CONTRACT BRIDGE

Southland Times, Issue 22993, 12 September 1936, Page 23 (Supplement)

CONTRACT BRIDGE

A Hand To Bid And Play (F.H.J.) South is dealer and East-West remain silent throughout. The suggested bidding and play are given at the conclusion of this article.

No Trumps. Most players in Southland are familiar with the strict requirements of the opening bid of one no trump. You must hold (1) 4-3-3-3 distribution and (2) 4 Honour- tricks in three suits (31 if the hand contains eight honour cards). These requirements are the same, vulnerable or not-vulnerable, or whether first, second, third or fourth in hand. Lacking quite the above strength, do not bid a weak no-trumper, but use the artificial one-club or one-diamond bid. The hand may be as strong as 5 Honour tricks. An opening Two No-trump is a terrifically powerful hand, 4-3-3-3 distribution, 5| to 61 honour tricks divided among all four suits, and no suit must be weaker than Kxx or QlOx. The Response. It is the response to the opening Notrumper that causes the greatest worry. You are the responder. Your first consideration is whether your hand is: (a) balanced or (b) unbalanced (i.e. containing a singleton). With a balance hand prefer to raise in No-trumps; With an unbalanced hand prefer to call a suit. As for honour strength, Culbertson has this worked out to a fine point, and I would prefer to advise you to use the trick-and-a-sit formula. With a Balanced Hand. (1) Bid 2 N.T. with a trick-and-a-bit. (2) Bid 3 N.T. with two tricks-and-a-bit. (3) Bid two of a suit with, a five-card biddable suit, but only 1 to 1 honour trick (a discouraging bid. fairly weak). With an Unbalanced Hand. (1) Make a forcing bid in a major suit with 2 Honour tricks. (2) Make a forcing bid in a minor suit with 24 Honour tricks. (3) Jump straight to game with a six-card major suit and a trick-and-a bit. Exercises in responses to a bid of One No-trump. Holding the following hands, what do you bid? 1. S. Q, 8,6, 5,3; H. A, 7,2; D. 9,5, 4; C. 8, 3. 2. S. 6,4, 2; H. K, 8,5, 3; D. A, 7,6; C. 8,5, 2. 3. S. A, Q, 6,4, 3; H. 7,5; D. 8,6, 4; C. 7 5 2. 4. S.’q. J, 3; H. Q, 7,5, 2; D. 6,3, 2; C. Q, 8, 7. 5. S. Q, 7: H. K, Q, J; D. K. 8,4, 3; C. 7,5, 4,2. 6. S. Q, 7; H. K, Q, 6,5, 3; D. 10, 3,2; C. K, 8, 4. 7. S. K, 5; H. 10, 3,2; D. K, Q, 8, G, 4, 2; C. 9, 6. 8. S. A, Q, 6,4, 3; H. 5,4; D. K, 6,3; C. 8,5, 3. 9. S. K, Q, 7,6, 5,3; H. 7; D. Q, 6,4, 2; C. 6. 5. 10: S. K. 9,7, 5,4; H. 8,6, 2; D. 7,5; C. 10, 5, 3. 11. S. A, K, 7,6, 5,2; H. 7,5, 4; D. 4,3, 2’ C. 5 ’l2’ S. K, 10, 9,8, 5; H. A, K, 6; D. 7; C. J, 7,6, 2. 13. S. Q, 10, 8,6, 2; H. 9,5, 3; D. 8,7; C. J, 6, 4. Answers: 1. 2 N.T.—too strong a hand for the weak response of 2S. Change the Heart Ace to a King and 2S would be the correct call. 2.2 N.T. 3. 2 N.T. Not strong enough for 3S, and too strong for 2S. 4. 2 N.T. (only 1 Honour trick, but 4 Honour cards). 5-8. 3 N.T. in each case. 9. Four Spades. 10. 2 Spades. With an extra K or Q in the hand the bid would be the same. 11-12. 3 Spades (forcing to game). 13. Pass. A Hand to Bid and Play (Solution). The bidding: South North. 1H 3H 4CI 4D2 453 4NT4 5C5 5H6 557 SNTB 7H9 Pass. 1 Hearts, having been agreed on, this is an asking bid. 2 Response shows diamond Ace and second-round club control. 3 Second asking bid, for spade control. 4 Shows second-round spade control. 5 A repeated asking bid, for thirdround club control. G Cannot confirm third-round club control; signs off. 7 Repeated asking bid for third-round spade control. 8 Confinns third-round control (doubleton King). 9 This bid is distinctly gambling. South knows he will have to guess the club finesse, but, being that type of player, decides to risk it. A bid of six would be correct. The play should be so managed as to make the guess concerning the club Queen a 5 to 2 chance in favour of the declarer. On an opening spade lead by West dummy’s King should be played, followed by the Ace of diamonds and a diamond ruff. Two rounds of trumps ending in the dummy account for the adverse trumps. A third diamond must be ruffed and then the spade Ace led and the small spade ruffed in dummy. On this trick it must be noted that East fails to follow suit, marking him for only two spades. The last diamond is led and ruffed, and when both East and West follow suit their hands can be perfectly “counted out.” East has shown that he held exactly two spades, two hearts, and four diamonds. He must, therefore, have started with five clubs, which leaves only two for West. The percentage in playing East for the club Queen, rather than West, is enormous, reducing the so-called guess to an odds-on chance.