The Game of Bridge.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLII, Issue 3, 20 January 1909, Page 47

The Game of Bridge.

DOUBLING AND DISCARDING DISCUSSED.

(By

“CUT-CAVENDISH,"

” *Ahu tor of <; How to Win at Bridge,*'

When to double and when not to double, that is the question. So much, of course, must depend on the declaration, whether it be No Trumps, an attacking suit, or only a Spade. The score, too, has to be taken into account, and the geographical position of the doubler. Is he sitting above or below the declarer, and yet again whose lea,d is it? Doubles to offensive declarations may not be of very common occurrence, but it is just as well to know what to be at when the opportunity arises. Let us consider first the double of No Trumps. At tiie commencement of the game the leader would not double unless he thought himself capable of winning seven or more tricks in his own hand. A bolder policy could naturally be pursued if the declaring side were within an odd trick of the game, but even then it is as well to have length in one suit. The double on all round strength has a peculiar knack of coming undone. It-helps the dealer to locate the position of the high cards out against him, which may assist him to the early establishment of his own long suit. Third-in-hand’s double serves two purposes. Not only does he hope to make a number of tricks, but his double is in the nature of a call for a particular suit. He may double on a six hand trick, one trick less than is required by the leader, the reason being that if his suit be not opened at once it is quite possible that *l3 will never - get the opportunity of making tricks in it at all, or his chance will come too late in the day to save the game. AMEKICAN V. ENGLISH CONVENTIONS. Tn response to a double by third-in-hand, some players affect what is termed the Heart convention; others pin their faith to the short suit lead. America is the birth place of the Heart regime, and certainly it is beautifully simple. Advocates of this convention, in response to a double by the leader’s partner, jump off with their highest Heart. The leader, therefore, always knows exactly what suit to give his partner, ami as he is almost certain to hold at least one Heart, the allies should experience small difficulty in saving the game. A double under this convention is forthcoming if third-in-hand sees the necessary number of tricks in his hand, and at the same time is in possession of the ace of Hearts, which card will enable him to get in at once. His strength, be it remarked, is more likely to lie in Hearts than in any of the other suits, for if the declarer held good Hearts lie would assuredly have been inclined to call them, as his No Truinper is evidently hopelessly weak in one suit. The Heart convention is simple enough in all conscience, and will appeal to the player who regards a safe double as of paramount importance. Its one objection is that doubling by third-in-hand is circumscribed thereby.

No such objection can be raised to the short suit lead to a doubled No Truinper, but under its guidance you run the risk of missing your partner's suit. The more Bridge I play, however, the more am I satisfied that the short suit lead is the best, ({ranted that he has a smattering of common sense the leader should find his partner’s suit the great majority of times, lie has many pointers to guide him on the way, and no time will be wasted if we glance at some of them. A suit which contained a picture card would be generally discarded, an exception being occasionally made to a suit em braying queen or knave. From two equally worthless suits he would select the shorter. Should both be of equal length, the one a red suit, the other a black, his lead would spring from the former. Careful adherence to these principles should enable the leader t> find the right suit. Whichever convention you intend to follow, make it a rule, before sitting down to a rubber with a strange partner, to arrive at some understanding on the point, or you may find yourselves at cross purposes, and a game be lost which should have been won. A SIMPLE POINT. The theory of doubling an attacking suit declaration is simplicity itself. Seeing the odd trick in your hand you would always raise the. value of the stakes. Such doubles are, however, of rare occurrence. Seated over the declarer with a, nice hand of trumps a double may be attempted on considerably less working material than a seven trick hand, more particularly if such double be to the score. Take for example, a call of Hearts by the dealer with the score 24— 1(> in his favour. A double by one of the - allies will allow of their winning the game on the odd trick, otherwise two by tricks would be required. Such double is todbe attempted with the doubler over the declarer for two reasons. The first is that the information conveyed by such a double will prove more valuable to the doubler's partner than it will to the dealer, as it is a signal for the former to attack for all he is worth, and to lead trumps on every possible occasion. Secondly, a player sitting over the declarer with such trump strength <as ace. queen, 9,7, 4, should not only make nearly all these cards, but will in the process take several of the declarer’s trumps, which the latter had booked as good for certain tricks. Circumstances have conspired to make the declarer’s hand much weaker than he imagined. Learn to recognise these sort of things <and it will assist you to many a sound double. So much depends on the lie of the cards that, it is never advisable to doubt an attacking suit declare, when you -are situated behind the declarer unless you are prepared to welcome a redouble. This is a matter of vital importance, for the information accorded the declaring

party by such a double is probably worth a trick or two to it. DOUBLING AND REDOUBLING. Concerning the play to a double by your partner, as he will almost invariably be sitting over the declarer, you should burst otl with your highest trump, a lead calculated to do the enemy most damage. On those rare occasions when the doubler is under the declarer, a trump lead would not expedite matters in the right direction, hence it would become your bounden duty to open your strongest suit. •Spades may be doubled much oftcner than any other call, for the declaration is generally a defensive one. 'Towards the commencement of a game you there' fore double Spades on a four trick hand, as even a redouble will not take the other side out. Later in the fortunes of the game one has to be a little more cautious. Still the* double may be extended to a live trick hand. It is always safer to double on good trump strength than on strong plain emits, and a double on such Spades as ace, queen, knave, 4,2, may always be attempted, however poor tin* remaining cards may he. It is evident that your partner must have nice strength outside Spades or surety one of Un* allies could have ventured an attacking declaration of some sort or another. Redoubling is the rara avis of the Bridge world, and may be dismissed in a very few words. Satisfied that you can win the odd trick on your own. you would redouble to the limit of 100 points a trick if afforded the opportunity. Otherwise you Should only redouble to our old friend, the score. Stay, there is one exception which should he noted, having called Spades on a realty strong suit of that order, redouble by all means should you be seated over the doubler. TILE DISCARD. Coming to Ihe subject of discarding, the dealer’s task is a comparatively light one. lie has simply himself to consider, and accordingly discards those cards that he is convinced will be of no use to him. Only in the event of a long adverse suit being established against him in No Trumps will he be seriously troubled. He must then be careful not to unguard a suit, whilst ever on the look out to retain a card of any suit which may eventually be required to place the lead in his other hand. Cards w'hich are good for tricks will also sometimes have to be discarded if the game is to be saved. The allies are very differently situated in the matter as they hope to give each other informal ion at the same time as they discard. Opinions differ widely as to which form the discard should take. Let us consider the discard to a No Trumper first. Should we discard from strength or weakness? Unless the allied forces decide on one course of action or the other, the discard as a means of communication would lose its virtue, and this must not be. As in the ordinary way the defending party holds the worst cards, I cannot advocate the discard from strength, although it at once informs your partner which suit you wish led. Meanwhile your discard may have lost you a trick. This argument cannot be advanced against the discard from weakness, whilst the information it conveys is generally of a conclusive character, er must have opened -a sulf an* ns Before the discard conies along, the 10:,.* declaring side has probably done the like, a discard from one of the two re-

maining suits mu>t devolve all doubts h* the mind of one's partner. Of course it would never do to unguard an honour tor to discard the only card of a suit. It would also be necessary to retain a card of your partner's original lead to give him, unless you arc satisfied th;.l nothing is to be gained by returning the lead. The discard against an attacking suit declaration sho ’hl he from the suit you wish led. Time is money, and it .s unreasonable to suppose that you can establish your long suit against trump strength. To a doubled declaration or a purely defensive one, the attack is shifted (•» your shoulders, and the discard should now spring from weakness. You live in hopes of establishing your long suit and of winning .the game.