which is what happened. In my opinion East should pass, or, if he felt that he must “go pyschic,” make a quiet bid of One Heart. This bid, vulnerable would also imply a hand containing important quick-trick strength, and is rather more likely to be believed than an obviously spurious No-Trumps.

Mathematically East’s bid was a success, but with qualifications. If his opponents had called and made their Small Slam in. Diamonds. they would have scored, including their four honours, 1,450 points. East can therefore claim to have saved 100 points by his “psychic." Against this gain, which in a duplicate match would have been absolute if the Slam was made in the other room, must be set the fact that East and West have only a 50-50 chance of winning the rubber. To paraphrase an ancient Greek saying, call no sacrifice bid a success till the rubber is over.

South’s pass was undoubtedly cox-rect. He is certain of a big penalty, for he can clearly read East’s bid as bluff. With a losing Club and an unsatisfactory Spade suit, a Slam is far from certain at this stage. It would be folly for South to allow East to wriggle out of the trap he has made for himself. An opening bid of Three Hearts by East would be correct if he was playing the Two-Club system, for TwoClubbers use a major suit, opening Three purely as a shut-out. In the ap-proach-Forcing system such a bid is semi-shut-out, semi-strength-showing. If he was playing this System East should, have at least an outside Ace or King-Queen to justify his opening with Three Hearts. Suppose he did bid Three Hearts, how would the bidding go?

South’s Three No-Trump is the equivalent of a giant informative double. It is a better bid than Four Hearts, because it keeps the bidding lower. If West bids, as he should, North, who has a strong hand vis-a-vis his partner’s huge strength-showing bid, will overcall. South can then feel sure his partner has high cards in Spades and Clubs to justify his Diamond bid. The small Slam is thus reached. I do not think the Grand Slam can or should be bid. It is curious to note that if West does not bid, it is much more difficult' for the Slam to be reached for North’s responses would be purely forced. The Slam might be bid in this way:

On this bidding the Slam is a bit of a gamble, since South cannot be sure what North’s forced bid of Spades means. He can only hope it shows a high card. If West does not bid, it is quite likely that, North and South will play the hand in -Five Diamonds.

Here South leads to the Ace of Diamonds and North takes, put the Heart, after which he puts East in with a Diamond. East must lead Spades to North’s tenace and a second Spade lead squeezes West.

w. N. E. S. No No 3H 3NT 4H 5D No 6D No No No

w. N. E. S. No No 3H 3NT No 4D No 4H No 4S No 6D