Tl1e British Bridge '.~tforld Editorial Board BERNARD WESTALL (CHAIRMAN) GEOFFREY BUTLER KENNETH KONSTAM TERENCE REESE ALBERT DORMER (EDITOR)
VOL. 14, 1"0. II CONTENTS NOVEMBER, 1963 Page Editorial 5-6 Follow the Sun, by Harold Franklin 7-13 Annals of Ruff's Club, by Terence Reese 14-15 Reminiscences of a Bridge Player, by Harry Ingram 16-23 Polish News Letter, by Stanislaw Bitner 25-27 Against the Little Major, by Alan Hiron 29-33 Synopsis of the Little Major 34-35 Foster's Fork, by A. Hutchinson 36-39
You Say: Readers' Letters 4~2 New Books 43
One Hundred Up, conducted by Alan Hiron 44-52 Bridge Academy, conducted by G. C. H. Fox ... 54-61
AD\' E R TIS IN G: All l'nquiries •hould be addressed to the: AI>\'EitTISI:'\G :\tANAGER, TJJ0:\1AS DE LA RUE & CO. LTD. Jlunloill Ro,.., E.C.I.
,\1.1 . OTIIER <:'OR~I ·: ~I'O:'\,UE:'\CE,l!'\Cl.UI>J:'\(; SUIISCRII'TIO!'\S, TO TilE l'UJII.ISIIEHS. A!'IOilHI·.\\ S & \\ AIUIUitG: I.TI> .• 3S I)O\'EH STREET, 1.0:'\D0:-.1, W.l. f~l: :\1.-\ Ylair R'I'J7 Annual Suh•cription JS/. f'u!lliJiorJ b)' .~n.lrrM · s ,{ II' 4tl> • L 1 I 35 n · J 10 I 9 ' "'J:, ' ·• <>o·a St,.•rf,l.t.•IIJon, II'./ 1111J printC'.I b•· G. F. J'om/..in / .1 ·• · ' Gro•·r Grrrn Rn,,.J, l.nnJ,,, [,',//, on hrlwlf., of tlor rrorrirtors, Thomas Dr i_a Rur ,( Co. l .t.l. c~y:d· Ito ria. I
For the second time B~irut has shed some of his responsibiliti::s :~een a superb bridge tournament. as Chairman of the Company and In 1962 the Lebanese Bridge has thus been able to accept the Federation surpassed all previous E.B.U.'s invitation to become ~tandards of efficiency, hospitality their President. and elegance in the way that they staged the European chatopion A recent article by John Pearson ships. Now they have introduced in the magazine Aspect credited an Open Bridge Festival which, Bernard Westall, one of the firm's by all accounts, puts the richest top pre-war salesmen, with the Continental festivals in the shade. revival of De La Rue's fortunes The money prizes alone totalled in the Twenties, as well as twelve thousand dollars and there responsibility for the successful were other goodies. Small wonder diversification of the Group since the last war. Bridge can certainly that many of the famous names use such talent. were there. Harold Franklin reports on page 7. BARGAIN COU.i"TER Will our own ruling bodies Christmas again draws nigh make a belated attempt to move and we hope that all readers will with the times and actually try take out one or more gift sub to promote' the game. Well, we scnptiOns. We are trying to live in a world of colour television, improve our service to subscrib~rs one-day cricket, and so on and and to tournament bridge: now nothing is impossible. But my you can help by introducing n~w own view is that the Russians will readers. Perhaps there is som~on~ be on the moon well before the who borrows your copy month membership of the English Bridge in and month out, but in any cas~ Union tops the 10,000 mark. we modestly sugg~:st that for bridge players there is no b~tta I BROOM AT TilE TOP? nor more thoughtful pn:s~nt. A lllo~t welcome event, and one The first instalment of your tl~:tt. may upset my gloomy pre gift will he the Dccemhcr issue,
llarold Franklin reports on last month's hig-money bridge festiral in Beirut.
"Follow the Sun" was the story down the rest of the field. The of the great American golfer, Ben British pair finally won in the Hogan. It. is rapidly · becoming tightest of finishes. In a close possible for the.tournament bridge battle for third place the Lebanese player to pursue the same trail. internationals, J. Tucmi and A. A new landmark was established Tosbath (9th in the World Pairs with the · staging of the first ·Championship of 1962) just h:J.d Lebanese Festival of Bridge. De the better of Konstam and J. layed publicity limited the number Tarlo. of those who were able to retreat The winners, playing Acol be it from the first warnings of winter: noted, were in luck on this hand: the fortunate few found that the South dealer warmth of a beneficent sun was East-West vulnerable matched by that of the welcome, NORTil and the happy combination of the +K95~3 two will, and rightly so, rapidly ~ A9 3 2 elevate this new Festival to the top 0 K 76 flight of international tourna +to ments. WEST EAST The Pairs Championship carried +AQJ72 • to~ what I believe to be the largest ~s ~Jto5 prize money ever offered· for 0 A J 10 ~ ~ 0 QJ such an event. Four sessions of +A 7 +QJS532 39 boards, with a top scored over SoUl II the whole field, reduced the +6 possibility of a surprise result ~KQ764 and eventually Reese and Schapiro 0 9 5:! and D'Alelio and Chiaradia wore + K 9 64 7 WEST EAST Most of t.!J\! expert support Reese Schapiro lined up with Schapiro in treating t+ JNT the 3NT bid. as natural. Ove; 30 3+ 4NT many felt that Schapiro 4+ No might have taken a second thought. The· hands on which North passed without a tremor partner would contract for a led the +I 0, covered by the and speculative ten tricks in no Queen, King(!) and Ace. A low trumps (and remember North spade to the 10 was fo11owcd by had passed origina11y) at the OQ. North won with the King expense of a safe plus score in and played the Ace and another Four Spades doubled are scarce. heart. Reese ruffed, led +A. and from this point was due to go In fact Reese held: three down, but North obligingly +to
EASTBOURNE RESULTS Congress teams
,WII/111'1'.\'.' Mr. and Mrs. M.G. D. Williams, A. W. Bowen, J. Sargeant Chn1t). . · Ulll/llt'l'.\' 11p: Dr. M. Rockfelt, J. Nunes, R. & J. Sharples (London). l(lirtl.· J, D. R. Colli.ngs, C. Hille, J. Cansino, D. Penn (London). to11rtll: Mrs. B. IIams, G. C. H. Fox, E. W. Crowhurst, C. Lawson Cl .onclon and Reading). Mixed pairs ll'ltlllt'/'.\',' Mr. and Mrs. A. Hiron (London). u,,,,,,.,.,\."I': Mrs. M. Krauth, J. Boyd Barrett (Surrey). I lltd1: Mr. and Mrs. M. D. G. Williams (Kent). . . , ~usscx Cluhs Trophy .1. I> . C nlluw-;, J. Cammo, M. D. Penn, C. Hille (London).
Burlin~Con Cup Ma· •. Sh:1111111nll, W. Auh:~gcn, Mr. and Mrs. Mcsscrc (London. I ...., ., 111111 1~ THE CARD PLAYERS DIARY ... This little book, \Hit ten bv today:s lc~din; rb:er;, contams arttcles on Bridge, Poker and Chemin de Fer. The co.ntents will help you to gam the ma,imum ad,·antagc from )our skill and will certainly increa<.c your enjoyment of the<.c games. Bound in red or blue fine grain leather the Diaries arc a,·ailab!e at 8/6d. including postage from the Editor and Pub lisher. VICTOR BERGER, Diary Dept. 1st Floor, 15 Appold St., London, E.C.2 RESULT OF 0Cf013ER COMPETITI0:-.1 Problem No. 5 claimed even more victims than on its pre\'ious appcaram:c. l'r.c round of bidding earlier-the top scoring pass being rarely found by sohers. TI:c double suggested by competitors as a first round alternative to Two Oi:1monJs in Problem No. 8 deservedly received no backing from the panel. Winn,·r: .\ttl.\'. Jl() R. M. FouLos, 36 Dcne View, South Gosforth, Ncwca~th: 3 fAJUotl M'('Ofld: C. R. B. MUJ(KAY, lkech Cottage, Seaton A\'enuc, llythc, Kent 1'5 I'll. Lt. A. lsAA<:so~, Ofliccrs' Mess, R.A.F., Cosford, nr. \\'ohcrh:unptl•n. Stalfs. 1'5 II. G. Ruot>t s, ') Ravens Close, lkxhill-on-Sea, Sussex 1'5 Othl·r l{·.tdin~ !>cnrl·s: D. 11. Kts<;, H.t; J. llmtuH, G. P. llntiK,l':!; II. l>\\lt) ~1"· R. 1'. Wnnr, J. E. Gotwo~. HI; 11. S. Routssos, J. T. N.-~.YWK, G. K. Rl-"ltt, XO; R. 1>.-\\'I.Y, G. D. Stlt\RI'I', 7'J; c. l.ll Mrs. Niccways and Commander say over Two Cinbs? As there Scroop, somewhat against ex seemed no goo.:\ answer, she pectation, were enjoying a highly passed. successful rubber against Alfred Scroop opened One Heart third Bulldozer and George Deuceace. in hand, Bulldozer passed, and A game ahead, with something Mrs. Niccways responded One above the line, Mrs. Niceways Spade. From there the bidding dealt as follows: proceeded: Mrs. Nicclrays SOUTII WEST NORTH EAST +A KJ 5 No No \? 9 5 1\? No I+ No 0 K Q 65 INT No 30 No • 742 3\? No 3NT No Hulldozrr Dcuccacc No No • 7 3 2 +QJ098 "Stop me if I'm wrong," said \? J 8 6 \? Q 4 2 Bulldozer, as he led the 8 of 0 7 3 OJJ09~ clubs, "but I think we're going +A to 9 8 5 +KJ to sec just 13 points in the • 64 dummy." \?AKI073 If this remark was meant to 0 A 4 2 sting, its effect was lost on Mrs. +Q6 3 Niceways. "How clever of you Scroop to guess," she observed amiably. There was a pause while Mrs. "It was a difficult hand, wasn't Niceways counted and recounted it? Did I call it very badly?" her points. She had been told "I think you were quite right that she should always open on to pass originally," said Scroop. thirteen, but this hand appeared "But perhaps you might have to present a problem. If she given me 3NT over I NT instead opened One Spade she would have of showing the diamonds." no good rebid over a response Dcuceacc won the lirst trick of Two llearts. If she opened with the King of clubs and One Diamond, what would she return~:d the Jack. Afta a littk 14 c n id cration Scroop play•: d J,,w, a<.:c wun the next ruunu of hearts and ~o did Bulldozer. IJ~:J.:: ~·: tcc with the Queen. Dcuceaec then !.Witched to the ] ~. ~: 1: of exited with a diamond and Scroop diamonds, which was won ' ~ ~; the lost one trick at the finish, havin!! table. made game with four heart~ Scroop led a heart to th(; ·,\cc, three diamonds and two spades. returned to dummy with t•;e: . Ace "Couldn't you have unblocked of spades, and led anothc: Lc:!rt. your Queen of hearts T', un When Dcuceace played Jov>, de wisely demanded Bulldozer. clarer went up with the King. "J could if you had given me the That left the cards as follows: chance," replied Deuceace. "When + K J 5 1 returned the Jack of clubs you cv- could have overtaken and played o K6 5 a third round. I discard the +7 Queen of hearts and you have an • 7 3 • Q 10 9 entry with the Jack. As the play 'I J America's bright new monthly magazine, acclaimed by top experts e\'erywhcrc .... THE AMEiliCAN BRIDGE DIGEST Rtgular contributors ar~: OSWALD JACOBY, EASLEY BLACKWOOD. LEW MATtiE, B. JAY BECKER, EDWIN B. kANTAR, ~IARSIIALL MILES, ET AL, Plus TERENCE REESE and ALBERT DOR~IER. Amwal Su!Hcription: Send ll. 17s. to 35, Dover Street, LonJon, \\'.1, or 8 doll.ars to - P. 0. Box I 245, Studio City, Californi:t. 15 REMI NCES OF A B PLAYER The second instalment of a series in which Harry Ingram delves into his memories of the early days of British bridge. Bridge on television in 1936? with pretty weird distribution Surely not! None the less it is and it caused me little surprise true. Televised bridge is one more to . pick up the following, sitting activity in which, once the leaders, South and vulnerable: we have fallen sadly behind other +6 Next year, I 935, we ~.gain 11 n:ached the Gold Cup fin::!, this time against the Wolfcrs bwt.hcrs, .ne~elop Your !I Jack Tottcnham and Pat Cotter. All square at board 99, -,:;;:: lost Btddtng Judgment ·I it on the last board. Hughes and I went down in Five Clubs, agninst 3NT made in the other room. 75 tricky decisions in bidding, each presented 1936 saw us in yet another in the "over the s-houlder" final agamst Lederer's team (Dick style made famous by Lederer and Willte Rose, Leslie Play Bridge with Reese. Dodds and Kosk}'.) Hughes and I were with Herbert Newmark and Tommy Simmonds. To my The Oak Tree Press, london. 21/· mind the bridge was by far the best that had been played in any final at that time. There were West played in Six Hearts in plenty of swing hands and one both rooms after East had opened of the most costly to Lederer was 1NT. Lederer led the Ace of this: clubs in Room I and continued NORTH with a small club.· Simmonds, • J X X X the declarer, had no option but <::/x to take the diamond finesse when OKJOxxx the spades did not break and +A XX so he made the contract. W1sr EAST In Room 2 I made the lucky • A Q X X + K lOx lead of a small diamond and \? A Q X X X X <;?KJJO Dodds was faced with an awkward OJ 0 AQx decision at trick one. Rightly, I • X X + K X X X think, with the Ace of club~ a SOUTII certain loser, he went up "ith • X X dummy's Ace ofdi:unonds, hoping <::/X X X for a favourable spade di~trihution 0 X X X X or an even trump hn:ak. On.: + Q J )0 X down. Kosky durin~ the hidding l'J had featured the diamond Ace Lederer led a diamond and and this influenced my lead. Hughes played the hand per fectly to squC'ezc; North in clubs The next hand came in the last and hearts. 20 boards of the same match. In Room 2 ..thc bidding went: It has been written about very SouTH \VEST . .- NoRTH EAST often but I cannot resist men Sim- Dod(b New- Kosky tioning it once more. "Skid" monds mark Simon in his famous book, Why 2 No You Lose at Bricf..r:e, gave it 40 4+ 50 quite a lot of space, and it was 60 No No referred to at the time as the hand No No No of the year. We were leading by This was a spread and the about 300 when it was dealt. total swing was 2240 to our team. West dealer In the tea interval which North-South vulnerable . I NORTil followed well remember saying to the team, "No chancy slams, +x y>QJ9xx boys, but bid every possible game,"-a slogan which I have 0 10 X X often repeated since then and have + K X XX Wt~IIT EAST seldom had cause to regret. One +AKQJIOx • X X X X slam was bid and made by y> A 10 X y>Kxxxx Lederer, but the other boards went 0 QJ 0- in our favour and we won by 2130. +X X + J )0 X X The following year we defended SOUTII the cup and lost in the third • X X round. I think it is correct to y>- say that none of us has entered OAK9xxxxx a team in the Gold Cup since. +A Qx The others dropped out of com petition bridge: Herbert New The bidding in Room I: mark, a grand player, is now a SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST highly successful business man: Rose 1/ughes Lederer ln~ram Tommy Simmonds, the fastest 4+ No No player of the cards I have eva 50 No No 5+ known, lives in America, and No No Dblc No Stan llughes unfortunatdy dil.'d No No a few years ago. Tommy Simmonds ("the fastest player of the cords"), Herbert Ne11'111ark, now a highly .wccenful beusiness man, Stanley Hughes, Ingram's regular partner or.d Harry Ingram hfmself. The Top Two a psychic heart response, holding good spade support in reserve. ~any times I have been asked, The bidding got quite high before "Who is the best player you have they finally sorted it out and we eve r met?" Looking back over were able to make a good penalty the years, I have no hesitation in double, giving us sufficient points ~aying there arc two who to me to win the match. )land out above thl! oth~rs: ou; own Terence Reese, and Howard Playing with Terence Reese Schcnken of the U.S.A. I first some years later, I had perh:~ps played against Terence when he my biggest disappointment in was ~till at University. I took a competitive bridge. The late Jack four to Oxford and with a few Taylor had g.i\'en a m:1gniticent hoards to go his team werl! team trophy known as the South· h:ading. Quixotically, an Oxford port Bowl. (This is now fou~ht player overbid with a psychic for in the North-\\'est Congn:~s One Spadc with hearts as his at Blackpool.) When it \\as tir~t l' ~l'< tpe suit, whilc his partner gave put up for competition, ~lll)' team :!I winning it three times in WEST EAST succession became the outright +x l A X X owners. Well, we won it the <:?KQxxx v AX X first two . years, and the third OAK 0 X X year lost it to Dick Lederer by +109842 ::: A K J 7 3 one point. Two or three boards Do you '" a:-•.t to be in Seven before the end ·Terence and I Clubs on these hands? We were against Lederer and Rose, reached it and found South with who finished in 3NT holding the +Qxx. bare Ace of spades in one hand Adaptable Jack opposite three small in the other. The opening lead was a spade and Thank goodness one is often declarer had to finesse diamonds able to find a little humour at one way and hearts the other for the bridge table. One of my the contract. Everything was recollections concerns a feature right and he made II tricks. Our which has rather died out of team mates played in Four Hearts modern bridge congresses-the -unbreakable, but the extra trick pleasant Sunday morning "Play in no-trumps gave them victory. · with the Masters" session. Here, those recognised as leading players Howard Schenken I played against with Hughes in the famous would be partnered by someone 150-rubber match at the drawn "from the crowd" and Dorchester. I would like to would play a short pairs tourna forget this match, as we played ment. On one of these occasions appallingly after the first 20 Jack Marx, famous as one of the rubbers. I was by far the worst creators of the Acol system, drew culprit, but three other influences a certain Colonel. Jack asked, contributed to our very heavy "What system shall we piay ?'' defeat. The introduction of the and received the reply, "Well, my Four Aces system, the fine bidding no-trumps can be anything from and play of Schenken and his four to twenty points." "I like partner Mike Gottleib, and the that," said Jack, not batting an run of had luck we had to start eyelid, "I'll do the same." "No," with. I think the following hand said the gallant colonel rather finally got us down, although hastily, "Please, don't you do our opponents were always too it, I don't know the responses." good for us. Just before the war at a well known tennis club we 'had a good (see next column) deal of bridgc after play. On 22 one occasion a new :ih~mbcr contract could take as his dummv joined in the bridge sc ~:;i on. I either of the other two player;· cut him first and it wa :, !l"t long hands or the original dummv. before he opened Two 1I carts, !he game ceased to be popul;r playing Culbertson. I W < ~ ~ pleased m our club after this little affair: to keep the bidding ope;~ ! o game I st player 2nd player 3rd player on a fairish hand, but w .?.:; a little 2NT No Dhle ~urpriscd to hear the :~n:! l con RdWe No 3NT tract doubled. When '''!; :lnished Dble No No four down, I looked .:: t my The declarer not unnaturally partner"s hand and corr:rlained, decided to take player number "But you have not got a Forcing one's hand, which turned out to Two opening." "Yes l have," amount to something like four he replied, "Five quick tricks. points. The third player was a Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10 of good sport and saw the joke, but hearts." the clever psychic bid killed three At this club we used to play handed bridge for us. And quite three-handed bridge when a fourth right too-it was like trying to could not be found. It was called play the piano with only three "Snatch" bridge. The idea was fingers. · --and may still be, for all I know (Harry Ingram continues '.'Rem -for the players to bid in turn, iniscences of a Bridge Player" and the one who secured the final next nionth.) ST. DUNSTAN'S BRIDGE CONGRESS, ILKLEY The winners in the annual St. Dunstan's raffle were asfollows. (Winners' names followed by ticket no. and seller). I, A. R. Cowley (13555) A. R. Cowley. 2, K. Cotton (636S) H. Ca!.tle. 3, C. B. Campbell (6039) C. B. Campbell. 4, C. K. A. Broad bent (IH835) Shipley Golf Club. 5, A. R. Dedoe (647) Mrs. D~do~. 6, A. Pilling (338) Mrs. Pilling. 7, Miss D. Seymour (326) D. Parsons. X, A. Robinson (313) D. Parsons. 9, L. Levey ( 1S 106) L. Le\'l:y. 10. J. Ferney (13638) J. Ferney. 11, 1\·frs. D. Webster (61S) ~l£'$. J. Baddeley. 12, Miss A. Stammers (18316) 1\trs. A. ~t. \'owks. D, G. R. Forr~~t~r (X742) G. R. Forr~st~r. 14, B.T. (1156) A. Pn:ston. :!3 Try your hand at the October problems before reading how thr: experts ,·oted Problem ~o. 1 (10 points) Problem :\o. 5 (10 points) Rubber bridge, North-South vulner Match-point pair~. love all, the able, the bidding has gone:- bidding has gone:- SouTH W~:sT NoRTH EAsT SouTH WEsT ::-.:ottTH EAST I~ I+ No ~~ No Dble No 2+ No . Jrv No 40 No No South holds:- ? +AKQJ ~874 OKQ +K832 South holds:- What should South bid? +- ~9643 0AK2 +AK6532 What should South bid? Problem 1'\o. 2 ( 10 points) Match-point pairs, Jove atl, the Problem No.6 (10 points) bidding has gone:- I.m.p. scoring, East-West vulnerable, SouTH WJ.sT NoRTH EAST the bidding has gone:- I+ No 20 No SoUTH WEST NoRTH EAsT 2~ No 3+ No INT Dble South holds:- (North's INT shows I2-14 points). +AJ863 ~KJ742 OK82 + South holds:- What should South bid? +KI04 ~JJ09876 0- +AI098 What should South bid? Problem No. 3 (20 points) J.m.p. scoring, East-West vulnerable, Problem No.7 (10 points) the bidding has gone:- Match-point pairs, East-West vulner SouTH WEST NORTH EAST able, the bidding has gone:- I~ SouTH WEsT NoRTH EAST No I+ South holds:- ? +KQJ0864 ~- 0A82 +AJ93 South holds:- (a) What should South bid? +J ~AK987 OAJ742 +A5 (h) What should South bid if West What should South bid? had opened One Heart and this had hcen fotlowed by two passes? Problem No.8 (20 points)· Match-point pairs, East-West vulner Prohll·m No.4 (10 points) able, the bidding has gonc:- l.m.p. scoring, game all, the bidding Sounl WEsT NoRTH EAsT has gone:- I<\? I+ SouTu Wt·.ST NORTH EAST 20 2+ No No t+ No Dble No No No No 2~ No South holds: Dblc 30 No +9642 ~K OAJ73 +AJ62 (a) Do you agree with South's hid South holds:- of Two Diamonds'? If not, what +52 ~7 OKQlJ~543 +AK2 alternative do you prefer'! What should South bid 7 (h) What should South lead'! 24 LIS H ~ :WS-LETTER /'o/and did zmexpected!y 1rel/ at Baden Hadcn, 1ril/ itself stage the European Cham r ionslrips in 1966. Stanisla11· Bitner, Polish i!:trrnational and theorist, begins a series of ncH·s·lcttcrs. · The performance of the Polish a risky contract. One must know team at Baden-Baden :;urprised how to make it, if it can be made most observers. A year ago a at all. Our team lacked that wooden spoon was forecast for our skill. Nevertheless, English readers team in Beirut, yet a year later might possibly be interested to this team wins the honourable know why the bidding of Polish third place. Not only were players brought them so many foreigners surprised. Most of points at the expense of more our own experts also did not experienced teams. visualise such a performance. For the past two years nearly Since our results at Baden all our top pairs ha\'c been Baden were generally unexpected, fervently working to impro\'e the Polish bridge community nat their bidding. Don't imagine urally wanted to know what was that previously our bidding was the real cause of our modest entirely bad. · Like anyone else, success. So every deal was sub we could easily reach a game in jected to a very scrupulous 25 or 26 points and a slam on analysis. This is our conclusion: 33 or 34. Nowadays, howc\'cr, this is not enough. One must Points u·on or lost learn to reach games which arc /Jitlding Play Defence icc-cold, foul distribution ex + 491 +83 -21 cluded, on 21 or 22 points, or + 92% + II% -3% slams on 26 to 29. Needless to This analysis shows that our say, such games can be reached team won some points in bidding only if ideal fits can be found and hut was definitely inferior in no points arc wasted. . dl:fcnc~: and dummy play. And, This goal cannot be ach11:n:d of course, it is not enough to bid unless a biddin~ system is el:t- borated with a watch-like pre (a) Artificial ch; b. cision and discloses distribution (b) and (c) Natural. at relatively low levels. The (d) Asking bid. Italian systems appealed most to (e) Negative r:;ply. our leading players and were (f) Repeat nsl:ing bid. laboriously studied. The dis (g) Showing \?A and third- tribution-showing ideas of the round dia;·;ir: nd control. Roman Club system were adapted (h) Trump r.sl.i::g convention. and fitted into our own Polish {i) One high !"!c~ nour. methods. Where natural bidding In the other room Iceland was lacking in precision, the played in Six Spades: artificial gadgets were introduced. To improve precision was, how The following deal from a match ever, only part of the task. It between Poland and Iceland shows is one thing to reach a beautiful the precision of one of our pairs: game, but quite another to shut NoR Til your opponents out of the con- +AQJ1082 . tracts rightly belonging to them. \?KQ But our players have learned to OAK832 intervene efficiently and to prevent +- the opponents from reaching their WEST EAST best contracts. Polish players are +6 • 7 5 generally bold and are not afraid \:)109643 <:? J 7 to run a risk of. a severe penalty. 09 0 Q J 10 7 4 We have observed quite different +AJ6542 + K Q97 attitudes of foreign players in this SOUTII respect, who seem to live under + K 9 4 3 an obsession of being doubled for \?A852 500 or more. Possibly the reason 0 6 5 why Polish players make·so many + 10 8 3 obstructive bids is that we have The Polish pair bid as follows: a great variety of conventional SOUTII NORTII weapons to show one- and two No I+ (a) suited hands. Of course, we use t <:? (h) 2+ weak Two hids. · 3+ (c) 40 (d) In the match · between Britain 4+ (e) 50 (/) and Poland at Baden-Baden the 5\? (g) SNT (h) bidding in the open room went: (,0 (i) 7+ (S£'(' II£'X/ page) South dealer much as possible of biddin!! [a~ t-\\c ~ t ,ulncrablc NoR Til space and at the same time t~ +5 convey distributional information \:) K 54 when the partners arc weak. ' 0 X 6 The~e two trends arc fully +KQJ7432 supported by the statistics re WL'il EAST lating to the performance of our t K X 7 2 • Q J ji) 6 3 players at Baden-Baden. Since C?AJ32 \;}- all three pairs which played for OAQ7 0 KJ9543 Poland in Germany arc fairlv representative of the +9 6 +AIO modcr~ Sount trends presently observed in Polish bidding, the figures shown + A94 \:) Q 10 9 8 7 6 below arc interesting. 0 10 2 Analysis of the Baden-Baden + 8 5 match ·records show that the Poles needed 302 bids to reach their Soum WEST NORTH EAST 44 slams, while their opponents Poland Britain Poland Britain used only 243 bids to bid these No 4\;} 4+ 2~ slams or to stay short of them. No 4NT 5\;} No Prc-emptives were used by Polish No all pass 5+ players 37 times and in the deals In the closed room the Polish where they were used our team East-West pair easily reached Six has gained 48 i.m.p.s. Spades after an auction in which These figures lead us to hope the sole contribution from North that our work in the field of South was a Two Club overcall bidding is in the right direction. by North after West had opened. They also show that much more Thus two trends in the bidding must be done to improve our theory followed presently in defensive play. Poland lost in the Poland can be easily distinguished. match against Britain as many as ?ne consists in endeavouring to 41 i.m.p.s. in defence, not counting Increase the number of bids the deals where, despite the fact cnahling partners to define wit!~ that there was no swing. the greater precision the shape a1id British players should have hcen ~trcngth of their combined hands, beaten in no-trump games "hik \\hen they arc strong, and the our players reached icc-cold suit other lays stress on stealing as games. '17 1 ~ : ::~~ ;'o ~ to;;! l ; : ~ . ~: ! :~ l C.ll. 01 T W:~t •.• . 01 u ~, C.N. hU~t 4 M.W. 01 A.M t . -·· -- .. -- -- -~ YOU CHOOSE THE PROGRAMME AND THIS BOX DOES THE REST Now Potterton have put the brain into central heating This year Pottcrton boilers have a comfort Keeps fuel bills down. The Programmer IS givin~, fuel-conserving refinement no other a built-in "economy measure". \\'hen you boil1·r- no other system- can match. The programme your central heating you bum l'ott1·rton Pro~ramm c r {that's it in the pic only the fuel you need. There's no wastt'. So ture) i5 the automatic brain that docs you keep money in your pocket. evt·rything for you. The Programmer is a standard ft'aturc of s-programmc flexibility. According to your all Pottcrton gas-fired, small-bore boilrrs. IH't•ds, you pick one of the five pro~rammes With other Pottcrton gas-fired and oil-fired :uul you gl't jmt the central heatin~ you boilers it is available as an optional t'Xtra. want at tht• times you want it. Sec. these people. Your local Pottrrto;; CoO\·cnicncc, Comfort, Comrol. Thost' arc Approvt·d Installer or Gas Board can It' tlu· thn·1· C's of programnwd ccntrallwatinu; you all you want to know about Pottcrton hy l'ottcrton. It CUI$ out fuel haulin~ and programmed ct·ntral heating. '"h rarrying. Tlwr!''s no dirt and no work. Onn• you'vt· sl't the J'ott1TIOI\ l'rogrammt'r Pick a Pottcrton- oil or gas you don't gin· it anotht-r thought until you Thomas l'ottcrton J.imitt·d, :w-30 Buckht>hl w:111t to changt• the pro!;rammt'. Road, London S.\\'.tll. Vandyke 7-}.0'}.. A \II \IIH U 11t lilt: IH 1 .4. ~ll. t.itlllll t" {jl INST THE. L,u~-~~ LE MAJOR Alc:n /Jiron suggests a means of defence to th. -: R,~csc-Fiint-Sclwpiro artificial system. Now that the English Bridge fond parents arc so relieved that Union has granted an "A" iiccnce their offspring has been accepted to the Little Major one is liable that they will defer a change of to meet it in such tourneys as the name for the time being. Gold Cup, the knock-out rounds Now that psychics have been of Crockfords' Cup and the· abandoned, all opening bids arc Lederer Memorial Trophy. A of normal strength but are not ~ynopsis of the system appears on necessarily based on the suit page 34, and opposing team named. This means that the captains will receive a current opponents no longer have all the copy well in advance. So it may fascinating problems of the good h\! opportune to suggest some old days (i.e. the early summer of defensive counters. 1963), but some interesting pos sibilities remain. When this problem child was born, opening bids of One Heart The main claim made for the and One Spade were obstructive system is that it explores certain p~ychics, based on sub-minimum types of hand with greater pre hands. By the time of Baden cision than docs natural bidding. Baden, however, agonising re It is a fact that an artificial appraisals had been made. The opening in a rank below the true equipment for dealing with certain suit allows more bidding space. hands had heen found inadequate: Consider this: the opener bids the psychic One I fcart and One One Club, showing in principk a Spade openings had to be aban heart suit; now the responder may doned so that these bids could be bid either One I kart or Two devoted to constructive purposes. Jlcarts, or he may 11rst giYc a ~n truth the name "Little Major" negative reply (One Diamond) 1 " now inapt, but I imagine the and subsequently to Two I k:trts -all on hands which, playing One //cart or One Spade. E.g., Acol, would have to be expressed over an opposin g opening of by raising partner's opening bid One Club the defenders can bid of One Heart to Two Hearts! as follows: We all know that in normal T1ro Cluhs, On£' Spade, One bidding a single raise in a major Diamond and I t\T arc completely suit may range from a weak natural. (The 1 -~~~ T overcall shows distributional hand to a balanced at least one st0Fp:: r in hearts in ten points. The Little Major the usual fa shion.) Note that enables this too-wide range of you can bid di This, accordinK to prese/11 intentions, is the synopsi\· 1rhich will be provided for the i11{ormation of players drawn to play l<;o fnst the Lillie Major team in knockout team events. General Hands containing a biddable major arc mostly op ·~n c d One Club (for hearts) or One Diamond (for spades). An opening One Spade denotes a hand that would be opened with One of a minor in other systems. Opening I NT is natural and One Heart is conventional and !.trong. The abbreviation "conv.", in the summary below, indicates that certain later bids may have a partly conventional meaning. Minor-suit Opening Sequences I+ In principle a heart suit, but occasionally only three cards. I+-I 0 Negative response, but may also be first move on big hand. 1+-ICV, 1+-2CV, etc. Support for hearts. 1+-1 +.or 1NT or 2+ or 20 Positive response, about 8 points upwards. I +-2+, etc. Immediate forces promise a good suit. Rebids by the I+ opener are natural, on the basis that opener has already shown a heart suit. 1+-IO-INT shows length in both majors, conv. * * * I 0 Eitl.ler .a spade suit or a strong balanced hand," shown by a reb1d 111 no-trumps, sometimes a jump being necessary. I 0-1 +. I 0-2+, etc. Support for spades. I 0-1 CV Negative response, but may also be first move on bil! hand. 10-ICV-INT 17- 20conv. 10-ICV-2NT. 23-24. Positive and forcing responses arc as over 1+· Rebids (unless shO\ving the no-trump type) natural, on the basis that opener has alrc~tdy shown spades. 34 Other Opening Bids 1<::7 Strong opL:nin ~~ on balanced 21-22 and on most hands that at Acol "'"'('J uld be opened with a Two bid or Two Clubs. Responses by ~ tcps: I+ negative; INT, I control: 2+. q controls: 2(), 2 N more controls. * * I+ About 12-15. m.1:nly minor-suit hand. Rc.\ponscs: iNT asks for suit. 20 asks opener to name singleton in maj()r, or six-card suit, or bid 2NT. .Response of 2NT means playable in either minor. * I NT No-trump type, 14-16. Responses: 2t~: requires 20 rebid. 20 form of Stayman (conv.). 3 , 'strength in one or both minors. 2NT asks for four-card suits upwards. 30 Roman Blackwood. 4+. 40, Texas. * * 2+. 20 Minor-suit hand with reversing values. Responses natural. * * 2\/, 2+ Major-minor two-suiter with reversing values. Responses: 3+, willing to play in opener's minor. 2~T forcing. Rebids Ol'er 2NT: 3+ or 30 denotes OPPOSITE minor. 3\?, 3+, 3NT, conv. * * * 2NT Equal to pre-emptive Three of a minor. Responses: 3+, willing to play if this is opener's suit. 30 similar. +4, forcing. * * 3+, 30 Strong playing values, concentrated in the minors. * * • 3\?, 3+, 4_\?, 4+, Normal pre-empts. 3NT, Solid minor. 4+. 40. Texas for 4\?, 4+. • • • Defi·nsil'c hiddinr: normal. Roman kadv (Q from KQ: c:~c.) . Some partncrslups·. usc Ast\mg'· · n·tu -~· Ill· •·1 ~·w~.: ·sp~ctalt :- .:d situations. of d ·f~ncc to t 1tc On page 29 Alan l-liron suggests a means 1.: Little Major. 35 FOSTE RK With the new tournament season under way, A. 1/utchinson rcsum{'.S his news of Midlands actiritics. llavc you ever heard of bid, as witness this hand from Morton's Fork? One of our the qualifying round of the Anne mediaeval kings, I forget which, Ormond Cups Competition, a hard up as usual, appointed pairs event open to players in Morton to play a squeeze on the Birmingham and district. West taxpayers, and he had a bright held: idea. A man living in fine style +K64 'VA OAKJ986 +AK7. was, according to Morton, ob Do you open Two Clubs or viously wealthy and could weB Two Diamonds? Your fate may afford to pay £X. On the other weB depend upon your answer. hand, a man living modestly, The majority decided upon Two said Morton, must te ~aving a great deal and he too could Diamonds and, receiving imme afford to pay £X. In short, the diate support, had no difficulty victim was impaled on one or in reaching Six Diamonds. A other prong of Morton's Fork. few, however, tried Two Clubs We have a similar position iri and, after a negative response, bridge. A point is reached in the rebid Three Diamonds with dire auction when a critical decision results, this being the responding has to be made. No matter hand: which course you take, if it +A92 'V 10953 OQ3 +J 1084. fails the blame is yours. Purely on account of alliteration, 1 * Editor's note: Orerscas name this situation Foster's readers may wonder "~VIn• Foster's Fork"'. Fork and not Finnc,~an's l;, Frcnch Now, Foster's Fork usually Farmiloe's Fork?" The answer occurs at the end of the auction is that Ec/.r:ar Foster is a wdl· hut it can arise at the very first known Midlancl.\· player. 36 Ea~t's 3NT bid closed the ill~strious Chinese strategist and auction with thirteen tricks to philosopher, Lao Tzu, who lived be made, the club fines ::: c being some 2,500 years ago. Now he is right. repor~ed as saying that, "In the In the post-mortem, West took pursu1ts of peace, as in war the offensive on the b ~t ~ is, no there arc but two kinds of doubt, that the best form of fortune, good and ill-so have a defence is attack. East, he main ~ 0 • Mao." So I leaped fearlesslv tained, should have supported to mto 6NT, despite the certai~ Four Diamonds, the hand being knowledge that, should the con too good for 3NT. East waved tract fail, the Great Wall of ~hina would fall on me. Happily a~idc such arguments, pointing It produced a clear top. out that West should have opened Two Diamonds. Personally, I Here is an interesting pair of have some sympathy for East hands from the final: in his reluctance to go beyond WEST EAST JNT, but could he not have + Q 18 6 +A K 10 temporised with Three Hearts or cy>KQ cy>AJIOS2 Three Spades? In any case, it 0 KQ3 0A954 seems to me that a player who +A764 +8 opens Two Clubs on ~uch a . As you can sec, there arc hand, with the intention of re thirteen tricks on top in hearts or bidding Three Diamonds over a no-trumps. negative response, would be better In most cases, West opened advised to open Two Diamonds. I NT and the final contract was It is much easier for his partner usually Six Hearts. It is, I to support diamonds when opened suppose, rather difficult to diag than when introduced at the level nose a grand slam after I NT of Three. Three Hearts - Four Hearts. But this was a pairs event and West's hand is limited to a my partner, Edgar Foster, also maximum of seventeen points ami opened Two Clubs and, after East knows that there cannot be my negative Two Diamonds un more than 33 points in the hesitatingly jumped to JNT. combined hands. ~1oreo\W he Across the table, he passed his has no means of discoverin~ the fo~k to me. Should I pass or cxcdkncc of the fit. r;u,e to 6NT or what'? For Edgar Foster opened One Sp~llk tunately, I am a disciple of that -het~cr than I NT, I thin~. l)n '!17 this hand so Jacking in tcnaces. two Kings, his hand must be When I forced with Three Hearts rich in Queens to justify his he jumped to 4NT (Blackwood). precipitate bidding. Evidently his His reasoning was that, since worry was the King of spades. we usc the delayed game raise As I had it, I b!d Seven Hearts and the Swiss Convention, my and again we scored a clear top. hand was evidently too good for · Whilst the opponents cursed either, if I had spade support. their luck and co;::. mi seratcd each Alternatively I must have a power with the other, w:: rdaxed quietly, ful hand with a good heart suit. enjoying that comfortable feeling In either case, a grand slam was of well-being born of achievement. possible if I held three Aces and .. Now, stop it!" ordered my a little slam should I have only wife, who. was kibitzing. We all two Aces and two Kings. So stared at her in astonishment. he wanted to be the one to usc "And what's the matter now?'' Blackwood. On learning about I demanded. my Aces, he tried 5NT and "Why-you'd got that smug signed off in Six Hearts when I look on your face again." showed only one King. So round The result to me came Foster's Fork again. Clearly partner was interested 1st E. Foster and A. Hutchinson. in grand slam possibilities, but 2nd L. Levey and J. Twine. one King must be missing. If he 3rd J. T. Chapman and M. A. himself had only one Ace and Porter. One Htindred Up Conducted by ALAN HIRON November Competition A J_J~ncl o~ experts will a~swer the questions and the marking of the competJ.tJon will be determmed by, though not necessarily in strict proport1on to, the votes of the panel. FIRST PRIZE SECOND AND THIRD PRIZES Two Guineas. One Guinea. . Please read these rules canfully. No competitor may send in more than one entry. Only annual subscribers arc eligible for prizes. A~~ · ers should be sent to One I lundred Up, British Bridge World, •3 S DoH~ r Street, London, \\'.1, to arrh·e not later than first post on (){-ct·mbt.•r 1. Some latitude will be given to overseas competitors. 3X . Probkm ;"loio. 1 (10 points) Problem :'\o. 5 (10 points) Match-point pairs, love ;!i!, the I.m.p. scoring, game all, the biddin bidding has gone: has gone:- g Soulll WL~T NoRTH [\sr SOUTH WLH ~ORTII EA<;J I+ I'? J;-..;r :-.:o No No 1\;/ ,. South holds:- No 2+ Dble :-.:o +KQI!54 ~108 OAK97J •:•7 What should South bid? South holds:- +83 ~K5 0109842 +KR53 l,roblem l"o. 2 (20 points) What should South bid? Rubber bridge, love all, the bidding 6 has gone:- Problem 1'\o. (10 points) Souru WJ:sT NORTH EAST Match-point pairs, East-West ~me the bidding has gone:- ' I+ No I+ No . SouTH WEST NoRm EAsT South holds:- 1\1 No +AJO <\/86 OA4 +AKQJ0974 No ~0 ? (a) Do you agree with South's bid of South holds:- One Club? If not, what alternative do you prefer? +AJ8 ~AJ3 0104 +K8762 What should South bid? (h) What should South bid now? Problem 1'\o. 7 (20 points) Problem l"o. 3 (10 points) J.m.p. scoring, North-South \ul- Match-point pairs, North-South vul nerablc, the bidding has gone:- nerable, the bidding has gone:.....:. SouTH WEsT NoRTH EAsT Souru WE.o;r NoRTH EAST No I 0 Dble 1\1 No No 10 20 No 2+ No Oble No I~ No INT No 2NT No South holds:- +K72 ~KIO-l 015-t +AIOSI'l South holds:- (a) Do you agree with South's hid +AI042 \IAIO 0AR7 +AQJ4 of Two Diamonds? If not, ''hat What should South bid? · altcrnati\'e do you prefer'? (h) What should South hid now? Problt•m No.4 ( 10 points) Problem 1'\o. 8 (10 points) l.m.p. scoring, love all, the bidding Match-point pairs, East-\\'cst \ul has gonc:- nerablc, tht• bidding has gonc:- Souut Wt.sr NmnH EAST Sount Wrsr t'oRTit f:.-\\T INT 2+ No J\1 Nn I+ No 3+ Nn N,, liNT ~hows 12-14 points). No South hulds:- South holds:- +72 \IQ7(,52 OKQ +AKJ4 +J4 ~,\QI0-0:! (>QJ1':! +O What \hould South hid'! What should Snuth k.td '? Yotl Say ... Readers arc im·ited to send letters on nl! ~ ~~bjccts to the Editor, B.B.W., 35 Dm·cr Street, London, \V.t. Referring to Mr. Poppett's I strongly support Mr. Pop letter in your October issue, it is pctt's suggestions (and, indeed, now several years since I wrote his remarks about "artificial nBridge scoring is arbitrary and A bonus for Five-level con is designed to prm•ide a framework tracts would enable minor-suit within which judgement, skili and, ~lam!. to be explored (as may to an extent, luck can operate. major-suit slams at present) with The decision whether to try a out ensuring the inevitable "bot risky 3NT in a pairs contest, in tom'' that Five Clubs and Five preference to a. safe Five of a Diamonds now give compared minor, is a good test ofjll(f.~ement, with, say, 3NT plus One. The so why object? extra reward for accurate bidding It is perhaps illogical to com is also plainly desirable in the plain about the extra scoring value case of say, Five Spades bid and of the first trick at no-trumps, as made rather than Four Spades it would be to complain about the plus One. high scoring-mlue of the black Your predecessor replied to at snooker. my letter to the effect that bidding More profoundly, suggestions has not yet reached such a point such as yours could in theory of accuracy that such a bonus is prol'ide an incentive for the im desirable: this seems to me to provemellt of bidding systems, but he tantamount to saying that bids would provide a corresponding nf Five, Six and Seven arc bad clisinccmh·e to the development of hids and should be avoided! juc/.~em£'11f allll woulcl n•duce the Bridge would he a dull game raricty of the problems which can without them. COI!(I'OIII 0/l(' at the tahfe. ·10 That is how I sec it, hut it E1rart Kempson is noted for the 11 ould be interesting to kno:r 1d:at ll'armth of his ric1n on the ''Top 1je1r officialdom takes. Unfor!ll of nothing" lead but I hare been natcly, the results of official dcli unable to rcr[(y that he commands heratiom seem to he regarded as orenrlrclming support. A majority ··Top Secret, for V.I.P.s only," of leading British players, both in as one of our readers once f' Conducted by A LAN H f. R 0 N October solutions: If you did not cr:tcr for the October competition, try your hand at the problems on page 24 before reading how the experts voted. The panel for the October competition trumps, but the opponents might well consisted of the following sixteen be able to cash the first three tricks. experts: Mrs. R. Markus, M. Buckley, Although North cannot hold many A. Dormer, G. C. H. Fox, J. Nunes, T. hearts, it is possible that he has a guard Reese, D. Rimington, C. Rodrigue, plus a Gufficiently good club suit to J. Sharples and N. Smart, all of London enable 3NT to roll. To bid Three Hearts, and the Home Counties; C. E. Phillips as endorsed by seven of the panel, of Cheshire; J. Besse of Rome; J. lc also works well if partner by some Dentu of Paris; H. Filarski of Amster happy chance is able to show a spade dam; K. Barbour of Massachusetts; and suit. But if he merely rebids his clubs, new panelist J. Van den Borre of Ghent. or bids 3NT, South has no assurance Problem No. 1 (10 points) that the best contract has been reached. Rubber bridge, North-South vulner NuNEs: 'Three Hearts. I have made able, the bidding has gone:- up my mind that I will probably bid SouTH WrsT NoRTH EAsT Five Clubs finally, but this will do as a 1<:? waiting bid." Dble 2<:? 3+ No BUCKLEY: "Three Hearts. Not that partner's next bid will make you much South holds:- wiser." +AKQJ <:?874 OKQ +K832 LE DENTU: "Three Hearts. Thirty What should South bid? years ago I would have bid Four Clubs, An.mw: Three Hearts, to; Four but nowadays I know that partner will Spades, 9; Four Clubs, 6; Five Clubs, 5; not pass this waiting bid. I expect we Three Spades, 4. will end in Five Clubs, one off." 111c panel's rotc: 7 for Three Hearts; I suppose that some of them might 4 for Four Spades (Filarski, Phillips, end in the best contract but it won't Sharples and Barbour): 2 for Four be with the aid of cohesive reasoning. Clubs (Reese and Rodrigue); I for For my money, any day of the week: Fi\e Clubs (Dormer); 2 for Three SIIARt•u:s: "Four Spades. Admittedly Spades (Besse ;md Fox). the hand can go to pieces on bad South is clearly worth a forward breaks, but everything points to part move, but in which direction? North ncr's hand fitting well. If Five Clubs South probably have the values to is on, then Four Spades is equally develop eleven tricks with clubs as likely to be made and ten tricks may 44 be the limit of the _hand. A bi~. of An.mcr: Three Diamonds, 10; Thrr:c Three Spades fails to stze up the posttton Hearts, 7; Four Diamonds, 5. for partner, who cannot be expected to The panel's rutc: 10 for Three Dia ai se to game holding +xx \;i'.n Oxxx monds; 4 for Three Hearts (~trs. ~AJxxxx. Three Hearts is equally Markus, Rodrigue, Buckley and purp..> clcss." . Dormer); 2 for Four DiJmonds (Reese PJIILLII'S: "Four Spades. ,yc may and Van den Borre). "Fourth suit rc;1sonably place partner with not more forcing" is widely p!Jyed nowJdJ,·s but than a doubleton heart, pluc; ~-.AQxxx the question of to what lrrcl it is f~rcin::: (or equivalent strength else·,..·hcre). Pros still seems a little uncertain. Or:; pects for game arc good, even though panelist suggests thJt the fourth suit he may have no more than two spades." at the l11rec level is forcing to gJmc. Exactly: if North has only a doubleton while the majority opine thJt ~orth heart, then he needs only two spades has undertaken to produce anot!:er to enable a force to be taken in dummy bid if South now makes a minimum without shortening declarer's trumps. rebid or gives simple preference. T .... o South will still have time to knock panelists, with their jump preference out the Ace of diamonds or set up the to Four Diamonds, are clearly afraid club suit while retaining control. of partner passing the simple pre If you must raise partner's clubs, ference bid of Three Diamonds. then Four Clubs seems about the right I would say that the middle theory quantitative call. But the editor, who has has greater logic, and that South CJn hcen reserving his energies during peacefully continue to paint the picture the last tw~ or three sessions of 100 tip, of his hand without fear of partner la~hcs out: drying up before he can complete the DoRMF.lt: "Five Clubs. This is painting. There is still the question of probably the only way to reach Six whether he should bid Three Di:~monds if North holds +xxx ~x OAxxx and hope that North CJn show debyed +AQ.1(XX." support for a major, or .... h::t~cr he You seem a trifle lavish with the should show five-five in the maJOrs by high cards you give to North. On those bidding Three HeartS. hoping to gi\e delicious holdings he might have found positi\'c diamond support bter. a more aggressive bid than Three Clubs Nur-.;Es: "Three Diamonds. Ditlicult; on the last round. Anyhow, I don't partner may have bid Three ~lubs Ill think that he would pass supinely sec if either or both of my mJJOrs arc 0\c:r Four Spades. rebiddable. Four Diamonds \\l~u!J Problem r"o. 2 (10 points) defeat this purpose so I m:uk tm1c Match-point pairs, love all, the and sec if partner has threc-c:mi surr_ort bidding has gone:- for me. lie has promised _further :~.:tt,~~ with his Three Clubs (forcmg to g.lmcl. Soullt WIST N01n11 EAST I+ No 20 No Fll.ARSI;I: "Thn:e DiamonJs. !'\,,rth 2t? No . . I ' be intcn:stcJ to he.lr 3+ No wtll certatn ~ ~ There i.; about our dtamond surr' ~t. . . . ·c South holds:- need to rebid the nuJ,1r sutb, ' no . J h. ,, ill let +AJxr,J I:?KJ7~2 OKH2 + North i~ at all mtcr~~~~: • ~; .. What ~hnuld South hid'? us know O\er Thr,·c Ot.tn1l'n,k DoRMtR: "Three Hearts. No need game, and l imagined that of the two to get excited, for partner has promised remaining calls, namely Double and to bid again. If I get a chance to show Two Spades, the superiority of Double positive support for diamonds my hand was manifest. will be pin-pointed as 5-5-3-0." REESE: "Double. Too much all round strength for Two Spades. My BucKLEY: "Three Hearts, forcing: partners arc trained not to pass the no need to do more. If partner bids double for panalt!c:> c;xcept on the only Four Hearts, that is likely to be enough: since Three Clubs was not perfect hand." RODRIGUE: "Doubk, followed by doubled there is likely to be wasted Two Spades, will show a hand too good stuff in the suit." for a jump overcall, and which also That seems reasonable to me, but fits the other suits." Three Diamonds has a large pre LE DENTU: "Double. Fifteen years ponderance of votes. One other thought: ago I would have bid Two Spades VAs DJ:s BoRRE: "Four Diamonds. but nowadays l feel too strong for This is a classical jump preference and this bid. If my partner passes this with the intelligent panelists of 100 Up double, why should they make it?" m1JJ/ ~trike gold." Aside from the fear of partner making Flattery will get you nowhere and a penalty pass, I was not powerfully you have struck only 5-carat gold impressed by other motives for re instl!ad of the maximum possible jecting the double: 10-carat. BARBOUR: "Two Spades. Maximum l•robl<·m No. 3 (20 points) for the bid, but it is unlikely to lead to a I.m.p. scoring, East-West vulnerable, missed game. I would prefer the the bidding has gone:- cunning underbid of One Spade to a SouTH WrsT NoRTH EAST double, which is likely to give rise to 1\? a difficult guess at an advanced level." With this spade suit I don't think South holds:- I would mind hazarding a guess at the +KOI08M \?- 0A82 +AJ93 Three level at least. And there is no (a) What should South bid? real reason to suppose that the bidding (h) What should South bid if West will be sky-high by the time we have had opened One Heart and this had to speak again, though Mrs. Markus been followed by two passes? is prepared . to bounce it there im An.nrerto(a): Double,IO;TwoSpades, mediately: 7: f-our Spades,4. MRs. MARKus: "Four Spades. Let 71rr panl'l's rote: 9 for Double; 6 everyone guess what I hold. I shall for Two Sp:Hics (Filarski, Phillips, make my game more often than not." Buckley, Dormer, Barbour and Van den Anmw to (b): Double, to: Two Borre); I for f-our Spades (Mrs. Hearts, 6; Two Spades, 4. Markus). Thr panel's rote: 10 for Double; A clo~er vote than I expected. The 4 for Two Hearts (Mrs. Markus, hund has not the quality for an im Phillips, f-ox and Rimington): 2 for mediate overcall in the opponents' Two Spadl!s (Dormer and V;m den !>Uit, even if this is not quite forcing to Borre). 4(, ~ ow the picture .c~angcs 5~i~: htly: ~1rs. ~tarkus has transferred her '" the protective poslt~~n all ~ld5 a r~ allegiance from a non-committal Four ~ c :~ ker than when made under t n:: ;;un . Spades to a more aggrcssi,·e plan: .\lthough it would have been a con MRs. ~1ARKvs: "Two Hearts. Al ~id erable overbid in the .first p ;1 r~ of .the though partner wasted strem:th in tion, Two Hearts IS now p ,~ss 1ble hearts, there is a chance for a ;lam as 35 an aggressive alternative . t? the East could not speak over his partner's bread-and-butter Double "l;;(n re One Heart." main~ the popular choice. Con:km.r.cd At the risk of seeming smug, I must by the majority of the panel<:<.. a ~--:; ncus record that on an almost identical underbid in the first part, Two Sp:!dcs hand in the Trials two years ago, a now has only two die-hard a..:r. '~i'cnts. double produced variously 800, 1100 Here's one of the chameleons: and 1400, with at best a problematical BARBOt:R: "Double. Now Two game for North-South. Spades docs not come ncar to showing Problem !'io. 4 (10 points) our values. There is the additional I.m.p. scoring, game all, the bidding point that, as East has failed to raise has gonc:- hearts, partner might pass for penalties. SouTH WEST NORTH EAsT Not having a trump to lead through No declarer will be at a disadvantage if this I+ No 2c.:;> !'o happens, but it may still be worth 20 Dblc 30 !'o much more than game." 3+ ? SIIARPLEs: "Double. The danger is that partner may pass with a relatively South holds:- fl imsy trump holding. One could of +52 ~7 OKQ98543 +AK2 course try a gambling Four Spades or What should South bid? e\en Two Hearts, which by modern Answer: 4NT (Blackwood), 10; Fi\e methods is only a slight stretch." Clubs, 8; Five Diamonds, 7; Four RtL'iF.: "Double. If partner passes, Clubs, 6; 3NT, 4; Four Diamonds, 3. you should collect 200 points, possibly The panel's rote: 6 for .tNT (Black 500. Certainly too strong now for wood); 3 for Five Clubs (Sharpl~s, TY.o Spades, and Two Hearts would be Dormer and Barbour); 3 for Fl\c un'iound." Diamonds (R-:ese, Filarski and \'an d.:n lfowever, the bogey of the penalty Borr~); 2 for 3NT (Nunes and Fo,l: PJ'i'i still haunted several panelists: I for Four Clubs (Smart); I for Four Fox: "Two Hearts. A double is Diamonds (Lc Dcntu). lc:\<; attractive now since partner is I fondly imagined that there mi~ht more: likc:ly to pass." be academic discussion o~ a. ~nc r~mt, whether . the stgmhcancc.: Clf Jlllll.I.IPs: "Two Hearts. The range name Iy, 'd' ~ ·t·Jtw of values for a jump overcall lie about N tl 's Three Diamond ht ts;l l'l.: c.; . I orr· It that it has been made fredy,O\eT a Queen Joy,er in the protective position, and Two Spades will be passed out on ~~~s;!~ double. But this fi~dy-c~:he ~ . k has been tmpatac.;nt 1 ~ m:my hands offering a fair play for qucst1on mar · 1 f t 'J nd tnmplc:J un .. cr ,x, Ka me. E4ually, I do not like doubling swept ;~st c a • . l . .t y ., p·tck of panelists e.l~er to nu c.; \\ith a \Oid since partner may pass , • . I . BIICl\H'<.''' \\ith un-,:ati">factory results." cue-hids :~nd S\\ ing t lear . ·\7 bludgeons. But maybe I do them an DoRMER: "Fiv~.: Clubs. In my view injustice-maybe they have weighed, Four Clubs would ha,·e been a cue-bid considered and rejected as unne.cessarily but it happens th:!t South can afford trivial the following argument: to insure against North's thinking Consider for the moment a hand differently and c;, n make this un equivocal slam try. /, further advantage such as +AQJx ~AKxx Oxx +tOxx. Suppose you open One Spade and rebid is that this extr:rv·agant, space-con Two Hearts over partner's Two Dia suming bid, scornir.~ exploration, will mond response: partner now continues reassure· North about the soundness with Three Clubs and, playing "fourth of the trump st;i~ . cue bid had one sup Filarski); 2 for Six Hearts (Phillips and porter: Van den Borre): I for 4NT (Dormer): SMAKT: "Four Club~. An alert I for Six Clubs (Buckley). partner (and I have no others) will Alert readers will have noted that appreciate that this is a game or slam this is the same as Problem 2 of the try in diamonds and is not based on October 100 Up with, however,· the some such holding as +OJxx." auction carried one round further. I would say that only a singularly Last month, twelve out of fifteen oh1use partner would read Four Clubs panelists selected Four Diamonds, ob as such but, allowing for :my such serving that this must be construe~! ambiguity: by partner as a cue bid agreeing hearts. 48 \ c: othcr"i.-;c South ~mulJ h!d 3~T. days. (\\'ith this remark I hcrcbv H e North could !>lgn ofT m 1 - ~ur admit to having passed from the rank-s Jfc.~rts if he wanted to, even w1th of dderly youngstersons to those of only four hearts. . the middle-aged cldersons.) .. The fact that North has not availed R:,!t:"GTo:--:: "Five Hearts. I hope himself of thi~ facility but has cho~en th;:t partner gets the message that I am pres ~ on .,., ith Four Spades sug~;csts 10 o~ly worried about the calibre of his that his force of Three ~fcarts was hc t: rt suit." h,1 d on a three-card su1t. If that fliiLUJ•s: "Six llearts. After the interpretation is correct a_ pass ~y T!•:(;C lfe;Jrt force (;J month at:ol, \\C South now stands out a m1lc, but 111 . ~·~ ~~n-oir:cd not to stop short of a slam ... fact the panelists spread their hopes .Buo:.u.v: "Six Clubs. Apparently ; nd a~pirations wide-from passing and 1 · f."-:-:ner has a fit in clubs, or, if not. h ping not to be doubled, right up to 0 he can always convert to Six Hearts:· planning grand slam tric~. RtL~t:: "No Bid. Four Diamonds FIL\RSKt: "Five Diamonds. All "as palpably an encouragement for partner nuy be waiting to he;Jr about hearts, and when that is spurned ...." is second-round control in diamonds before he can bid Seven Hearts. A clever Nusts: ''No Bid. Three Hearts bid, probably, would be Five Spades, docs not seem to have been a genuine but I'm not the hero to make usc of it." suit. Clearly partner had a good hand The mind boggles .••• "ith a shortage in clubs and was not quite worth an original force; he was Problem No.6 (10 points) left with Three Hearts as his only I.m.p. scoring, East-West vulnerable, forcing bid." the bidding has gonc:- BARRouR: "No Bid. I suffer from a SouTII WEsT NoRTH EAsT disadv;mtagc, answering from 3,000 INT Dble miles away, in not being able to sec ? "hat the panel thought of Four Dia (North's INT shows 12-14 points). monds last month. However I suspect South holds:- that partner's majors arc very like my +KI04 ~JI09876 ()- +AtOCJS minors, with only three hearts, and I What should South bid"? pa\~ before the axe falls." Answer: Four Hearts, 10; Three Very sensible too, I should say. Hearts, 7; Two Hearts, 5. Nevertheless, we will work our way The panel's rot~: 10 for Four Hearts: up the scale: 4 for Three Hearts (Besse, Phillips, D oRM! R: "Four No Trumps. Four Rimington and Buckley); 2 for Two Spadc'i cannot be the right contract Hearts (Nunes and Dormer). and this is an intelligent attempt to Quite an achievement, getting 'ot~s m:tke the best of matters, offering for three different calls in the same suit. rartner the choice of three final con The majority feel that in 'icw l'f tr;u.:t s: 4NT, Five Clubs or Five Hearts. South's distribution and intermediate "If North's spades arc strong enough canis there should be a fair play fM 111 rn;tl.e spades the best denomination, Four Hearts opposite the avera~..: \\C.tl.. then the previou'l bidding is faulty INT. Furthermore, the opponents C\cn hy the ~tandards of these decadent might well get the idea that they ~ue 49 bcin~ talked out of ~orncthing and bid La Revue Beige again, in which case th.: defensive pro-.pcc:ts again~t vulnerable opposition look delightful. du BAIWOUIC "Four Hearts. A bash, -Ti -;v;·dge but it i~ now impossible to investigate . ~~2~ s~~ · ~cicntilically. Three Hearts would be pre-emptive and a redouble docs not attract. Even if Four llearts is not on, Un programm:; r.:omplet pour the opponents might well have a nasty amotr~urs et experts guc~s to take-it is unlikely that their heart holdings arc sulliciently good to Direction technique: make a double look !'afc." A. Finklestein FII .ARSKI: "Four llearts. A slight overbid, justified by South's position over the doubler and all the inter Abonnement annuel mediate canis that he holds." ( 12 numeros) 220 frs. belges RII.SL: "Four llearts. Pray, what ebe '!" MRs. MARKtJs: "Four Hearts. I am really surpri~cd at this question. What 64, Avenue Louise, Bruxelles. docs it matter how many points anyone hao; got'! I may or may not make Four Hearts but I cannot hie/ less or more." that Two Hearts is the par contract." Buc,.;u.y: "Three llearts. It would he cowardly to bid only Two llcarts Well, I dare say that you would find and reckless to bid Four." another heart bid if the opponents tried Three Diamonds. Rl\llsmos: "Three llcarts. An ideal hand for the hid-the double has Problem r\o. 7 (10 points) a~~i~ted me to give an accumte dcs Match-point pairs, East-West vulner· l"ription of my hand." able, the bidding has gone:- Now, this middle-of-the-road school SouTu WEsT NoRTII EAsT I find hard to go along with. At this No ltft \Uiner;lllility I would have thought the hid far llCIIer employed as a purely South holds:- oh~tructive measure, rather than an +J \JAK987 OAJ742 +AS allempt to reach game if partner hokls What should South bid? the right cards. Reverse the vulner Anmw: One Heart, 10; Two llcarts. abilities :tnd there would llC a far beller 7; Double, 5; Two Clubs, 4. c:at-e for the bid to llC used in this sense. Thr pand's l'otc•: 8 for One Heart: 4 I hold far more brief for the extreme for Two Hearts (Rodrigue, Nunes, uppmite to the c:onfc!>!>cd hashcrs: Sharples and le Dcntu); 3 for Double l>oKMIIt: "Two llearts. At pairs one (Mrs. Markus, Dormer ami Van den l."a.nnot <~fford to court <~n unnecessary Borre); I for Two Clubs (Bud.ley). mmus ~core by a pre-emptive panic As some panelists point out, this type hid. There is e\ery reason to suppose of problem is an old favourite "ith 50 tor. Of the tlm.:c ctlb a·.a!l.+>:: bid \\hich can often be made on ~Ir o n:: P South, each has evil~ent d ;~; ; n! - two-s uited hands unsuited to a d o ub le :~· \ ntJ ~- To double, wtth~ut : li~Y RoDRIG UE : "T"o Hearts. Su!::::est t• ro~n c for spades. can be dt s;-,<.t rous you deduct points from anyone ~,~1 10 i :~ !>C 'cral ways, although thrc•!. <·.J- doubles." \ nturous ~o ul s were prepare;; !o LE Dl:'oillJ: "Two Hearts. Too stron;; , ~ 3 c their arms. A jump o·. ~ : 1 -. a:l for this bid but never mind, I dnn't in ! ca rt s, \\hilc about right as n· ~,;< , : c :;; feel that today is ripe for Or.e Heart rl.l)i ng !.trength, suggests a lx: t :~ · ;- ~~ r. and I don't like the double (rna) be I'm cr ~u i t with Jess all-round sire ~ ~~ ; :~ : because I have been told that I m tH t "he re.• ~ the simple overcall of 0 :·, :; not like it)." llc.t rl -- the bid which seems fur ; ~ · : ~ :; t rcmo,cd from the true value of !llc Problem !So. 8 (20 points) ~.:md- r cceive s most support from the Match-point pairs, Ea s t-We~t \ulncr r:mcl, 1\hn th ink that they arc reasonably able, the bidding has gone:- ccrwi n to ha\c later chances in the Souru WEsT NoRm EAsT ~u, t io n: 1\? I+ No J'o Ut "' : "One lie art. It seems un 20 2+ Dble No No ~0 likely that no one around the table South holds:- "ill mention the spade suit; anyhow +9642 \?K ()AJ73 +AJ62 a double has too many drawbacks." (a) Do you agree with South's bid Rt ,usc;m:-o: "One Heart. Someone of Two Diamonds? If not, \\hJt '' ~ urc to hid spades and I will have the alternative do you prefer? orrortun ity to correct any fal se im (b) What should South lead? rr ~"'in n s that I have given." Ansll'cr to (a) : Prefer Two Clubs, 10; HARRotJR: "One Heart. Only maso Agree with Two Diamonds, 5; Prefer cl i,ts and o\·cr-confident cscapologists 2NT, 3. . "ill double on th is hand. Mind you, Tlte panel's rote: 12 prefer Two Clubs; .\T (normally taken to show a diamond 3 agree with Two Diamonds (Reese. ! .trt t\\o-suiter over a club opening) Van den Borre and Lc Dentu); I for i, \Cry descriptive, but unfortunately prefer 2NT (Mrs. Markus). . }ou h:t\C about four defensive tricks too Jn the main, the panel saw ltttlt: m.my." cause for diverging from normal You may not hclicvc it, my boy, but pmcticc: responder should biJ tl~c m:my of us mer here in the Old Country lower of two four-card suits. In th_ts ·t ill play 2NT as showing a strong ca se the two suits could hardly l'll.: ~~~LI b.ll,lllrcd hand. to be wildly dispar;ttc in s tn:n~th. I \uppo\C that it's all right to double so there is no reason for unorthmlll\)'. if )uu h:l\e the following arrangement Providing that the opponents ~lo m't "'ll h )our partner: bid again O\'er Two Clubs, J'orth c;m MR \. MAR._ cs: "Double. My part r;ti sc clubs, rebid hearts or !>IW" a lll: t' llo llt>l e>.pcct me to hold spades diamond suit. On the othc~ h:tnd. 11 1 lx-cau\C I double One Club. Any O\'Cr T\\0 Diamonds, it m•!:!hl t-.: ' ll.~· r hid i' Mupid." inconvenient for him to ~how a cluh 1. ha 'l.' more \)' mpathy for: suit if he had one, and a ~~ ll,,1 duh Stt kl' tt ~ : "Two llcarts. A useful fit might }!Ct 0\Crl~loh·d . 51 BAJwouR: "No, prefer Two Clubs. I will proceed with Two Spades if partner improves on Dr. Johnson. rebids Two Hearts. This gives us the maximum chance of reaching a minor· It gives the bridrc player both suit fit or a heart or no-trump game. argument and u;;;; -: rstanding." Two Diamonds followed by Two Sp~tdes (!>fm1~ · .:· :ster Guardian) could easily miss a club fit, and Two Diamonds followed by Three Clubs T.EE could miss a no-trump game." BRIDGE J'.LAYER 'S . This sums thing.s up well and, as the DICfiONARY supporters of Two Diamonds only remark v:sguely, "There seems little by TERENCE REESE to choose between the two alternatives," we will proceed to the second part of Mayflower 21s. the problem. An.rwcr Jo (h): Small spade, 10; King of llearts, 5. Thr panrl'.s wtr: I I for a small spade; views, but a strong case was made for 5 for King of hearts (Filarski, Phillips, · leading the King of hearts to inspect Buckley, Van den Borre and Dormer). the wicket: DoRMER: ·"King of hearts. A good Most of the p ~ tnel pounced on this one. Ob!>erving that partner has bid problem. West's scanty possessions hearts and that South has a good hold probably include a diamond holding in both of the minor suits, they assume that he has judged to be well placed only a trump lead is required in order and it is certain that North's pitiful to ensure a respectable penalty. defensive nssets include a diamond R11 .sE: "Small spade. The hand can shortage. So, after the "obvious" play reasonably for declarer onlv if trump lead, East may have sufficient dummy goes down with a singl~ton · control to establish three diamond heart. You must beat Two Spades by tricks in addition to his five trumps. plenty if you can force a no-trump "The King of hearts lead may be the game upon declarer." first step in either a forcing or a ruffing LE DtNTU: "Small spade. For once defence, and in any case it will give I have no choice-I play trumps without South the opportunity to look at the looking nt my hand." table and formulnte the sort of hot B1 ssr:: "Smull spade. This is the first defence which will be needed in order time on this p~mcl that I know what to to justify his risky double." lead." Sound points all. In addition Buckley BAtWOUk: "Small spade. West must remarks that the heart lead is not l~ave raised on minimum v~llues and is likely to surrender a vital tempo should likely to have n singleton somewhere it become appnrent that the trump· ~-ulling down dummy's ruffs is mor~ pumping game beloved by the majority Important than getting them our is best; although, us we have Sl.'l:ll. selves." T.R. thinks thnt it might be disastrous. After those nnswers it may seem I must sit on the fence nnd share out hardly nccess.ary to consider contmry the marks nccording to the votes. 52 Directory of E.B.U. Affiliated Clttbs IUK~ IIIR t: W~J. evening' 6..1 ., !\.t on. after ,. 111 •r t-.(.i lhii>G£. Cu.: n, 35 Tcrr:•cc, pa ors lst and Jrd Thursday 1 ]n \~ c-enn~ ~,w .30 D~ ;- , .;.t : e Itt J on . Tel. Reading 52136. ~ 1 ·;. ~ . Sec. ~th Sun. a_fl_ernoons,team' 2nd a~d l:h.: •"-' a, J c. T. Hollo Conducted by G. C. H. FOX The noted brh~r;e tmch(r .and columnist continues his tuh·icc on tm·fics and scoring in match-point pairs contests. In high competitive situations, East's Three Spades he should when both sides arc bidding at a have bid Four Diamonds. It is high level, accurate judgement is wishful thinking to imagine that very diflicult. But in a match the opponents will not bid game pointed pairs event a wrong unless pushed. If South an decision on one hand cannot nounces diamond · support over !-.ettle the result of the contest Three Spades, he can leave the in the way that it can in an final decision to North. If North aggregate competition or in even passes Four Spades, South should a teams event governed by i.m.p.s. generally do likewise. It may be In close situations the rule, "If that Four Spades cannot be in doubt, bid one more," is made, and Five Diamonds may reasonably sound. You may prove too costly. North is best actually make your contract, or able to judge the position. you may push the opponents By waiting until the later round one too far. before advancing to Five Dia When vulnerability is favour monds, South shows a lack of the able and the possibility of sacri co-operation which is essential licing is greater, it is important in sacrificial situations. that support for partner's suit Another good tactical point he !-.hown early. Consider the to remember is this: if either you following s~:qucncc, East-West or your partner has opened with only h.:ing vulnerable: a pn.:-emptivc bid and the oppo SDll 1"11 WEST NORTII EAST nents have subsequently reached ,. 20 3+ game, do not he too hasty to No 4+ No No sacrifice. It is wisl! to ren11.:mhcr so that the opponents havl! hCL'll South's bidding is faulty. After (colllimwt! 011 f'ilgc• (d) 5-l DING WISE , . ;\':•na!d Crown discusses standard Briti~h o~'- '~ a.: ng n!ld tests your knowledge with a Sf>:.:: -:! ;:! qUIZ. 'fhis molllh his subject is "barra~c" or prc- c;: ,p:ir(', bidding. · ' A pre-emptive hid is an opening or 1400 penalty just to prevent hid at the level of Three, vi Four, the opposition scoring 600 in or even Five in the cas~ of a 3NT. It is generally agreed that minor suit. Similarly, a double one should be prepared to give a jump overcall when one of your maximum penalty of 500 if opponents has opened the bidding doubled, and this nleans that we j, aJ ·o pre-emptive: for example, should have six tricks for a non We'll opens One Diamond and vulnerable Three bid, and seven North overcalls Three Spades. tricks when vulnerable. Pre-emptive hids arc purely Examples: (btructive. When you arc dealt a long suit with little in the way Vulnerable: +AKQxxxx ~xx of high cards, it is likely that your Oxxx +x. Open Three Spades. opponents have correspondingly more high cards and may make .NOll-VUlnerable: +x ~XXX either a game or a slam. If you OAK 1Oxxxx +xx. Open Tlm~e have the opportunity of making Diamonds. a pre-emptive hid, you may either il·nce them completely or, by It is important to realise that pre\enting them from bidding a hand . which contains six or ith normal leisure and accuracy, seven tricks and a long suit is not dri\c: tiH:m into the wrong con automatically opened with a Thn:e tract. bid. If the hand contains normal Pre-emptive hid~ must, how def..:nsive strength it is opened ' \~o:r, lx- u~ed with a certain One. A pre-emptive bid explicitly :unouut of di.,crction. Obviously denies the values for a nnrm:tl )nu do not want to )'i\'l' an 1100 n1wning bid of OrH.'. 55 Pre-emptive responses bid. Your lcft-h::u~d opponent is much more Jikdy to double as It is rarely that we make a pre he knows that he c:m rely on his emptive bid when partner. h~s partner for t\vo or three tricks in opened the bidding. Thss IS defence. because partner is known to have a reasonably good hand and may Further, and thi;; i~ a point in fact be very powerful, so there which many cxp r;;-~\: nced players is no need to try to shut out the fail to realise, hi s double if made enemy. However, there arc ccrt~in \Viii be .the more cfic ctivc because hands on which a prc-emptsvc he is the better abk io judge what response can be made. Suppose · contract is on for his side. partner opens One Club and you hold: Responding to partncr·s pre-empt +x <;?KJlOxxxx Oxx +xxx One of the most difficult things in bidding is to know what to do A response of Three Hearts is when partner opens with a Three well-judged, inasmuch as it tells bid and you have a good hand. partner that your hand is unsuit A common fault among beginners able for play in any contract but is to bid 3NT over Three Dia hearts, and it also makes it very monds on some such hand as: dangerous for the opponents to hid spades. Further, and this is +KJxx BIDDING QUIZ You arc dealer and vulnerable. What do you open on each of the following? I. tAKJxxxx "KlO Oxx +xx 2. • Q J X X X X X " A X X 0 X X + X 3. tAKQxxxxx "x Ox +xxx (continued (}/1 next page) 57 BIDDING QUIZ (cont.) You arc not vulnerable. Your partner deals and opens Three Hearts. What do you say? 4. • A K X X X X 'V X X 0 A X + A X X 5. • X X X X X 'V K J X X 0 Q X X + X 6. • K J X X 'V Q X X 0 K X X +Q J X You arc not vulnerable and open Three Clubs holding: +Jxx 'V- OQxx +KQJxxxx 7. Your partner says Four Hearts. What do you bid? 8. Your partner says Three Spades. What do yo,.1 bid? ANSWERS TO BIDDING QUIZ I. One Spade, I0 points. The opponent has a very strong hand. hand is too good for an opening You must therefore carry on bid of Three, which generally partner's good work and. try to denies the values for a One bid. keep lefthand out. 2. No Bid, 10 points. The 6. No Bid, 10 points. You spades, although long, are rather have a fair hand but have no weak and an opening bid of Three certain tricks for partner; He Spades could result in your giving will have to struggle to make a large penalty. even Three Hearts. 3. Four Spades, l 0 points. 7. No Bid, 10 points. Partner Three Spades, 2 points. You have has taken charge. He knows the l'ixht probable tricks and exactly type of hand you have and there the right type of hand for an is no need for any action by you. opening bid of Four. 4. Four Hearts, 10 points. Your 8. Four Spades, 10 points. Part quick tricks mean that there ner has a good hand and a strong should be a good play for game. spade suit. His bid is forcing It is unlikely that Four Spades and you have an ideal hand on could present a better contract. which to raise to game in his suit. If by any chance your partner 5. Fi"e Hearts, 10 points; Four were to continue with a slam try, llt•arts, 3 points. Both you and you should be willing to co your partner arc weak and it operate by showing your heart seems certain that your lefthand void. 58 AYINQ WISE . Dan ~urgess ~mprovcs your card play with IllS specmlly designed problems. This month he collfinues his adrice on rl:c :;election of the opening lead. A large proportion of succ ~ ssful The first four arc examples of contracts would be broken if the "unbroken" sequences and the defenders always made the right lead from these is the top card, opening lead. Sometimes the while the last three arc "broken•· lcction of the opening lead is and the lead is the top card of the just .. a view," but on other interior sequence. occasions you will hold a sequence It is very important that your and in that case you will seldom partner should be able to rely on need to look elsewhere. A lead you for the correct lead from such from a sequence which includes holdings. He will then be able three or more high cards will to co-operate with confidence. ldom give a trick away and There are players who think it will frequently prove a good clever to make "deceptive" Icads attacking move. from these holdings, but they Here is a list of sequences of deceive their partners far more cards and the correct leads to be than they deceive the declarer. made from them. It makes no The result is that, when they make difference if you hold small cards a correct lead which could be in the suit in addition to the devastating, their partner is too uential cards. suspicious to rely on them and Sequence Lead the chance is lost. K Q J K Now we shall take a few ex- QJJO Q amples of the leads given ab~vc J 10 9 J and took at them from the ponll 10 9 N 10 of view of the partner of the open K J 10 J ing leader. In each case the K 10 9 10 co~ltract is JNT and this is what Q 10 9 10 you sec: (see next pagt') 5<) Lead Dummy You tell your partner to continue the (I) K XXX Ax suit. Encourage him by playing the highest card you can afford, (2) K X X A 9 X (3) Q Kxx A X X the 9. This is a "come-on" (4) Q XXX Kx signal. (5) 10 XXX Q X X In (3) your partner's lead had (6) 10 J X X Kxx two objects: the first, the certain (7) J X X A X X one of preventi:":z declarer from (g) J Q X X A X X winning tricks in the suit except In (I) you know that your with the Ace or King; the second, partner's King can win the trick. the hopeful on~ · that he might If you allow it to do so, he will trap the King, should it be in probably continue with the Queen dummy and should you hold the (imagining that the declarer is Ace. His hopes have been holding up the Ace). Now you realised and you will, of course, will have to win his second lead withhold your Ace until the King with the Ace and will be unable is played. to continue the suit. Unless your (4) is similar to (1) in that you partner can regain the lead in are again in danger of "blocking" time, you may have the mortifi the suit. You must put the King cation of watching declarer make on the first trick, . otherwise you nine tricks while your partner may find yourself winning the sits fuming as his winners wither second trick with the King, unable in his hand. to continue the suit. (Incidentally, By withholding the Ace on the partner will be able to deduce first round you "blocked" the that you have only a doubleton, suit. You should have "un since you would give a "come-on'' blocked" by putting the Ace on if you had more than one card his King first time so that you besides the King.) could return your small card. It In (5) your partner may have is true that this play might cost nothing higher than the 10, in for example, if partner's holding which case declarer has AKJ and were KQJx and declarer's 1098x it doesn't matter what you play. hut it will prove profitable far In case, though, your partner's more frequently. lead was from Kl09 or A109, In (2) you need not unblock at you should play the Queen. Later trick one since you have three you may be able to gain the lead cards in the suit, hut you must and push through a small card. ·ng that partner's ~9 stand and Queen sitting over your Ace dy to silence declarers Jx. and _you arc unlikely to stop him In (6) your partner"s lead has makmg two tricks. uccccdcd in its object of ncu- In (8) of course you withhold tralising the Jack. Supposing the Ace unless the Queen is Jarer has Ax or Axx: whatever played. If partner has KJ 10 his docs. you and your partner Jack will win. If he has only n restrict him to one trick, JI09, then you cannot stop r. hcrcas if partner had led small declarer winning one trick but, and dummy had played low you by allowing him to win the first •ould have put on the King, and trick with the King, you stand dum my's Jack would ultimatt:iy ready to kill the Queen later. ha\'C provided a second trick for · I have not, of course, dealt larcr. with all the possible leads from Now suppose instead that de sequences but perhaps you can clarer has AQx. We shall still sec the underlying principle. One gai n by withholding the King if of the objects of the lead of an dummy plays low. If we were honour is to isolate an unpro to release the King, then the Ace, tected honour in dummy. There Queen and Jack would all take fore partner, holding one of the trich. top cards, must always ask him In (7) the Ace should be played self, "Is my honour best em in the hope that . partner has ployed in lying in wait to cope KJ 10, so that when you return with dummy's high card, or docs the suit declarer's Queen is caught the situation demand that I play under your partner's K 10. If high without delay?'' panner's Jack is his highest card, Next month we shall deal with then declarer has both the King some more difficult situations. G. C. H. FOX Continued placed in a difficult situation by way. If you have pushed them you r barrage and they may have too far, you will probably get a had to guess. good result anyway. If you have . Again, suppose the opponents not and they make it douhkd, ~-d Four Spades and you save in you will get a very poor score ~ !ve Diamonds. They decide to indeed. To register a plus score h•d fi\'c Spades. Don't be in a with bad hands is almost certain hurry to douhl~:. Look at it this to produce a good result. 61 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS S!- per line. Special terms for a series BRIDGE CLUBS Al"D HOTELS JJOIJRl"iE~10UTJI, CA:-.iFORD CI~IFFS Goo.d stan~ard ~rid;;e in enjoy.abh: atmosphere RtVIIIIA Hon:L. Tel.: Canford ChiTs 77345. Sess10ns tw1ce daoly. Partnership and Dupli~t · Open teams of four every Saturday evening c. Facn Chine and sea, licenced, 35 room~ •.Cordon 1.0:"000:'11 . Hleu table excellent cellar. A good cut an g~me j, availabie to resident vi\itor~. in our hndge GRA!' TUITIO~ NICO GARDENER auarantccs to impro\e PERFECT YOUR BRIDGE under cham- ~ your aame. Tuition, practice classes and lectures pionship guidance. Private or Group Tuition. ~II under personal supervision; also postal course. l'racticc classes. Duplicate coaching. Master rbe London School of Bridge, 38 King's Road, Points contests. Lectures. Folder free from Londnn, S.W.3. 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