Light No- Trumpers.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19119, 11 July 1930, Page 8

Light No- Trumpers .

Auction Bridge.

By A. E. Manning Foster. INHERE ARE SOME PLAYERS and writers on bridge who advocate the bidding of very light No Trumpers at any score. They argue like this: “An initial bid of one No Trump seldom does any harm. If the bidder finds his partner with a bad hand and goes down three tricks, it is obvious that his bid has saved the game at the cost of 150 points, which may be worth while. It has, at any rate, prevented the adversaries scoring the game." A bid of No Trumps often frightens off weak opponents from calling. In any case, it makes your adversaries bid up and it frequently enables your partner to speak when he would otherwise have to bo silent. Further, however sketchy the No Trumper, the declarer in play has the advantage of at least one trick over his adversaries and may escape with light loss. Now I admit readily that there is great advantage in taking the offensive early, and that it is good to make an attacking call at the first possible moment. But my objections to the ultra-light No Trumper are: (1) It more often deceives your partner than your opponent. Your partner may bid up a suit on the strength of your call, with disastrous results. (2) The adoption of the American informatory double of a No Trumper has made it almost impossible for the declarer to escape lightly. (3) It destroys confidence. The barest minimum requirement for an original No Trumper at love score by dealer or second hand should be, in my opinion, four probable tricks, distributed amongst at least three suits. You may say that this would rule out the bidding of a No Trumper on three bare acres. But I do not agree. Three bare aces are three certain tricks in No Trumps. And you have the probability of establishing one of your suit of four, however weak the suit. Here are some types of hands on which the famous American expert, Mr Wilbur Whitehead, recommends the bidding of one No Trump. They represent the irreducible minimum: Type A. Type B. Type C. S.—Q 9 3 S.—Q 9 3 S—Q 9 3 H.—K J 9 H.—K J 8 H.—KJB76 D.—9 76 2 D.—9 7 D.—9 7 C._A Q 9 C.—A Q 9 7 4 C.—A Q 9 Each of these examples contain two quick tricks distributed among three or more suits, and therefore the probability of four tricks in ail at No Trumps, or in support of a suit bid by partner. Of course, if you called No Trumps on any one of these hands and found your partner with nothing, you might be fined considerably. But they are worthy the risk, and I present them as types of justifiable sketchy No Trump bids.