The British Bridge World

Editorial Board BERNARD WESTALL (CHAIRMAN) GEOFFREY BUTLER KENNETH KONST AM TERENCE REESE (EDITOR)

vol. 15, NO. 9 CONTENTS SEPTD1BER, 1964 Page Editorial 5-6 Kaplan on Ethics, by Edgar Kaplan 7-13 Annals of Ruff's Club, by Terence Reese 14-15 Tournament World, by Harold Franklin 17-31 The Watcher 32-34 One Hundred Up: New Problems 35 The Downward Slope, by Terence Reese 37-41 Official Handbook of the World Olympiad reviewed by Terence Reece 43-46 One Hundred Up, conducted by Alan Hiron ... 47-55 Bridge Academy, conducted by G. C. H. Fox ... 57-61

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The announcement by Messrs SCROOGES? De La Rue that the British I believe that the keen players Bridge World is to cease pub­ ·who arc the lifeblood of the lication can have its bright side tournament game arc anxious to if it inspires the English Bridge pay what is reasonably necessary Union to bring out its own news for proper administration and bulletin. Britain is one of the promotion. How much longer is few bridge-playing countries with progress to be thwarted by a few no official medium. (By contrast, County Associations whose mem­ the Netherlands Bridge League bers are alleged to be firmly magazine goes to all its 20,000 opposed to an increase in the members as of right.) There is present derisory subscription, no substitute for the written word which is hardly worth the trouble in keeping players in touch with of collection. Who are the the game and \yith each other, Scrooges who, whilst \\illing to publicising the master points benefit from countless hours of scheme and adding zest to the honorary work gladly put in by tournament programme.- club tournament directors, County Some change of heart will be and Club secretaries~ and so on, needed. In the past, full ad­ are too \ mean to pay _such a vantage has not been taken of trivial subscription as, say, a opportunities. Now officialdom guinea per year? If such people needs the energy to provide its exist, they certainly arc not regular own finance as well as the will to tournament players, for these publicisc. gladly pay ou( much larger sums

In January 1965 the British Bridge World will merge with Bridge Magazine. The two magazines have run together In friendly rivalry for many years, but It had long been felt that they should be united. Every subscriber to the British Bridge World will shortly receive a letter explaining the conduct of the merger.

5 bridge at universities and adult in the enjoyment of our great education centres? \Vould inter­ game. national players with a professional The present nominal s~bscr~p­ interest in the game object to tion may keep a few tnacttve paying their own expenses at members on the nominal roll, European Championships while and it may be possible to go official funds are short? back to it when adequate funds These and many other topics are available from other sources, must surely occupy the minds of as they will be when the game is our administrators. Perhaps properly promoted. Meanwhile, when the E.B.U. has its own it is important to raise money for bulletin there will be a greater basic priorities. tendency to keep the public informed.

TWO-\VAY TRAFFIC A more realistic contribution PASTURES NE\V by the , members would entitle The sad news of the impending them to expect a more realistic closure of the British Bridge attitude by the authorities. World coincides with the coming Officialdom must stop acting as into effect of my resignation as though bridge administration were editor, tendered last April wh.en "Top Secret, for V.l.Ps only". I took up an appointment ~ttth The rank and file want information the American Contract Bndgc on many things. What progress League. My sincere thanks go has been made in setting up a to the contributors who, as 1 national H.Q. and shop window believe, made the magazine a for bridge? Is the E.B.U. suf­ lively and authoritative voice fer ficiently businesslike in its attitude bridge. to hotel managements? What is the inside story behind the quiet I am fortunate enough to ha'c dropping of the .. Butler" method taken 's place in tb: of conducting international trials? A.C.B.L. Bulletin setup. Truscott Is it true that individuals exerted himself has succeeded to . th~ behind-the-scenes pressure? Arc dtstmgtushc. . . d posttton . . of ~ndt:~- some tournament directors' fees editor to the New l'ork Timt'S. higher in England than in the followmg. the rcstgn.ltiOt. . · 1 afta "t Netherlands ;md Scandinavia? many years of the gr~.t ' \li'crt What is being done to encourage 1\torehead. 6 KAPLAN ON ETHICS

At 38, Edgar Kaplan ofTh~ Card School, 1\'~~· York. is not only a famous t~ach~r. player and writa; h~ is also all actir~ administrator. In this intari~w .,.,.ith "The Bridge Journal," he explains the ethical conapts which the Gr~ata New York Bridge Association ar~ fostering in tournaments held under their jurisdiction.

BRIDGE JoURNAL: In yourl~"One should not allow partner's article, "Ethics, Huddles and Pro- · hesitation, remark or manner to test" (, January influence one's call, lead or play." 1964), you indicated that you felt What the Protest Committee has there was a clear distinction been doing in New York tourna­ between certain common viola­ ments is to enforce this Propriety tions of the proprieties, such as taking action owing (perhaps very strictly, giving re-dress to subconsciously) to partner's hesi­ players who are damaged by tation, and cheating, via such violations of it. methods as private signals or In deciding protests, we guide prior knowledge of hands. Ac­ ourselves by this interpretation cepting this distinction, let us of the rules: no player 1dro has first discuss these huddle situa­ receired unauthorised information tions. You have indicated that from his partller 1ri!l bt• allowed to you think that "dropping" 11 profit by any doubtful action 1rhiclz points on the table via a slow pass he takes .whscqucnt(r. The key should be treated similarly to question is not whether a player dropping a card face up on the actually did take ~tdvantagc. (No table. Granting the greater dim­ one has ever ~tdmitted to a com­ culty in establishing the facts in mittee that he was inllucnccd by the former case, what specific partner's huddle; invariably, the rules would you promulgate to otrcnder states that he ''auld handle the case? haw taken the action anyway, KAI'LA!'I:: It is not necessary had not noticed the huddle. etc.) to promulgate any new rules. The deciding factor is "hcther a The section of the Laws devoted player could har,• taken advantage. tn Proprieties states, in part, If his action was not ck.:u-cut 7 and if it could have been based, South huddled before passing subconsciously perhaps, on illegal Six Clubs. North held: information, we award an ad- .xx y>Kxxx OQJxxx .xx justed score. . We allowed the result to stand. Obviously, this results m an The six heart bid was not doubtful occasional injustice to the offend­ action; and it could not have ing side. A player might well been based on th~ huddle (which, have been about to take the win­ if anything, might tend to show ning action regardless of partner's defence and stop the sacrifice). huddle; we cannot read his. mind. (C) NORTH EAST SOUTH WFST Thus, it becomes a disadvantage I+ No 3. No• to tip your hand to partner; it can No Dble No 3NT hurt your side instead of the No No No enemy. In consequence, we expect Ov~r Three Spades, West made fewer huddles, softer doubles and what may have been extensive fewer antics all round. inquiries as to the meaning of BRIDGE 0 JOURNAL: Can you Three Spades, and passed only give us some examples of typical after being assured that it was rulings? forcing. East, vulnerable vs. KAPLAN: Here are three recent non-vulnerable, had reopened cases. holding: {A) NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST +x y>Jxxx OKxx +QJxxx 1. tNT 2. No* The committee considered this No Dble All pass to be a close case, since East West had huddled noticeably might easily have reopened any­ before passing; when East re­ way once the psyche was expose~ . opened the auction, the director But he might not have, too; hiS was called. He allowed play to action was not automatic. So proceed and East-West scored we awarded North-South plus 300. East's hand was: 140 for Three Spades making •Qtox <:?AKx OQJxx +Axx (it probably would have bc~n We awarded an adjusted score mad~. 0 -down two undoubted. BJUDGE JouRNAL: How c:1n 11 (8) NORTH EAST SOUTH \Vr:ST be ascertained that a bid w:s No No 3<:? 4+ based in any way on partner s No 4NT No 5. action? No 6+ No* No Consider th1s. s1tuatto . · n• for 6<:? Dble All pass example: 8 Match-point pairs. North- case? South vulnerable. East holds: KAPLA~: 1 would not be inter­ +x C,Qx OQxxx +AKQJIOx ested in East's reasoning. He The bidding: took most unusual action after SoUTH WEST NORTH EAST · receiving help from his partner 1\() No 2+ ? and is not entitled to benefit from West took considerable time it. 1 would award average-plus before passing over One Heart, to N~rth-South, average-minus and South is known to be a to East-\Vest. straightforward player, not given BRIDGE JouR~AL: In your article to psychics . (particularly with un­ you said that the committees favourable vulnerability). East should publicise the concept that can be quite sure,· looking at his to request protection from the own cards, that West does not director after an opponent hud­ have a good hand. Why the dles is not to accuse the opponents huddle? Obviously, West has a of cheating; that it is not only a desperately weak ·hand, perhaps player's right but his duty to do with a ·long diamond suit, and so. What action has been taken was contemplating some sort of along these lines, either in New obstructive action. It is a sure­ York or elsewhere? thing bet that West docs not have KAPLAN: \Ve have had a series a balanced 8-count, the sort of of articles in the GNYBA news hand that would defeat a slam. bulletin, Post .\!ortem, and will Without the huddle East would have more; we had a forum on probably b.id Five Clubs. \Vith Ethics at the Eastern Rcgionals. the extra information given by The New Jersey Bridge League the huddle East can bid Seven has re-published excerpts from Clubs with perfect confidence my Brid..r:e World article in their that he is not buying a phantom. · publication, and adopted it as This call will certainly fix North­ official policy. South, and it would be very BRIDGE JOURSAL: It has been difficult to pin anything on East. our experience, and the experience After all, he could argue, South of others, that when we call a opened and North jump-shifted, director to protect us in such a so I knew my partner had noth­ huddle situation we are always ing. "The huddle didn't influence at a disadvantage. The director, me at all. first of all, acts as though we an: How would you rule in this making an accusation of cheating, 9 and the burden of proof of damage received poor treatment at the falls on us. Secondly, if the hands of committees (outside of director rules that we have not New York, of course). The usc been injured, we must, if we dis­ of "hesitation Blackwood'' has agree, protest to a committee, been condoned so often that some under the threat of disciplinary people arc considering listing it action if the protest is ruled on their cards! How would you "frivolous." Thirdly, if the advise a player to react to such a director feels there is merit to our situation? argument, he docs not take any KAPLAN: You must work action (perhaps because he does through the local units and com­ not have a set of specific penalties mittees, persuading the key mem­ to apply). Instead, he tells us bers. Better still, become a key to refer it to the committee. member yourself. The New We must convince the committee Jersey Bridge League has been of the situation as we have already persuaded to adopt our attitude convinced the director. Players towards protests, and many other let the matter die rather than go units will follow if they arc through this process. What can approached. be done about this? BRIDGE JouRNAL: Leaving the KAPLAN: We arc trying very question of the opponents' ethics hard to sell the idea that ·it is not for a while, let us consider some an accusation of cheating to call ethical problems we have had. the director to protect your rights How should one behave when after a huddle. In New York, his opponents show him their the directors arc sold on this cards? How often should one already-ha.lf the protests we tell them to hold their hands act on arc made by the offending back? Is it ethical to take adva~­ side protesting the director's rul­ tagc of information obtained th• 5 ing. And the director is always way'! present when the protest is heard. KAPLAN: This is a simpk on~. BRIOGE JOURNAL: Having indi­ You arc not entitled to r~~kl. cated the way in which the people but you arc enttt. I cd t o ·s•'!!-:lll ~ l ,, S''ll Tdl who arc at the head of our organi­ act on w1atI you I1:1\c . ~:~: · . sations can improve matters, what Your OJ)poncnts to hold th~ ~ r !nil· advice can you GfTer players who cards back as often and !!lllP · • have to play under present con­ cally as possible; alter. •'111 • ·\l hl ditions? Many of us have 'Pl ,,. have already seen, and t Ill! l 10 nents will be working for you played as though they had seen when they leave your table. all the cards and to inform him BRIDGE JouRNAL: Some part­ of our observations, in the (ap­ nerships have many more agree­ parently vain) hope that he can ments than could possibly be get a "book" on this pair, if they listed on a convention card. Is persist in getting these "lucky"' this a violation of the proprieties? results. This, however, doesn't We _are not thinking of specific help a score on the hand. Pro­ "conventions" with names but testing to the committee seems things which have broad meanings fruitless, since we can never in "standard" methods. What PROVE that they had advance approach should we take to this information. problem? Stan Palmer reports this hand KAPLAN: My own feeling is from a recent tournament in that matters of partnership style Philadelphia: do not have to be announced. : West, holding 6-2-3-2 distri­ The opponents must be made bution with AQxxxx of spades, aware of (I) bids which sound KJ of hearts, and three or four strong but arc weak (or vice more points somewhere, opened versa); (2) bids which indicate the bidding One Club. His partner length in suits other than the bid One Heart, and he bid One one named. All agreements in Spade. When his partner rebid these categories should go on Two Hearts, he raised to Three the card. Anything else may Hearts. His partner passed. properly be the subject of a ques­ Three Hearts was easily made. tion by the opponents. If they and since his partner had 0-5-4---4 do not care to know, that is their shape, no other contract had a headache. chance.

BRIDGE JouRNAL: Now for the Stan protested to the director. '-JUestion of VERY unethical con­ who questioned the opening bid­ duct o,r even outright cheating. der. "I was just fooling around." flow can you, the committee, or he said. The director took the any player distinguish between a matter to AI Sobel, who was the result obtained hy dumh luck. ­ head director. When Stan !Jter and one due to prior knowledge asked Sobel what he was going of a hand'! We have made it a to do, he told Stan that nothing practice to go to the din:ctor could be done! Stan insisted that after a round on which opponents he would like to take the matter 11 to a committee. The directors actions by his opponents, parti­ conceded that this was his right, cularly when he obtains a good and informed the other pair, board. This puts you in a much now 3 tables away, that a meeting better position, since you <~re of the committee had been called now acting as a public-spirited and that they were requested to person, and not in your own self­ appear. "Give them the board," interest. For example: said these players. "We have a NORTH lousy game anyway, and we don't + Q lOx want to be bothered with com­ \:}J 109x mittees and such." No further OJ109x action was taken in the face of +AK this highly suspicious behaviour, WEsT EAST and the matter died there. +Kxxxx +x Would you care to comment? \:}A8x \:} KQxx KAPLAN: No committee will 0 X X X 0 AQx ever award redress because your +xx +QIOxxx opponent made a bad bid and SOUTH got a good result. However, you • A J 9 X are quite right to report any \:}X X particularly suspicious occurrence 0 K8 X to the director. We keep these + J 9 X X hands on file, and a series of Match points "lucky" bids lands a suspect Both sides vulnerable before the Conduct and Ethics SOUTH committee. You will not improve NORTH EAST 1NT No No your score when you report these No No Dblc No cases, but you arc doing a service to the game. No No Result: 1100 to North-South BRmGE JOURNAL: This leads In this constructed hand, North directly to my view of the best opened with a weak no trump. way to get the goods on those and East made it clc"r that h~ whose actions rob the majority had a terrible problem. I!~ of players of much of the enjoy­ ·grabbed for the card, studi~J .~~: ment of the game. We feel that asked, "Is that a weak no trump · every player should consider it \Vest had an .. automatic" b3l.1net:. his OBLIGATION to report to of course, and he hid Sou~ the committee any untoward 2.. applied the axe, and they clfl 12 West out in a wicker basket. of the "honour code.. of brids:e A North-South pair which sat you should report it. _ But d~ back and enjoyed their top, and not expect redress-the committee took no further action, would, in is not likely to decide that your our opinion, be guilty of derelic­ opponents arc crooks on the tion of duty. They should evidence of one or even two deals. definitely report this East-West What you arc doing is to build pair to the ETHICS committee up a dossier for future action if (not the Tournament protest com­ your suspicions are verified. In mittee, since they do not seek contrast, if you are damaged by, redress). say, an inference drawn from a huddle, which· we treat as a Do you think this is the right technical violation of the rules thing to do? similar to an exposed card, you KAPLAN: No, I disagree with will be protected against damage. you here. My view is that there If you have not been hurt, do not is a clear distinction, not of degree call the director-just as you do but of kind, between this sort of not when you are a defender and improper conduct and cheating­ declarer exposes a card. clipping boards or having private \Ve hope to discourage the signals. If I think I have been invitational pass, the tentative cheated, I will report the matter penalty double, and hesitation regardless of the result. However, Blackwood not by stigmatising I do not regard a player who or suspending the violators but draws inferences from partner's by making it a disadvantage to mannerisms as a cheat. Most of break the rules. Once it becomes the time, this type of violation is evident that there is a penalty not fully deliberate; every player attached to these violations, they I know, even the most scru­ may become as rare as revokes. pulously ethical, has offended against the Proprieties once or BRIDGE JoURS.-\L: By the way, twice. So I report these cases what is the right time to call the only when I feel that I have been director in a situation like that damaged and am entitled to one? Should you call as Sl)On redress. as East huddk:; and pas es '! Suppose East huddks ~tnd then Note the distinction. If you fed bids something. Should you call that you have been damaged by, then'! Should you call for pro- s~ty, a private understanding be­ tween your opponents, a violation (contil::~t·d 0!1 r ~r_:;l' ~6) IJ [Annals o/ J}(uf/' s @fub "An Oil Well in Texns" An episode in Terence Reese's faTnous series,

"What's wrong with the Com­ NOR Til mander?" said Pamela Deuceace · Miss Sloe to her husband when she called + K 5 at the club late one afternoon. . ~ A-107 "He just passed me in the hall 0 ~52 '. looking positively sea-sick." . . ·· +AK643 "Poor old Scroop," · laughed · WEST EAST George. "Everything happens to Mrs ~ -Niceways 'Scroop him. I'll tell you on . the · way . + J 9 · ·. · · • Q 8 7 4 home." .~ · 8 6_.S:4 2 \J K Q J Scroop, it appeared, had played · O Q J' 10 9 . 0 7 6' the last rubber of the afternoon + Q I 0 + 9 8 52 in partnership with Mrs. Nice- SotiTH ways against his old enemy; Hoosego . Humphrey Hooscgo, and little + A 10 6 3 2 Janet Sloe. Both sides were vul- · ~ 9 3 ncrable when Mrs. Niceways dealt 0 A · K 4 3 as follows: (next column) + J 7 Hoosego liked to play the weak partner----~~------~~ to call the suit im· no-trump even when vulnerable mediately above-that is, Four so when Mrs. Nic~ways passed: Spades.. The advantage is th at Miss Sloe, following instructions, the opening lead goes up to the opened I NT on her 14 points. strong hand. · . Scroop passed and Hoosego hid · "Well, you can imagine: what Four Hearts. hap~e. ned," went on Deuceace. This was not a misnomer. "I was playing at the next tahk Among the modern conventions and suddenly I heard a squl'al which Hoosego favoured ·was from Sloe: and when I lool..e 1 "Texas," whose object is to place across there was llooscgo ll' l'kin ~ the declaration in the hands of like thunder and Sloe practi c al!~ the player who has made the no- underneath the table: with lllNt i· trump call. When llooseco bid tlcation when she n:aliscd she h. 1 Four lll'arts he was din:cting his lc:ft her partner in a cornc:nt i('l!lJ! 14 hid. Of course it was Hoo~cgo's ~ORTH own fault for nagging at the girl throughout the rubber." ~A 107 Mrs. Niceways opened the ·­OS Queen of diamonds against the + 64 3 contract of Four Hearts and WEST EAST Hoosego won in hand with the • Q8 Ace. At this point came Miss ~86542 ~ K QJ Sloe's exclamation, and when the ·­0 J 10 0- "accident" had been explained to +- + 9 g Mrs. Niceways she declared that SOUTH she couldn't possibly take advan­ • 10 6 3 tage and the hand must be thrown \? 9 3 in. · Scroop dissented: 0 43 "A most unfortunate affair," +- he said, "but I feel we ought to with ~7, a club with \?9, a sp:1de play in accordance · with the with ~10, and the Ace of trumps. regulations." "You should have heard Hoo­ After Hoose go had . rattled off se go cackling, .. concluded Deuce­ three Ace-Kings this. was the ace. "And I'll tell you another pos1t1on: (next column) funny thing: so far as I c~m sec, Four more tricks were easy to Four Hearts is the only game find by way of a spade ruffed contract that can be m:1dc !"

RESULT OF AUGUST COMPETITIO:". This monlh's proved to be a vay low scoring compctitil,n; in r:~rticul.tr th.: panel's choice of five Spades in answer to the second part of Pro~l.:m ~ c:luJin); all lhc compclilors. There were a lot of \'Oics for 4NT (Biack\\ooJ) in Prot-!.:m 6, hul of course this would normally b\! taken as a qu:tntitativc raise in :"o-tru:ll;''. and the panel omitted this hid from thcir voting. Winner: .\f,u·. ((\) C. W. HArroN, 15 Manor Road, South llinkscy, 0 .\fMd. ~7 l:qual St•cund: R. W. LucAs, 4-J Lalh:fonl Road, Luton, Ji.:dforLlshirc. :Con·s: 1.. G. Wooo, 1\::!; T. ~It neAt r, Sl; II. Jt,II'-"Ll..,, ~0; K. R. 1 Snut \'t s, 79: C. J. PAs~tr-;s, 75; 11. S. RniiiS,os, J. E. GL1ltPO,, ~~''" \\'. Jt\\:-.< '· A. A. Wto

Some rurthc·r l:OUd ~t·nn· .. In tht• .lui)' t'UIIIJ~: titiun lH'n': J. K. Ktwt'i (llolbndl, SJ; Clltcoto Dtt. BKIIKot tTrit:~td,l-0; J. \\'. Gllll.:l"' lllnlhmdl, 77; W. Snltlrll (fi,,JJ.tndl, 7J. 15 The best-known players in British Bridge will be competing in the EASTBOURNE CONGRESS

.. The Ascot of "

to be held from 9th to 12th OCTOBER

Entries should be sent to: Mrs. E. GRAY, 13 Highams Hill, Gossops Green, · Crawley, Sussex

Includes the famous TWO STARS PAIRS CHAMPIONSHIPS

16 TOURNA ENT WORLD

Harold Franklin reports on the big Inritation Pairs which iras staged as part of the recent Deauville tournament.

Madame Ansay, for many years elegant setting of the Casino the leading lady of French bridge, and for two or three hours the showed a talent for organisation Bridge-0-Rama theatre took pre­ to match her flair at the table cedence over one of the most when she succeeded in bringing famous gaming rooms in Europe. together for one tournament eight The scoring was based on what pairs who were united by the has come to be known as the ~ommon factor of having held a Butler method. The mean of all World championship. The current four results was taken as a datum titleholders were represented by figure and by comparing their Belladonna and A varelli, D'Alelio own score with that figure the and Pabis Ticci, France by pairs produced an i.m.p. score Ghestem and Bacherich, Jais and for each board. The i.m.p. score Trezel, the U.S.A. by Stayman was finally reduced to victory (three times world champion in points with eight v.p.s. at stake post-war years) · and his current in each match. partner, Mitchell, runners-up in This was a less-than-ideal ap­ the recent Olympiad, Britain plication of the Butler method and fielded three pairs-Reese and it was clear that there might be Schapiro and Konstam and Mere­ certain inequalities in the score: dith, all members of the team it was equally clear that only a which won the World Champion­ pair who played well could finish ship in 1955, and Mrs. Markus on top. A gathering of world and Mrs. Gordon, current holders experts found it impossible to of the Women's \Vorld Champion­ forecast the winners as between ship and of the Olympic title. six pairs. It was generally be­ Each evening they were to lic\'cd that the bdies. outstanding play a match of 16 boards in the in their own field. might be a 17 little outclassed in this m?st Four Spades was Jais, who re­ select company and that Mered1th ceived the same opening lead. and Konstam might pay the He won the first trick in hand price of not having played to­ and played an immediate spade gether for many years. finesse. South won, continued with two top diamonds and a Round 1 third diamond which his partner Jais - Trezel lost to A varelli - ruffed, and himself ruffed the Belladonna, 2-6. D'Alelio - heart return for a two trick set. Pabis Ticci beat Konstam- Mere­ The spade suit featured in dith, 7-J. Reese - Schapiro beat another chapter of misses and Stayman - Mitchell, 6-2. Mrs. near misses on board 8. West Gordon - J.frs. Markus lost to dealt with neither side vulnerable. Ghestem- Bacherich, 1-7. NORTH Konstam and Meredith opened +AK965 proceedings on 'Rama against \/ J 54 D'Alelio and Pabis Ticci. On 0 J 8 6 the very first board D' Alelio's +Q6 technique was put to the test: WFST EAST WEST EAST +87432 • 10 + J 10 9 8 3 +AQ4 \/ 10 \/KQ632 \/ K J 3 \/AQ86 0 Q 3 0 9 7 0 9 4 2 0 QJ 5 +JI0432 +K9875 +AQ + K54 SOUTH With no opposition bidding, • QJ D'Alelio played. in Four Spades \/A987 from the West hand against the 0 A K 10 54 2 opening lead of the 10 of hearts. +A Put yourself in his place and sec Against Reese and Schapiro, how you would play the hand: Stayman, always addicted to D'Aielio won in hand, released psychic openings, opened One the Ace and Queen of clubs, Heart with the East hand. Reese crossed to the table with the Ace doubled and after \Vest had of spades and played the King of passed Schapiro jumped to Four clubs, discarding a diamond. He Spades. Reese, visual ising thirte~n continued with spades and lost tricks if his partner had a stx· three tricks in all. card suit headed by the top The only other declarer in spades, bid 5NT. His partner, 18 in the two top honours, West now throws the Queen of th conventional reply of diamonds East can win and exit Spades. with a club and declarer still • error seems to lie in the has problems. If durr.my pl:lys umption that the diamond a third heart West ruffs. gives his uit will necessarily run. It is partner the lead \\ith a club not difficult to imagine a hand and ruffs a diamond. If dummy on which North might hold a tries a second diamond instead oid or singleton diamond, and of the heart, West ruffs, gives his then there will surely be too partner the lead with a club and much work to do. Declarer ruffs a heart. overtook dummy's second spade and made twelve tricks when the A FRIEND OVERSEAS diamond suit broke. Would appreciate a gift subscription At the other three tables the to the British Bridge World final contract was a spade game and Pabis Ticci, North, gave the Unfortunately Meredith dis­ defence an unexpected oppor­ carded a club on the second heart tunity. He won the King of and the chance went a-begging. hearts lead and failed to note the Next to go wrong in a s ade significance of West's 10. He game was Stayman, ·who pl:l.yed continued with the Queen of Four Spades against the opening spades and when East dropped lead of the 9 of hearts on th .. -e the 10 he could in fact count ten cards: tricks by overtaking dummy's WEST EAST second spade and cashing four + A Q 8 7 4 3 2 + 10 5 rounds of trumps. He then J \/KI0953 The outstanding feature of this 0 J 5 0 K 109 match was . the form of the +AQJ742 +86 British ladies who had the better SOUTH of the game against the Italians • J 8 on 'Rama and were unlucky \/A642 to be held to a draw. They 0 Q 63 consistently made a trick more +KI093 than any of the other three tables and their bidding was excep­ a sound opening bid, doubled tionally controlled. confidently, but without success. The general tendency was to­ . Jais passed initially with the wards an active game, with the North hand but doubled 'Vest's opening bids and informatory opening bid of One Club. East doubles being made on minimal bid · One Heart, South doubled val~es. This put a heavy strain and West's One Spade was passed on JUdgment in the later auction round to South, who bid INT. a strain which sometimes proved North removed to Two Diamonds too great, as in the following and East, Mitchell, found an apparently innocuous hand dealt unexpected double and after two by North with his side vuln;rable. passes North, influenced by his partner's earlier bid, retreated to (next column) Two Hearts which :Mitchell Konstam opened One Dia­ doubled with a greater degree of ~~o~td with the North hand, his confidence for a score of 500. ar ncr responded One Heart Most of the pairs, and especially and when West made a t · d wo- the French, were prepared to sultc double he ra·• 1se d to Two 1 contest vigorously in order to ci~arts. This was passed round to save the smallest of swings. tcstcm who contested with Reese and Schapiro were having ~l,lrcc Clubs and South, Meredith a good match against D'Aldiv \\ 10 had eve ' ry reason to expect and Pabis Ticci but lost P"ints 20 \\-hen Schapiro took an exag­ Markus, 7-1. Jais - Tre=cl bear gerated view in the play: Reese - Schapiro, 7-1. SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST The most eagerly awaited match No No was that which brou!!ht to!!cther · t+ INT Dblc No Reese and Jais, run~crs-up and 20 2NT All pass winners in the last World Pairs WEST EAST Olympiad. The method of scor­ +A 52 + K 104 ing leaves the pairs dependent cy> 9 4 \? Q 8 2 to a certain degree on the results OKQ 010653 at the other three tables: on this +AKQ954 + 8 6 3 occasion it worked to the dis­ When West led the Jack of advantage of the British pair who hearts, Schapiro played the Queen, might have expected to at least which could only be right in have broken even. They took the unlikely event of the lead the optimum from a freak second being from a suit headed by board, dealt by East with North­ A K J 10. West in fact held South vulnerable. cy> K J 10 7 6 3 with no outside NORTH entry. • J 9 64 Reese displayed less than his \? J 9 6 usual excellent judgment when 0 Q 8 7 6 he held these cards: +JlO +Kl07652 \?3 OK73 +J62 WEST EAST Schapiro opened 1NT, Reese +Ql0532 +A KS7 bid Three Spades and passed \? K 8 3 \?5 when partner bid 3NT. (The 0 K43 OAJ952 no trump shows a +K2 +Q94 count of 14-16). Although part­ SOUTII ner held +Ax and the suit broke, establishment came too late to \?AQ10742 be of service. The popular con­ 010 tract was spade part score. ·­ a +AS7653 Round 3 1\trs. ~tarkus ~md Jais hoth Stayman Mitchell heat held the South hand. They hoth Ghcstem - /Jachcrich, 6-2. 11clla­ bid Four Hearts o\cr Ea,t's donna - A rare IIi beat Konstam - opening bid of One Spad~ ~tnd Ml'r£'dith, 5-3. D'Aiclio - l'abis continued with Fin~ Cluh~ "hen Tied heat Mrs. Gordon - .\Irs. \\'est rai ·ed to Four Sp:tdl.'s. :!I North converted to Five Hearts, have been forcing and East would which was doubled. Against Mrs. have been strong enough to raise Markus, D'Aielio led a spade spades. Reese probably took the and dedarer had time to ruff a view that since his opponents club and go only one down. were taking no part in the auction Against Jais, although diamonds and he himself was void of hearts had not been bid, Reese found the his partner's outside cards wer; killing diamond lead and Schapiro mainly in that . suit and his returned a trump to take 500. shortages in spades. The other The British champions soon three tables had no difficulty dissipated the advantage when in reaching the spade game. either the Little Major-or their Even the smallest of hands application of it-proved in­ could produce a fascinating variety adequate to deal with the follow­ of action in both the bidding ing: and the play. This one was dealt by East with his side vulnerable: WEST EAST +KJ6432 • Q5 NORTH ~- ~A 7 5 +10976 0 4 2 0 Q J 8 7 ~Al052 +QJ953 +AK87 0 Q87 WEST EAST + 8 5 Reese Schapiro WEST \VEST No I+ + KQ8 + A543 3+ 4+ ~ J 8 4 3 ~9 No 0 10 6 5 0 K9 32 The One Spade opening +J94 +AK 73 promises length in the minors. SOUTH Schapiro could instead have • J2 opened INT (14-16). Clearly ~ KQ76 this would have left no problem 0 AJ4 as the hands were. +QI062 Once Schapiro had opened One Both Italian pairs opened the Spade, an alternative course was East hand with Two Clubs, a bid open to Reese: he might have reserved for three-suited hands responded I NT-a bid which of limited strength. Mrs. Gordon invites his partner to show his doubled with the South hand better minor suit; Two Spades and when her partner bid Two on the second round would then Hearts she raised to Three Hel rt ·. 22 an over-optimistic move which ruffed \\ith the Queen. He con­ encouraged her partner to game. tinued with the King of hearts West, D'Alelio, doubled and the and Reese made a doubtful contract failed by one. deceptive play of the eight. De­ Meredith more prudently clarer continued with a heart passed with the South hand. to the 10 and Schapiro erred in West made a .non-forcing re­ discarding his last spade. Oearly sponse of Two Hearts and East he could have used that to give retreated to Two Spades, the · his partner a ruff when he c;;me final contract. Meredith made the in with the second club. best attack of the Jack of spades. Declarer drew a third round of . The declarer won in dummy and trumps and led a second duo. led a low diamond to the King Schapiro made a brave effort to and Ace. Meredith switched to retrieve the situation by pla)ing hearts, forcing the declarer to low, but Trezel rose \\ith the ruff. A second diamond was Queen and played a further club, won by South, who now led a ruffing on the table to leave this second trump. Declarer won in position: hand and led a low club towards NORTil the Jack: Meredith went up with +10 the Queen and put his partner \?- in with a third diamond to clear 0 Q8 7 the trump suit. At this stage the declarer was set for three down +- \VEST EAsr but he called a wrong card from +­ +­ dummy and went down 400. \?1 \?- Ghestem played quietly in Three 0 10 6 5 0 K93 Hearts and made nine tricks +- +A while, against Reese and Schapiro, SOUTH Trezel also played in Three +­ Hearts after East-West had bid \?- up to Two Spades. 0 AJ4 West, Reese, opened the King +10 and Queen of spades and The master spade was now kd switched to a low club, won with from dummy and East was the King. Schapiro played the squeezed. Note that the contr.1ct Ace of spades and the declarer would still have failed had East added to hie; problem when he taken the second club and would :!3 have succeeded but for declare.r's hand, crossed to dummy with a misjudgment in ruffing the thtrd diamond and ruffed a further spade high after spades had heart. He then played out all his been supported by \Vest. diamonds, discarding clubs from Both pairs missed an oppor­ dummy: thereafter he could safely tunity on this next hand, dealt cross-ruff his way to ten tricks. by South at love all. Unfortunately for both success­ ful declarers their score proved NORTH a poor one. Mrs. Markus opened +3 One Heart with the North hand 'JAJ94 and East, Pabis Ticci, overcalled 0 9 8 7 Three Hearts, a strong double . +Q9653 by their methods. Mrs. Gordon WEST EAST bid Four Hearts, when it might +A 9 8 +QI0652 have been more prudent to 'VQ10863 'V­ double. West had no problem 0 Q 3 OAKJIO and took 700. 10 7 2 + +A ~84 At the other table, where SOUTH Konstam a~d Meredith faced the KJ 74 + other Italian pair, the auction 'VK752 was identical and the defence 0 6 54 2 +J took 900. Round 4 Reese, West, played in Four Spades after an uncontested Stayman- Mitchell beat J.farkus auction. North led the 5 of clubs -Gordon, 6-2. Reese - Schapiro and when the Jack fell under the beat Konstam - Afereditlz, 1-1. King Reese, fearing a ruff, led a Jais - Trezel beat D'Alelio-Pabis spade to the Ace and continued Ticci, 5-3. Ghestem - Bachericlz with the 9 of spades. Jais won beat A varelli-Belladonna, 5-3. two spade tricks and, instead of As i.l New york, Reese used exiting with the heart and forcing the opening bid of One Heart as declarer while North still con­ a bid which might either show a trolled the club suit, he exited powerful opening bid or a ~and with the fourth trump and gave of between two and five pomts. declarer the necessary tempo. Most of the other pairs, witho~t Ghestem found a more success­ integrating psychic b1"d s m· t o thctr ful line against the opening lead basic method in this manner. of a low heart. · He ruffed in were no11e the less always ready to make life difficult for their doubled, at the one level, for a opponents at favourable vulner­ top score. When North did ability conditions. There was no remove to Two Oubs, East mi!!ht - shortage of action when East­ have done better to give a pict~re West had thirteen top tricks on of her hand by bidding Two the following hand, dealt by Diamonds, a bid which, as thin{!s North with East-West vulnerable. were, would clearly have made NORTH it an easy matter to reach the +97532 grand slam. \:}1076 NORTH EAST SOUTH WEST 0 10 8 6 Konstam Sclra- 1\fere- Reese + 84 piro dit!t WEST EAST No I+ ,. 2+ +110 + A4 No 30 No 3CV \/A K 5 \:}QJ432 3+ 4+ No 4NT OK5432 0 AQJ9 No 5NT No 70 - +AKQ + 10 3 No No No SOUTH + KQ86 Schapiro's opening bid of One · Ticci NORTH I+ 2\/ 2NT 40 +AJI052 No 50 A11 pass \/9842 0 10 Jais presumably envisaged the J 52 possibility of sacrificing against + WEST a heart game after the first bid K 9 6 3 by East, and with no defensive + \/ K J values he sought at once to con­ 0 A K87 fuse the issue. West must have 7 6 3 realised from the outset what + North-South were doing since Declarer wins in dummy and his hand was too large to permit plays the King and Jack of hearts of other possibilities. By British followed by the 3 of spades. methods Three Spades, a cue-bid, What do you do? Konstam would have begun to paint the played low and declarer took the picture, but perhaps the Italians' Queen of spades to add to four methods did not permit of that. tricks in each red suit. Faced with (Certainly, after an opponent's the same problem, Mitchell rose ope~ing bid of One Spade, the with the Ace of spades and led Italians usc Three Spades and not the Jack of clubs. His reward Two Spades as a forcing take-out was to find partner with +AQIOx. and perhaps the principle subsists Round 5 to. the situation here presented.) Ghestem - Bachericlz beat Reese GJven West's bid of Four Dia­ -Schapiro, 6-2. Jais - Tre:el bear ~lOnds, East, who had a top hand Markus- Gordon, 5-3. D'Aielio­ m honour tricks for his overca11 Pabis Ticci beat Belladonna - of Two Hearts, might have taken A varelli, 6-2. M itche/1-Srayman the opportunity to cue-bid the drew ll'ith Konstam-Aiaedith, -t--4. A.ce of spades, having regard to Two quite ordinary hands in IHs powerful diamond fit. this round presented probkm~ A defensive problem. E·ast- with which the most pn:cisc l,f W rst ha vc bid : systems coped inadcquatdy. Thi 26 was the first: At other tables \Vest, D'Alelio, WEST EAST opened with a systemic bid of • 65 +AKI098 One Club and Jais also opened <:/S \/KQ7 One Club, preparing for a high O A Q J 10 7 3 0 4 2 level canape. This gave their .AKQ7 +532 non-vulnerable opponents an With West the dealer and the easy chance to enter the auction: auction uncontested the problem none the less it was surprising is to reach a final contract of Five that both ~1rs. ~farkus and Diamonds, which is superior to Belladonna should choose to do so on: JNT in that it is safe even though the Ace of hearts and the King of +113 \/Al032 095 +11064 Each bid One Heart: over this diamonds be badly placed. East, Pabis Ticci, had to bid Two Reese opened Three Diamonds Spades to show the number of and in so doing showed a power­ his controls. South bid Three ful hand with something in the Hearts and West now bid dia­ other minor. Schapiro bid 3NT monds for the first time at the and that was a reasonably sound four level. East now showed contract played by East, since his spades, West bid 4~T and even if South Jed away from the when \Vest showed One Ace the Ace of hearts declarer had a final contract became Five SpJdcs. second string to his bow in that very luckily made. he could try to develop nine Over Jais's bid of One Club, tricks with the help of the spade North bid One Heart and East suit. One Spade. South supported to Meredith and Konstam, pur- Two Hearts, Jais jumped to Four suing methods, bid: Diamonds and when his pJrtncr WEST EAST repeated the spade suit, that 20 2+ became the final contract. 30 3<:/ 3NT No WEST E ·\ST +AI052 • Q4 3 The contract was a little less \?A 64 ~ QJ s sound played by the \Vest hand, 010974 0 A K 3 but all was well. It was open to K 7 + Q 1064 West to bid Three Clubs on the + second round and East, with all With Wcst the: dcakr ~uH.l t-oth his strength in the majors, would sides vulnerahlc, nine tat-ks out have hid 3NT. of• tcn •111 a c1 u h d u pi .JC...... "'t·· would 17 arrive at the normal contract of to bid One Spade since that would 3NT. Only one table out of ha\'e been a further relay-had four, armed with the most precise he held fewer points he would of bidding mechanisms, was able have responded One Spade on to do so in this most elevated the first round instead of makin 2 company. Pursuing simple a relay bid. - methods, Mrs. Markus and Mrs. Stayman and Mitchell, no less Gordon bid: complicated in their methods, bid WEST EAST as follows: No t+ WEST EAST 10 tNT No I+ 2NT 3NT 10 INT Belladonna and A varelli were 2+ 20 a little unfortunate. East opened No One Club and West responded The players explain that since I NT, which shows 9-li. East the range of an opening I NT is decided that only a maximum 15-I7, East's rebid shows a hand would give him a worth­ maximum of fourteen. The Two while play for game and decided · Club bid is Stayman and West to pass. felt that East should have shown Bacherich and Ghestem bid a maximum hand for his INT as follows: rebid by now saying 2NT. Per­ haps there is something to be said WEST EAST for simplicity. No I+ 10 1\/ Round 6 20 2NT Belladonna - A rare IIi beat Stay­ No man - Mitchell, 8-0. Reese-Scha­ The response of One Diamond piro beat Markus - Gordon, 7-1. is a relay bid which asks for Jais - Trezel drew with Konstam­ further information. The ·One Meredith, 4-4. D'Alelio - Pabis Heart rebid has no particular Ticci beat Ghestem - Baclzcrich, meaning. The next bid Two 6-2. Diamonds from a hand 'which The Ainericans suffered th~ had previously passed, · shows first "blitz" of the tournament 1l-l2 points. The fault for against Belladonna and ,\\'urelli mi~sing game therefore lay with who impressed most as the East, who should have bid 3NT. strongest pair in the field. Kon­ Over One lleart West was unable starn and ~tcrcdith who IH I 28 c ~ cccded the expectations of many n:-.ponJed '1\' o lktnlll!Hh :-.he \\ere headed for a 6-2 win again<,t wao; hard-pu-.heJ to lind a forcin~ Jaic; and Trezel until they dissi­ hid. She imprm i,eJ "ith T" ~' p:ttcd the whole of their advantage llcarh, hoping that thi\ \\otlld with a rash overcall on the very ~ive her a further chance. ~tr\, la '> t board. This still left them Gordon, for her p:1rt, ~ ; 1w no without their first win, although reason why the hid slwuhl lif1t with reasonable luck they might indicate a desire tn pby in hc.1rh, well have won three matches. and pa,-.cd. Ea-.t opened Arc, The British ladies were still unable King and another heart and the to recapture the form that they declarer arriH:d at ~c\cn trid-. had shown in their match against or one down. Which "a' ncitha Belladonna and Avarelli. Un­ Je~s nor more than the Ltte th.tt familiarity with the Little Major the other three table-; :-.ull'cr~·t! led them into a foolish contract in the more lil..cl)' cnntr;u;t ,,J· on this hand, dealt by West with 3NT.

North-South vulnerable. Le:-.~er mortals in the audicncl.' NOR Til were ahle to draw 'omc Ctltllft,rl + AQ 5 from the occa-.ion:d l.qh~'' in \? J 7 4 technique of the mirhty. Trod 0 K Q J 6 was the olrender on tlli' one: +A K 5· Wt.'>r F.\\1 WEST EAST + i\ 7 5 + K IO s .' • J 7 4 2 • 10 8 3 'V K Q J 9 '\) 7 ·' ~ y> Q 8 2 \?AK953 0 Q J 5 0 s (, ,, J 0 7 4 0 8 3 +AK9 +7~ + Q 10 6 2 + J 7 4 Wc:-.t hou~ht the ,,,ntr.•~· t ,~, 11h SOUTII his opening hid of on~· t'lllh. + K 9 6 Kon-.tam kd a :-.mall trun•p :111d \? 10 6 the 10 fnn:~·d the Kinr. 'l'•~o·:.-1 0 A 10 9 52 continul.'d \\ith th~· Kin ;~ ,,f h~··''" + 9 X 3 and NMth \\'lll\ "ith thl.' A~.· ~· :•nd Reese opened One I kart with led the Qu~·~·n pf duh h' ,k. the West hand, a dual-purpn~e clar~o·r's Ar~·. n~·d.Hn h'''~ ·' hid which may show either a wry h~·;ut tril-l.. and rutkd a "'·" t, large hand or a hand of2-5 points. r; 11 n~· "' hand "ith th~.· , \~,· ~,· ,,f Mrs. Markus doubled with the ,p:llk' ;1nd dl~''' a thitd It'll"'' 111 North hand and when lll'r partnl'f ,,f 11111111''· llut ~''tth l1.1,! ·"k -:.•) ood opening lead from a trump NORTH ~~ding of QJxxx and t~e defence + AJ 5 took three trump tncks, two cv J 7 4 diamonds, one heart and o~e 0 J 6 3 spade. Declarer's error was m +A K87 ruling the third round of hearts WEST EAST rather than the fourth. If he • 8 4 2 • 9 3 wins two heart tricks first he CVAK952 cv Q 10 8 6 3 makes sure of seven tricks by OKQ 0AI0752 ruffing the fourth heart, sine~ the +Q64 + 10 only outstanding trump hlgl!er SOUTH than his divided eight and mne + K Q 10 7 6 is the Queen. cv- Round 7 o 9 8 4 When the round began D'Aielio +19532 and Pabis Ticci had taken a four Against the leaders Stayman point-lead on their nearest rivals, opened One Heart with the West Belladonna- Avarelli and Reese­ hand, North, Pabis Ticci, doubled Schapiro, who met in the last and East bid 2NT. South bid round, as did the next closest Three Spades and North raised challengers, the two French pairs. to game. Declarer ruffed the Stayman and Mitchell opened heart lead, played two top spades the issue by narrowly defeating and a club, returned to hand with the leaders but none of the the third trump and after long challengers could do well enough reflection played for clubs to be to profit from the situation, 2-2 and was one down. although two of them made a brave attempt. Jais opened One Heart with the West hand and Trezel raised to Jais - Trezel beat Ghestem - Three Hearts. South, Ghestcm. Bacherich, 8-0. Belladonna - came in with Three Spades and A mrel/i beat Reese - Schapiro, when West bid Four Hearts 7-J. Konstam - Meredith beat Bacherich doubled with the North Markus- Gordon, 6-2. Stayman­ hand to give opponents 790· Mitchell beat D'Ale/io - Pabis Contrast Belladonna with the: Ticci, 5-3. North hand: Reese opened One: The first hand was not without Club in West (equivalent to One incident. South dealt with East­ Heart) and North dou bl ed · E'lr·l't West vulnerable. bid Four Hearts and A\';tn: 1 30 came in with Four Spades. This terms of parity in v.p. and the was passed round to Schapiro tic was broken in favour of who competed with Five Hearts o·Alelio who had won the match and Belladonna declined to double between the tying teams. even this contact; he was lucky With only four results, all to find two spade tricks to defeat counting, the method of scorinc the hand. And finally Meredith produced many injustices, es~ brought back memories to those pecially since one pair was a cood who remembered him on the deal less regular than the re~t of English scene when he opened the field. The event was however Three Spades with the South styled as an Exhibition rather hand. West, Mrs. Markus; than as a Championship and as doubled and declarer was not such ·was excellently presented. hard pressed to make his con- The two Italian pairs were clearly tract. the strongest on the week·s play, This was one of a succession with Belladonna and A varelli of unfortunate results for the outstanding. ~fy other impres­ ladies, results which tended to sions were that the final placings distort the scores at the other. tended to flatter Jais and Trezel. tables. They finished on a who played a good deal less well stronger note and after heading than one has come to e:-

31 THE WATCHER

Unbridled banter from our Special Com­ missioner on the illSide of big bridge.

This month American books come under fire from correspondents.

I recently had the doubtful publishers' blurbs. Personally 1 privilege of receiving a newly- always dismiss from my mind published American bridge book. any review which contains the In addition to being prolix beyond usual cliches such as "indis­ endurancc, the author licks the pensable for every bridge player," boots of a number of named "well worth a place on your book­ players, all of whom happen to shelf," "covers every phase of be fellow-propagandists of some 'bidding and play," etc. By con­ kind. I have noticed a similar . trast, I treasure the occasional tendency in a number of American acid remark. There was a book bridge books. with some such title as "Contract "Sceptic," Albany, W.l. Bridge in 20 Lessons," on which Well, yes, that does happen, on Terence Reese's comment was: both sides of the Atlantic. Some- "This author should hasten to times the ''fellow-propagandists" take them." are persuaded to contribute to the "Criticus," Afanclzester. book. They write a foreword, or a piece about some convention that When rerieu·ers deal in cliclzCs, . has been named after them, or they it generally means they /zal'en't get their name on the back col'er read the book. I suppose that is with an excerpt from an admirin~ your point? rel·iew. On the same theme as yours, I • • * recall a remark by One of your correspondents about an article, I think it was, by last month referred to the flatter­ A. E. Afanning-Foster. To the o:J. ing reviews of most American Af-F used to describe his cl:aracr,·rs bridge books, remarking that as Y and Z, A and B. In 01:,· cf they were indistinguishable from his examples B held about a 16- ptlbll hand. including two A ccs mates, including the tournament (1111/ tM'O Kings, and Jf-F wrote: secretary of the E. B. U.. have .. In my opinion, B should pass, been sent home without playing a he has a practical ccrtaimy of a match. for the sake of this tinv tkfi ating any game contract by demonstration? • tM lJppom•nrs:' .. Rum do.'' Yorkshire. Phillips's comment on this was: You must ask him! It is c/o:;br­ .. It follows that if B had had a ful, an.nray, whether such a wirl:­ drmral would f,!r ear~r !:are altere I coup/~ more Aces he would hm•e the course of erents. heen on still firmer ground." Another letter fol/o;,·s on this • • • subject. an average player, I have ed that most bridge players, particularly the leading tourna­ • • * players, are exceedingly vain. The editor of your contem­ The Watcher's estimate, who porary informs his readers that the palm in this respect? he would have refused to p!Jy L.J., Bristol. the semi-final of the Aw shucks, L.J.! It is said (had he reached it) against a pair that the difference between Blank playing the Little Major. and the rest is that while every One . notes that while over th • other expert thinks he is the best years the Italians have alwa~ s player, Blank knows that he is. been described by this writer a (If you really don't know w)ro magnificent players and magni fi ­ Blank is, send a stamped addressed cent people and magni fi cent envelope and a cheque to cover sportsmen, the adoption of com­ damages.) parable methods by a British r· ir • • * has evoked a series of highminJt:d I read a statement by Ewart observations about the go d ('f Kempson that if his team had the game, accompanied by l0aJ J phrases such as "hidding c xi ~ ... qu lified to meet Reese's team The Colond. Lm:.! n. U ·.1. in the semi-final of the Gold Cup he would have resigned as a Bur let us nor los,· ll: r !· ·.:ri :::.•. pr t a ainst the Little Major. JVhl'll th £' Lirr/,· .\1 ~ju r 11· ' ). i ::r,)· up the tcums had been duccd, (Ill•' c{ rh,• ost,·mi!•.',· r,·.: , dr 1ras to t'Xf'{IS£' rl:,· crrt•r I!(.:.'.',,,,:·,: · his team- arrijici zl sysfl'nH. ).l Allow me to congratulate the The \Vatcher should not be British Bridge World on the fact allowed a monopoly of the ~fu, .. that the capacity of the East bourne Hea~ken to my latest verse: -~. Con~rcss has been enlarged to 600. I would run for miles I arn sure this is due ,·ery largely To avoid reading Dormer 0 to the strong criticism that has Trials. n appeared in your pages. Never was there such a botcher J.P.W., Nottingham. Of witty letters as The Watcher. Next step is to encourage the And, though I know it's very E.B.U. to resist pressure from the bad o' me, sclfi.slz few who are too lazy to walk I can't bear Bridge Academy. from the Congress hotel to the W. Shakspcre, Stratford-on-Aron. orcrflow accommodation for cer­ You are welcome to the last tain erents. word, William!

011e Hundred Up Conducted by A L A N H I R 0 N

September Competition

A panel of experts will answer the questions and the marking of the competition will be determined by, though not necessarily in strict proportion to, the votes of the panel.

FIRST PRIZE SECOND AND THIRD PRIZES Two Guineas. One Guinea.

Please read these rules carefully. No competitor may send in more than one entry. Only annual subscribers are eligible.

Answers should be sent to One Hundred Up, British Bridge Wo 35 Dover Street, , W.I, to arrive not later than first post 1 Som I t'tud 'J • • Octo~r · e a 1 e WI I be g1ven to onrseas competitors. 34 Problem i"o. J (10 points) Problem :\o. 5 (10 points) J.m.p. scoring, North-South vul­ Match-point p:1irs, North-South vul- nerable, the bidding has gone:- nerable, the bidding h:1s gone:- Sot-111 Wrsr l"ORTII EAST SoUTII W£ST NORTH EAsT 10 I+ I 0 Dblc Redb!c 1~ 2\/ l"o 2+ No No No 30 No ? ? South holds:- South holds:- +074 ~AJI0942 010 +KQ4 +A84 ~52 0AK74 +0342 What should South bid? What should South bid? Problem No. 2 (20 points) Problem :\o. 6 (10 points) Rubber bridge, love all, the bidding I.m.p. scoring, North-South \ul­ has gone:- nerable, the bidding has gone:- SoUTH WEST NOR Til EAST , SoUTH W£ST NoRTH EAsT I~ 20 No 3+ 3+ No 30 No No No No Dble No

South holds:- South holds:- +AJ86 ~AOJ107 OQ1095+- +853 ~KJ32 095 +AS63 (a) Do you agree with South's What should South bid? second round pass? If not, what alternative do you prefer? Problem l'io. 7 (20 points) (b) What should South bid now? Match-point pairs, lo,·e all, the bidding has gone:- Problem No.3 (10 points) SouTH WEST NoRnt EAsT l.m.p. scoring, love all, the bidding I+ Dble No has gone:- INT No 2~ ~o SoUTII WEST NoRTH EAST ? 10 South holds:- No No +AQJ74 ~42 0 754 +Oi5 (a) Do you agree with South's b:J South holds:- of INT? If not, what altcmati\'c +AQJ102 ~64 OQI08 +432 do you prefer? What should South bid? (b) What should South bid now?

Problem No.4 (10 points) Problem :\o. 8 (10 points) Rubber bridge, North-South vul­ I.m.p. scoring, North-South \ul­ nerable and East-West have a 40 part­ ncrable, the bidding h:1s gonc:- M:orc, the bidding has gone:- SouTII Wr.ST NoRm Ea..~r SouTII WEST NoRTH EAST 10 Dblc No 2~ No 2+•• No No No Dblc No No No No South holds:- South ho1Js:- +J ~ 632 ~J7 0 IQ.t +K%5 +J63 ~AJIQ.t OK +KICI'H3 What !.hould South bid'? Wlut ~houiJ S~o)uth kad ·~ 35 Directory of E.B.U. Affiliated CltibS LANCS BE:r~~~~~REBRI DG E CLUB, 35 Jesse Terrace, LIVERPOOf.,..-Liverpool Bridge Club 2~ l:p= Reading: Tel. Reading 52136. ~on. Sec. Duke Street, Liverpool. Tel.: R~ni 81 ~0. c T. Holloway. lloun of play:.- p.m. to Hon. Se~ •• Mrs. II. T. Hale~ood. Partnm !Ji " 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. to. I I p.m. DuphC:tte alter­ Tue.• Fn. afternoon. DupltC:tte Mon. e v M i ~­ nate Mondays. Cut•JO (3d.): 2nd., 4th !lnd .Sth LONDO~ ~ Tue~d:tv afternoons, every Tuesd:ty even.tng and MAYFAIR BRIDGE SruDto-1 10 Mount St:ec• e,·ery Thursday afternoon. Partnership (3d.) WI. (2n.d floor). GRO 2844. Hon. See..~~~ Jst. and 3rd. Tuesday afternoons, every. Thurs· H. Pontan~. Stakes If· and 6d. Partnershi;l s ~ ~ ­ d:ty and Satunlay .evening. Partnership (6d.} \Ved. evemngs 6d., Mon. afternoon 6d. Du ..,liC4 te e,·ery Tue~day eventng. pairs 1st and 3rd Thursday e\·enings 7.30, 2~d and 4th Sun. afternoons, teams 2nd and 4th SaL e"m­ Df.\'0:"1 ings. Tuition by G. C. H. Fox. PLn;oum-Plymouth Bridge Club, Moore MIDDLESEX View llou~e. Moor View Tcrra~e, Tel.: Plymouth HIGIIGATE BRIDGE CLUB-80 Highg:lle West f>7733. Cut-in or Partnershtp Mon., Tues., Hill, N.6. MOU 3423. Hon. Sec., Mrs. Osborn. Thurs., Sat. e\· enin~ots. Wed., Su~ .. afternoons. Stakes 2d. Partnership Wed. afternoons, Friday OunliC:tte Thun. afternoons. Tutllon Classes. and Saturday evenings. Visitors welcome. Stakes I d. and 3d. NOTIINGIIAM NOlTINGIIAM BRIDGE CLUB-401 !'>bns!ielj ~~~~;;Rs,..T.Mount, GRovE RoAD BRIDGE CLuR­ Road, Nottingham 65995. (Mr. and Mrs. hd East Cliff Cottage, 57 Grove Road, Bourne­ Hammond.) Half-way house for Sunday matches. mouth 24311. Hon. Sec., Mrs. Moss. Stakes Duplicate Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Satur­ 3d. Partnenhip, Thurs. and Sat. aft.. Sun. day7 p.m. e'·ening. Duplicate, 1st Wed., 3rd Fri. SURREY SOUTIIAMPTOS, SUTHERLANO BRIDGE CLUB- EPSOM, MAYFIELD BRIDGE CLUB-2a St. Martir. ~ 2 Rockstone Place. Tel.: 25291 or 7J656. Hon. Avenue, Epsom 4938. Hon. Sees. H. G. & Sec., Mn. C;;~h:tlan . Stakes 2d. Partnership: 0 . M. Diggs, Stakes, 3d. (except Wed. & Tues. eve. and Wed. aft. Cut-in: Mon. and Fri. Fri. aft. 6d.) Partnership, Mon., Wed., aft. aft., Thun. and Sat. eve. Duplicate: 3rd Mon. Wed., Fri., eve. Closed Sunday. eve. (Sept. to May). HEATII BRIDGE CLUB-The Heath, We~· · Wr.ssrx CLUo. lindsay Manor, lindsay Road, bridge. Weybridge 43620. Hon. Sec., C. G. nournemouth. Westbournc 64034. Hen. Sec., Ainger. Always open. Visiton welcome. Staka The Secretary. 6d. Partnership Mon. aft., 3d. Partnership Tues. aft., Fri. an. Duplicate Wed. evening. 2d. Partnership Tues. aft. and Mon. and Thurs. eve. Tuition available. Fri. aft. Duplicate 1st, 2nd and 4th Friday nening each month and Jrd Thursday afternoon. 6d. cut-in every night except Partnership and SUJ;~~AM BRIDGE CLUB-Secretary. Mrs. !'>_!. Dunlicate days. 2d. or l'id. cut-in every afternoon. E. Binney. Horsham 4921 or 2078. rartnmh!P Vi\itors welcome. Wed. and Fri. afiernoons, Sun. event_ni:S Cut-m Mon., Thurs., Sat. afternoons. _Duphcate Tu_:s. ISLE OF WIGHT evenings, Chess Club Mon. evemnss. Stakes ->.d. SHANKLIN, CRAIGMORE BRIDGE CLUB-Howard DooNOR CLUo-2 Sudley Road, Bognor Re g~ ~ Road, Shanklin, I.W. Shanklin 2940. Hon. (Bridge section}. Cut in, Mon., Tues., Thurs..~~­ Sec., J. S. Oanhy. Stakes 2d. Duplicate Mon. and Sat. afternoons, Fri. evening. Partne!'1 1p (Oct. tn May). Partnership, Tues. Wed. afternoon and Tues. e,·ening. Oupllcate, the first Tues. afternoon in each month. Stakes 3.1. KE!'I.'T WHtTEIIALL RFSIDENTIAL BRIDGE CLt:B­ Wrsr Kf.NT CLUB-12 Boyne Park, Tunbridge J l/12 Howard Square, Eastboume. Ea~tlx'ct3Je ~Veils, Kent. Tunbridee Wells 21513. Hon. 4544. Sec., Mis' J. Fidlc:~. Stakes. 2d. ad S.1 ~ Se~ .• R. II. Corbett. Stakes 3d. and 6d. Partner­ Partnership, Tues. and Fn. an .. \\cd. an sh ip, .Mon. and Wed. 6d., Wed. and Fri. 3d. evening. Duplicate Sunday. Duplicate, ht and 3rd Sat. (2.15). · SJL)cur-Sid~up Br~dge Club, Sidcup Golf \V ~~~~~t~:c~~~~~UDGE CLUB-2 Pebble !'>l i!l Club, 1 - ~urst Road, S1dcup. Hon. S('c., Mrs. Road, Birmingham 5. SELiy O_ak 0.$48. Sta~ \If. Dav1~. 24 Carhon Road, Sidcup. Telephone: 3d. to 1/·. Cut-in or Partnership C\'e/( aft.{~, 1·00 1868. Stakes 3d. Partnerships Mon eve. Duplicate Sun. e,·e., Mon. a ·• an Wed., Fri. Duplicate Mon., Wed. ·• desired by Members. Visiton welcome.

Would you like particulars of your club (address, telephone, l~on. ~ec., .stakes, partnership days, duplicate days) to be hstcd m th!s Directory C\'cry month? If so, please write to our Advertisement Manager (see address on page 4) for very reasonable terms.

36 THE DOWNWARD SLOPE

Terence Reese1 describes the first day's play - in the Gold Cup final. Readers hare a chance to find their Ol\'11 solutio1ls before discorcring 11'/zat haf!pened in actual play. ·

The first day of the final SOUTH .WEST NORTH EAsT between Harrison-Gray's team 10 No 2+ No and my own was one of steady 30 No · 40 No decline and disillusionment for ? my side. We did not gain on a single set of boards and were 65 What do you bid now? down after 64 boards, with 36 2. At game all there arc two to play. Looking through the . passes and ·East opens Three score card in . the evening, we did Hearts. You double, \Vest bids not find that we had made many . outright mistakes, but when there Four Hearts, 'and all pass . were close games or slams we WEST generally did the wrong thing . • 7 5 Our opponents, I think, had the better of the luck. during this 9854 period, and certainly their judg­ 0 K9 8 5 ment was keener. +A 102 You can test your own judg­ SOUTH ment and technique by answering +AKJ the problems below before reading 7 what happened at the table. The 0 A J 10 7 4 diagrams have been turned so KJ9 6 that in each case the critical + decision falls to South. You lead the King of spld~s. I. Dealer at love all, you hold: on which your partner pbys the +K5 A4 OK98532 +QI06 4 and declarer the 6. How do The bidding goes: you contir1uc? . 37 3. At game to East-West you +AJ743 8 OA54 +AJ9 SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST I+ 2+ 3+ 4\) The bidding goes: No No No EAST SOUTH WEST NOR Til Your opponent's overcall of No I+ Two Spades is said to denote a No 2+ No 3+ two-suiter containing hearts and 4+ No 4+ No one of the minors. ? What do you lead? What do you bid now? 4. North opens One Diamond, How it happened East overcalls with One Heart, 1. It is perhaps debatable and you become declarer in Four whether you should appear to Spades. accept the slam by bidding Four NORTH Hearts or make the more limited call of ·Four Spades. It was • 7 53 y> A 6 5 typical of the trend during this OAK972 first day that Bob Sharples should +AIO make the bolder call and finish \/K 10 led. in a borderline slam,. which he made. SOUTH South dealer +AK942 Love all . · y> 9 8 3 NORTH 0 J 5 +AQ9843 + QJ 8 · Q 107652 dmmonds, no honour appearing 3 2 3NT 40 0 Q3 No 4+ + 8 743 One Spade indicated a minor­ WEST EAST suit hand of limited strength, • 7 5 + Q63 Two Diamonds asked for infor­ 9854 AKQJ106 mation about shape, and Three 0 K9 8 5 0 62 Diamonds showed a six-card suit +A 102 +Q5 with no singleton in the majors. SOUTH Over Four Diamonds I thought +AKJ it prudent to hold back, as. my . 7 suit was relatively weak. OAJ1074 If one is to. be in a slam, 6NT + KJ96 is slightly better than either Six Diamonds or Six Spades. If This play of the Jack of spades declarer can make six tricks in could be right only if partner's spades he needs only one from +4 were a single from Q-B2 diamonds, and if the spades are and declarer held precisely 4-6- 4-J he still has the chance of five 2-1 distribution, with Qx of clubs. tricks from diamonds. As it was, declarer won with +Q. drew trumps, and led a diamond. 2. A case can be made for a When South went up with the club at the second trick. This Ace there was a squeeze for an would be right if declarer had ove;trick. (After King of dia­ seven heart tricks, with a singleton monds and a diamond ruff, South diamond and two losing clubs. is squeezed in the minors.) If you judge it more likely that East will have only six hearts and Very accurate defence is needed possibly the Queen of clubs, to beat the contract. Say that then the neutral exit of a trump South exits with a trump at trick 39 2. When diamonds arc led, South Schapiro bid Five Diamonds must withhold his Ace.· Declarer over Four Spades and passed can still try for a squeeze or when Konstam bid Five Sp:!des. throw-in, but best defence will As Konstam wa~ the first to say, prevail. North must contrive to he could have Simplified matters win the second round of dia­ by jumping to Four Spades over monds and either cash a spade the force of Two Spades, puttin2 (if trumps have all gone) or break across the message of excellent up the squeeze by leading a club. trumps At the other table North played At the other table, where the in Four Spades, which was one Sharples were not missing any down and could have been two easy slams, Jim opened the North down. hand with One Spade and S i.~ 3. South is worth one more Spades was reached in three bids. slam try, and Five Spades is best 4. Declarer should play a heart of the various alternatives. The now . . If East's Queen of spades danger of bidding Five Diamonds was a true card, this ensures the or Five Hearts is that partner contract. may think that he is being asked North dealer to bid the slam only if he controls Game all the suit not so far mentioned. NORTH That- is what happened in fact: + 7 53 North-dealer CV A6 5 East-West vulnerable OAK972 NORTH +AIO + KQ72 \VEST . EAST ~Q6 + J 10 8 • Q6 ~KQJ42 0 KS 7 ~ 107 +KQ76 OQ1083 0 64 EAST \VEST + 9 7 6 5 + K 4 32 • J 5 +9 SouTH ~ K 10 7 53 2 ~A J 94 +AK942 0 109 OQJ632 'V 9 8 3 + 10 53 + s 4 2 0 J 5 SoUTII +QJ 8 + A 10 ~ 6 -l 3 'II ~ca ll \\:.l} South, you WI r\; ' E J~ t '\) ~ ades after laying F our Sp• -\tW 0 A 54 P · 1 arts · had overcalled Ill lC · +A J 9 40 winning the second heart he drew South dealer two trumps, then played three North-South vulnerable NORTH rounds of diamonds, ruffing the KQ65 third. If he leads a heart now, + ~ 108 East is on play. This not very 09852 . difficult manoeuvre was somehow +A87 overlooked, the declarer taking WEST EAST the club finesse and going down: • 109 • 82 It was a bad hand for our team, \?KQ963 ~ J 7 54 at the end of a disappointing day, 07 OAQJI063 for I made a poor play in defence +Q9642 +K at the other table. Gray opened SOUTH the North hand with · 1NT and +AJ743 became declarer in 3NT. He ~A2 won the third round of hearts 0 K4 and led a low spade. Flint put +JI053 in the Queen, forcing the King from dummy. Gray now led It was a lucky baptism for the the Jack of diamonds. It was new method of overcalls that we unlikely that he would have been are trying out in the Little ~fajor. taking a deep finesse at this point, Overcalls in the opponent's suit and I certainly ought to have are generally under-employed, and ducked, but I was caught off we are experimenting with Two guard, expecting a club from Diamonds over One Diamond. dummy. Once I had put on and Two Clubs over One Club. the Queen, Gray took a later as distributional doubles. Two finesse of 09 for his contract. Hearts over One Heart 1s s1mi!Jr. 5. It looks as though there but with a guarantee of fi\'c will be a singleton spade some­ spades. To play Two Spades where, but the Ace of spades is over One Spade as a weak double unlikely to give anything away is dangerous, so we usc this for and is probably the best choice. hands ~containing five hearts and Gray tried the King of diamonds, five cards in one or other minor with unfortunate results: (next col.) suit. Partner can bid ::!~T to I was able to discard a spade discover which minor suit. at once and so made the con­ Next month. a few hands from tract. At the other table North­ the extraordinary llst day when South made a part score in we turned a deficit of 65 into a spades. win by 49. 41 Try lour hand at the August Problems before reading how the ex~rts loted.

Problem r-;0 , 1 (10 points) . . Problem No.~ (10 P?mts) 1 m.p. scoring. Jove all, the b1ddmg I.m.p. sconng, North-South vulner- has.gone: able, the bidding has gone: SatrrH WEST NoRTH EAST SoUTH WEST NoRTH EAST 1+ No 1~ No No No 1~ 2+ 1+ No INT No 7 South holds: South holds: +AJ4 ~Q32 09543 +A32 +K9643 ~AKJ 0- +AJ965 What should South bid? What should South bid? Problem No.6 (10 points) Problem r-;o. 2 (20 points) Rubber bridge, game all, the bidding J.m.p. scoring, North-South vulner­ has gone: able, the bidding has gone: SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST SoUTH WEST NoRTH EAST I+ No 3NT No 2+ 4+ ? No No 4NT No South holds: +AJI074 ~AK OJ +KQ983 South holds: What should South bid? +J4 ~QJ642 087 +8642 (a) What should South bid? Problem No. 7 (20 points) (b) What should South bid if he held I.m.p. scoring, North-South vulncr· the King of Clubs instead of the Eight able, the bidding has gone: of Clubs? SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST •+ Problem No.3 (10 points) Dblc No No I.m.p. scoring, love all, the bidding ? has gone: South holds: SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST +A ~AQ98 OAQ109764 +tO No No (a) Do you agree with South's +No I+ Dble 3+ double? If not, what alternathc d.J you prefer? South holds: (b) What should South bid now? +Q <::19732 0A865 +AJ74 What should South bid? Problem No.8 (10 points) . I.m.p. scoring, game all, the biJJ,ni! Problem No, 4 (10 points) has gone: Match-point pairs, East-West vulncr­ SOUTH \VI'-'iT :lblc, the bidding has gone: I+ Sount Wt:sT NoRTH EAST 2+ 3~ I No I+ No No No No No South holds: South holds: +t065 <::IAQJ9S OAKQ +82 +J74 ~653 OQ5 +KOJ 75 What should South bid? · What should South kaJ? 42 Rereiwed by OLYMPIAD HANDBOOK Terence Reese

Official Handbook of the \Vorld longer a summary of the systems Olympiad used by the leading teams. (52.50, post paid from A.C.B.L., A similarity: it doesn't seem 33 West 60th Street, New York to have occurred to anyone to /0023). Terence Reese finds the print the address of the A.C.B.L. · Olympiad record the "most brows­ which issues the book. lrorthy bridge book of all time." · One personal reason why I The handbook of the second especially welcome this publica­ World Olympiad contains 300 tion: there will be no longer any selected hands, taken from both excuse for the grossly inaccurate the open and women's series. The reports and comments on Little whole of the final between Italy Major sequences that have and the U.S.A. is included, and appeared .in some British papers most of the hands from the semi­ and periodicals, mentioning no final between Italy and Britain. names. The production and lay-out, so "Fifteen on top" important in a work of this sort, is It is interesting to study the full first-class, and an attractive in­ account of hands that went round novation, as compared with the the tournament with some label book on the first Olympiad, is attached such as that .. D'Aldio that 50 deals receive a full page put a grand slam on the floor and subjective analysis, instead of when there were fifteen tricks just a factual report. (Also, they on top.'.' This was the hand, have the decency now to start from the match between Italy the bidding always with South, · and the U.S.A. in the qualifying instead of North. Sooner or round: (Next page) later, they will abandon the D'Alelio and Pabis Ticci reached barbaric practice on bridgerama Seven Diamonds by this route: of putting East on the left of Wr.sT EAsT West). 2NT 4NT One difference from the 1960 50 5NT handbook, which may be regarded 60 70 as a sign of the times: there is no No ·B So11th tkakr North-South vulnerab!-:: b:• () K, but on this trick S , h ···as b' d' OUt NORTH .~ -- ~ .e to tscard a club. The • Q 10 52 po;)ttton was nm.\': <.? J 8 6 53 ~ORTH ()4 +J 8 7 v J 8 6 WEST E.tST ·­0- • 9 7 +A S6..; +JS \?10 y _-\ K Q E-\ST 0 KJ532 O.-\Q96 +A 10 9 6 5 +K3 \/Q SoCTH ·-~) J ·­0 Q96 + KJ 3 + _.; IO 9 6 +3 \:1 9 j'..; 2 So ern <.." 10 ~ :­ +Q-;2 \? 9 7 ·­\_) 10 s N"'rth 1.."'\i ~~ ::~,:::, ~:-;;.,- :: ~ +Q ''bYl\'\\~ tl~ ~-~ ....~ ...' ...'.. ~·-'":...."': .:..:...~ .::.:-::...u: D~~ ::~5 only to draw 'l'\1\\\\':' ~\\~,, ~~~ ...' ...~::- ..: ::' ~::!= ~~ ::-...::::?5-!:-::t ::! e2n't do it! ~ 1"\11\\l'~ ~\\"\.' :: . ~...... :- ::!~ ::-_:::-_ ~ T"'~· ..,, __ ,.....,t:m· points out ;; follow this ,\ ' i\\"\ ~ ~~ ...' ....--::: . ~" 2--:.. ~~~ .:..:...-: :..~:- ·;- ~-~:~~~-to ~\''~' ~~~\-; ~' ~'\'' -::~ - ..' :.~,~ ,): ~ · ~ = -- -~\' li:... c~larer does "'"''' ~:.:~. -:-~~~~ r-~ .. ' .. K Q dis· II \11\\\''- ~\\ ~ ,; ~-:_,:.~ ~-...-... ·.:,. :':' ~~--~:: _,.... "_ ...... , ~ ... , '\...... ,. ' lhi\ "''\~' \\>, .~ ~,"1 :,':-:. :-.:-~ .:.. :.:.:-.:~ .:':! :-- .:-- :.1s:-~.:es. Then he C30 --=-"\..: ...... ".::.·~without allo\\ing lh'IIH,'h'\\ ,, ~ ~· . ':- .:..' ,,,,· . ~ .: . ~ ·.. ~::-,~;:. --· ~ -· ··"- - .:'--- 111,~ \'hi\'' ,\\\' ,~ -~ . :'.. -.. ~. :~ : ....., .: : ~--.:rJ 3 dub. En~n so. .-., ... ": ," :::- .~ -·;r,_. ... for eren- \ '''" ,,, ,.\ \ \> :., ,·, ,·,!..: ...~ : >, ~"1: . ~ :: : .-...~ 71 :.:::-< .... \\·:.- :~·~ -~;· f:1 ~ the lill\1 ,{ \ 1\ .\\ ~ .... ~ ·.: .t _ ~,, :_-,-.., ) .' :: ·-.:, : ~.:-;; ;~~:~~· =- _ .. _.,,,··-S ..,:.Jth h('!Jin~ l•\'\\\h \\ .1.,\ ,, , ~ . ,' \' . ~'"\' .". ....-.::. :·~ ..: . ~ ...~ : - ~ ...... _ .. • (I( \\ ,, ' ,,, \ \\'.'.\.'.' ,, . ~ ,, .\\.'>...'1 ~ :. .. , ,!_-..; :~l ,:-: ..· •:1 .::~:.:.~ ,:: ~j 10 X :< \ \\ \; h.\\\,\ .,,\. .,, \~ \ \·.,,, ,\ .' .': ;.' ;\' .: .: ,'< ~'.· : " ·' :<{ ~ I \1\\\,\ \1.\, \ ·.1 ( : ~ · : · ,, : ;-,' ·. ·:,< · :~ ~ \\ \ \\., ,: I. '.'\\ \ '.\ -.\· \\·:: · .- ~~ ~ ~._,: ; South dealer by 0 K, hut on this trick South l'orth-South vulnerable was able to discard a club. The NoR Til position w~t :; !1 ow: +Q1052 \?18653 ~ORTH 04 + J 8 7 v 18 6 EAST 0- Wf.ST ·­ • 9 7 +A 8 64 ,,-_ +J s E.m­ <:? 10 \?AKQ ··~· 0 KJ532 0 A Q96 +­ +A10965 + K 3 \/Q !.) J 0 Q96 SOUTII ·- + KJ 3 + _-\ IO 9 6 +3 \?9742 So ern 0 10 8 7 +Q42 ~1 9 7 ·­'\,) 10 s North Jed a heart. Now it is .Q obvious that declarer can draw Declarer needs only to draw trumps and succeed if either the trumps-but he can't do it! trumps are 2-2, or the trumps The commentary points out 3-1 and the clubs 3-3. He can that if he is going to follow this also stop after two rounds of reverse dummy line declarer does trumps and begin to ruff clubs; better to cash <\7 A K Q, dis­ this works when North· has a carding both spades. Then he can doubleton club as well as when ruff three spades without allowing the clubs arc 3-3. South to discard a club. Even so, However, this straightforward the play is a mirage, for even­ line of play is liable to fail when tually West has to face the South had a doubleton club and possibility of South holding JOxx in trumps. D'Aielio saw doubleton club and 10 x x of the hand as a reverse dummy and diamonds. began by discarding a spade, then At the other table Robinson playing Ace of spades followed opened fourth in hand with 2NT, by a spade ruff. A club was led Jordan bid Three Diamonds and to the King and another spade Robinson Three Hearts.' Over ruffed. After a diamond to the 3NT by West, East went to Six Ace the last spade was ruffed Diamonds. Tiiirtcc'n tricks were made by straightforward play. Ace and Jack of spades. When This was another problem in \Vest won and led \;} 9 the dummy play, from the final: declarer, as the commentator East dealer puts it, "knew his fate." North·South vulnerable . A varelli appeared to play the NORTH hand wide open, but" if you study +K the alternative lines you will find \;JA76 some unexpected snags. As the 010876 cards lie, you can succeed by +KI0875 taking three rounds of clubs, a Wrsr EAST spade to the King, and another +Q64 • 7 3 2 club; now force out + Q, and Y' Q 9 \;}18543 there is a good club in dummy 0 AJ 54 0 KQ3 for the losing heart. Suppose +QJ9 2 +63 however, that you follow this SOUTH sequence and the clubs tum out to +AJ10985 be 3-3. Now the trumps \\ill be \;JKI02 blocked, and you will be sorry 0 9 2 you didn't play ofT the King of +A4 spades earlier. (Of course, if you Avarelli and Belladonna bid as do cash the King of spades early follows: on, you lack entries to set up the fifth club when the suit is NORTH 4-2.) 2+ On balance howe\'er I am 2NT inclined to think that three rounds 4+ of clubs is the right beginning. Apart from the other ch:mccs it is It was not a bad contract, sure to win if East holds + Q for though where North got his last declarer can shorten himself twice bid from is not, as they say; and exit in diamonds making si.' clear to this writer. spades and two Ace-Kings. Robinson opened (\7 Q. As this At the other t:1blc StJym:tn could have been a normal lead played in Two Spades and m:tde from Q J 9, and as it was con­ four after the kJd of+ Q. Venient to keep entries to dummy, South won in hand with the King. llrit:ain's pcrform:ance lie played a spade to the King. Aplrt from the indi,·idual returned to + A, and pbycd ofT h:tnds the reader can form his 45 impressions of the four tea~s best in the Bridgerama room that feature most in the narrative which tended to be extremely ho~ -Italy U.S.A. Canada, and or extremely noisy (from the air Britain. The account is · un­ conditioning), and where the call­ favourable to Britain in the ing out of every card in a foreign sense that we played best in the accent was not conducive to less important matches. There concentration. were many mistakes in the match The final, in particular, affords against U.S.A. in the qualifying an opportunity to observe how round, the early performance the Italians obtain their results. against Canada in the play-off There is still, for me, a bit of a was deplorable, and we had mystery about it, for their bidding several opportunities to win the is often-what shall one say­ semi-final against Italy. One point insecure. I shall study it further. that can justifiably be made is that This, for sure, is the most browse­ it wasn't at all easy to play one's worthy bridge book of all time.

KAPLAN ON ETHICS (continued) tection when West bids Two and bar a spade lead. But you Spades, or should you wait until cannot have it both ways, waiting you have seen West's hand? to see how you do against Two When is it too late to attempt to Spades before protesting. Of get redress on the score? course, if the director allows the KAPLAN: The time to call the action you may appeal his ruling director is right at the moment when you see the hand later. that an opponent takes what may But you must, to protect your ?c unusual action after receiving rights, call the director when you Illegal information. In your suspect that a violation has taken example, call the director when place. West bids Two Spades. If he BRIDGE JouRNAL: This seems has a seven-card suit, or 6-5 a doubtful solution at best. How shape, do not be embarrassed. can the director judge whether You have not accused him of or not an action is proper? And cheating; you have merely pro- when the director comes to the tected. your rights. In the example, table doesn't the expression (N the director is likely (at least in non-~xprcssion) of his opinil)~ New York) to disallow the over- give away information and JX" .- • call, let you play . . . f n:11r . 0 ne no trump, bly mJure the nghts o one , ~ 46 ONE HUNDRED UP

Conducted by ALAN HIRON August solutions: If you did not enter for the August competition, try your hand at the problems on page 42 before reading how the experts \·oted.

The panel for the August competition complete minimum, he could pass One consisted of the following eighteen Spade.) Nowadays many treat the 1~1 experts: Mrs. R. Markus, M. Buckley, bid as showing no extra strength at all. J. Cansino, J. Collings, E. Crowhurst, South's hand improves after his part­ G. C. H. Fox, J. Nunes, T. Reese, D. ner's heart response but does not Rimington, C. Rodrigue, J. Sharples warrant a second-round force. If ~orth and N. Smart, all of London and the has a five-card heart suit, there might Home Counties; C. E. Phillips of well be a play for Four Hearts, \\hich Cheshire; J. Besse of Geneva; H. accounts for the strong backing for Filarski of Amsterdam; K> Barbour of Three Hearts. Two Hearts, although Massachusetts; R. Crown of Florida; encouraging, does not strike a strong and J. le Dentu of Paris. enough note. Problem No. 1 (10 points) REESE: "Three Hearts. I see no pro­ I.m.p. scoring, love all, the bidding blem. If partner's hearts are poor he has gone: can bid Three Spades on a treb!cton; if SoUTH WEST NORTH EAST his hand is quite unsuitable he e1n pass. •• I+ No Icy> No CRows: "Three Hearts, the most I+ No INT No constructive bid. I won't pass if f'.lrtner perseveres with 3l'a'T but will pn.'SS on South holds: with Four Spades." +K9643 Cy>AKJ 0- +AJ965 FtURSKJ: ..Three Hearts. It may What should South bid? seem unattractive to play in hearts and Amwcr: Three He;uts, JO; Two perhaps be obliged to rufT diamonJs llearts, 5; Two Spades, 3; Three Spades, with heart honours, but ~orth's dia· 3. monds may be good enough to mini· 111~ pcm~/'s I'Ote: 12 for Three Hearts; mise that danger. 0\cr roth Two 4 for Two J learts (Buckley, Barbour, llearts and Two Sp;H.lcS ~orth may r.JsS Cro\\hurst and Rodrigue); I for Two with the risht c;mls for g:tmc, but o'er Sp;adcs (Cansino); 1 for Thn:c Spades Thr~-c Jl~arts he \\ill ccruinly show (BC~'IC). spad.: support if he h:lSn•t sot tiH~ Old-fa~hioncd Acol theory had it that hearts." North's st:cond round bid of I NT CoLLJSGS: "Thr~-c Jlcarts. As t\\O Ml •gc~ts he was not completely mini­ llearts is encouraging, Thr~ mu~t be mum for his original response. (With a forcing. If ~orth h:1s not sot fi,c 47 hearts, then he is likely to hold thre~ Answer to (a): Five Heans, 10: Fi \e spades and that will be o~r best gam~. Clubs, 7; No Bid, 5: Six Heans, 3. J agree that Two Hearts IS enc?uragmg The panel's wte: 13 for Five Hc~ms · but 1 consider Three Hearts s1mply as 2 for Five Clubs (Buckley and Rodri~ more encouraging, not forcing. guc); 2 for No Bid (Phillips and Sman); RODRIGUE: "Two Hearts. While part­ I for Six Heats (Collings). ncr has shown no extra values with his At least three interpretations can be second bid, this move is fairly construc­ put on North's bid or" 4NT. It could tive and safer than Three Hearts which be natural; it could be a manifestation might put the contract in jeopardy. of the Unusual No-trump, asking for Another call from partner will find me South's better minor suit; or it could . with a little in reserve." be a general take-out bid, implying 8ARDOUR: "Two Hearts. The dia­ support for all three unbid suits. As mond void and the high hearts arc can be seen from the voting, most of attractive separately, but not in com­ the panel favoured this last explanation. bination. Two Hearts is of course My own feeling, shared by only two encouraging: with a weaker hand and master-minds, is that since the bid could three hearts, partner would expect me be . based upon a two or three-suited to raise him directly." hand, South should first bid his lowest­ CA!'ISINO: "Two Spades. Encouraging ranking four-card suit (in this case clubs) but not forcing. We need another in case partner has such a hand as unforced bid from partner before +A ~Ax OAKJxx +AKQxx. If insisting on game." partner proceeds with Five Diamonds Hmm! I wouldn't rate Two Spades over Five Clubs, then you know that as encouraging. What do you bid with he has diamonds and hearts and you a feeble 6-5 in clubs and spades? can correct to the latter. Dr.ssE: "Three Spades. Followed by RODRIGUE : "Five Clubs. Partner Four Hearts when appropriate. The wants me to bid my suits in ascending alternative, Three Hearts, has the draw­ order. At the same time I have an back that it may not be possible to uneasy feeling that I may be under· repeat the spades. To bid only Two bidding." Spades would not reflect the strength That particular qualm rarely ass:~ils of South's hand." our latest addition to the panel: Problem 1'\o. 2 (20 points) COLLINGS: "Six Hearts. If this were l.m.p. scoring, North-South vulner­ match-point pairs I would still t'C :tblc, the bidding has gone: thinking, wondering whether partner Soum WF.sT NoRTH EAST wanted to play in 4NT. But at i.m.p.s 2+ 4+ his bid must show a three-suited hand. No No 4NT No probably void in spades but pcrh:~rs with a singleton Ace." South holds: PIIILLIJ>S: "No Bid. It is best to h a ~~ +J4 IVQJ642 087 +8642 an understanding with p;ntner th :J t, 10 (a) What dwuld South bid? uncodified situations when a biJ .:Jn (b),~\'hat should South bid if he held have more than one mc:aning. 1 the Kmg of Clubs instead of the Eight natural one should he prc:ferred. T of Clubs? may be bcttc:r contracts than .$!'-IT 48 it is too high to explore.'' But the rest feel that North has asked The for South's best suit and that it is only common courtesy to reply. BARBOUR: "Five Hearts. While it BRIDGE would be possible to interpret partner's bid as natural, this would render power­ Bulletin ful J-4-4-4 hands unbiddable: a Official organ for bridge in double by North would be uncondi­ tionally for penalties." South .Africa REESE: "Five Hearts. Partner has Edited by Leon Sapire made the only take-out call available (Annual subscription 22s. 6d. or SJ.SO to him. It cannot be restricted to the to P.O. Box 38, Fordsburr,Johannesburz) minors." , CANSJNO: "Five Hearts. No cause to sacrifice before he hears an}thing to visualise a slam: those horrible small more from East." clubs are a definite liability." I'm somewhat puzzled at the dis­ But see what Cansino's partner, tinction drawn between Five Spades Collings, had to say.... and 5NT as forcing moves. Or to be Answrr to (b): Five Spades, 10; SNT, 7; more precise, by the lack of distinction. Six Clubs, 6; Six Hearts, 5; 6NT, 4; Why do some choose one and so:nc the Five Hearts, 3. other? Only one panelist casts light 11r~ panel's l'Ote: 7 for Five Spades; on this murky deep: 3 for SNT (Reese, Collings and Can­ SHARPLES: "Five Spades. Partner·s sino); 3 for Six Clubs (Mrs. Markus, hand is obviously distributional and Buckley and Fox); 2· for Six Hearts m~y be two- or three-suited. Five (Crowhurst and Besse); 2 for 6NT Spades sho"-s .,.,;Jiingness to play in (Phillips and Smart); I for Five Hearts Six Hearts, for with both minor suits (le Dentu). my bid would have been Sl'o'T. In a Everyone agrees that the increased similar fashion partner can himself strength of the South hand makes investigate the minor-suit position by slam imperative. Even the naturalists bidding 5NT over my Five Spades:· who passed in answer to (a) press on Yes, that is cogent argument. Why now, but stick to their guns and bid then did three panelists choose S~'T in the slam in no-trumps. The majority preference to Five Spades? Possibly are prepared to bid SNT or Five Spades, they feel that Five Spades suggests forcing partner to choose a trump suit, a measure of control-perhaps a single­ with the proviso that if he chooses ton-in the suit, whereas S~'T suggl!sts diamonds they will convert to hearts. a more balanced hand. Anyw:1y, it Some panelists oppose this scientific is nice to see a raf'l''''dzc•mc·nr bct\\.Xn approach: two of our more char:1ctcrful biJJin:; CkOWttUR!rr: "Six Hearts. The theorists, RCI.'SC and Collings. Per­ wretched East has cramped the auction sonally, J\·e always thought th~t too much for us to bid the hand 9732 OA865 +AJ74 +O guarantee four hearts. Quite possibly What should South bid? the limit of the hand is nine tricks for A11.nrcr: 3NT, JO; Four Hearts, 8; either side, but let's leave the opposition No Bid, 5; Four Clubs, 2; Four Spades, to guess. For my part, I'm prepared 2. to double Four Spades if they bid it." The pa11ei'J rote: 9 for 3NT; 5 for CoLLINGS: "Four Hearts. This should Four Hearts (Collings, Cansino, Rod­ not go more than one down, even if rigue, Le Dentu and Mrs. Markus); doubled, but more likely we shall collect 2'for No Bid (Filarski and Rimington); 300 from Four Spades doubled." I for Four Clubs (Phillips); I for Four I will say this for Four Hearts as Spades (llarbour). opposed to 3NT: should everyone pass, The popular 3NT seems logical, as then at least you will be in game, it niust be for take-out after both whereas after 3NT you presumably will partners . have passed. True, it might pass Four of either minor suit if partner be construed as showing minor suits bids it. only, and this has persuaded some to RIMINGTON: "No Did. A gift. Even introduce the dubious heart suit: a the panel won't contest at the Four doubtful move. level at equal vuinerability with a passed CROWIIURST: "3NT. l don't think partner. Now prove me wrong!" 100 UP allows responsive doubles, and No comment. And the last little anyway these apply only up to the level piggie was so cross at not being aiiO\\:cd of Three Diamonds. If the hearts to play "a well integrated system w1th were better, of course, there would be responsive doubles" that he said: no need for buck-passing, but it seems DARUOUR: "Four Spades. It is more foolish to introduce such a nugatory important to play in the .right sui~. th:l~ suit when there may well be a nine-card at the right level on these hands. fit elsewhere." R11 sr: "3NT. I had this position Problem No.4 (10 points) in Beirut and my oafish partner passed Match-point pairs, East-West ,·ulna· with'. nothing in spades. I think ·that :tble, the bidding has gone: JNT is more useful as a take-out than SouTII Wrsr NoRTII E,,sr lo show, for example, a spade stop and 1<::/ No I+ a long minor suit." ? : BLsst:: "3NT. Clearly a take-out. South holds: ., South's hand justifies competition at +1065 <::/AQJ9S OAKQ ·S­ the four level at least." \Vhat should South bid '? _S~tART: "3NT. Practically incon- Anmw: Two Diamonds. 10; Thl" cclv<~hle that this can he misinterpreted. Diamonds, 3; Tim:\! I h:arts. J. 50 The portel'.r rote: 16 for Two Dia­ SOUTH \V[ST monds; I for Three Diamonds (Mrs. No No Markus); I for Three Hearts (Phillips). Not a baffling problem; and at last l South holds: have achic\'cd a majority vote for a +AJ4 \?Q32 09543 +A32 bid on a three-card suit. Of Two What should South bid? Diamonds, this can be said: it describes \\here South's values arc, and if North Ansll'cr: Three Clubs, 10; 2:--..'T, 5; finds another bid South's problems will Three Hearts, 5; Two Hearts, 5. he o\'er; lastly, North will make every We must apologise for the fact th:lt effort to avoid playing in a minor suit North's opening bid was given as OnUit: Four Spades. Any re­ rnent with our 100 Up partner, we shall I from 3NT on this type of sequence assume Two Clubs to indicate a stro g at lea t a mild slam try and must, of hand, though not absolutely forcing to , be 100% forcing." game. t East of Iceland, it isn't. And I CANStNo: "Agree with double. The 't think that any of the Five Spade hand is far too strong for Two Diamonds rs can think so, otherwise there and unsuitable for Two Clubs." ld have been more support for this NuNES: "Agree with double. Some may prefer Two Clubs, but this is not my style.'' · • 7 (20 points) CROW HURST: "Agree with doubl . l.m.p. sooring, North-South vulner­ The hand is not sufficiently two-suited a!He, the bidding has gone: for Two Clubs." SOUTH WEST NoRTH EAST Ah! The first cogent r~son for I+ scorning Two Clubs. If you d' try Dble No I+ No Two Clubs and ov r the expected sp response from partner show ~our South holds: diamonds, he may get the curi u A (JAQ98 OAQI09764 +tO notion that, as you don'tlike hi r J . f11) Oo you agree with South's you are requesting n preference i~ t ? If not, what alternative do red suits. Thus he m.1y tm ~tly ) pmer? introduce a thrc -card h •.trt uit in (b) h t r.hould South bid now? inau picious cin:um t.HK'CS. A rIll (a): Agree with Douhle, 10; Rusr: Agr\.'c "ith ll•'uhk; th n: i' n' Tv.o Clubs, 7; Prefer Two .... alternative." S 1 RT: ";\ rec "ith d ub! . If I' Ut': lOa r'--ewith Double; f,,IJow "ith a jump hiJ in ,,ur . uit th:, o Club- (Sharpie , Fo:<, "ill he the h<~ok n ·th<~ of~! i, • -" rbc.lur and Mr . Marku~); T (Fil. r:.~i. A col t"''-biJ." But the: T ,, Club t ·J h.td :.. r. 'rt: SIIM the aggrieved panelist: of any usc to us. " RODRIGUE: "Prefer Two Diamonds. REESE: "Three Diamonds. You don't 7-4-1-1 is not on my list of shapes need very much opposite to have a play suitable for a take-out double." for game." This benevolent strain is followed up CANS INO: "Three Diamonds. This in his answer to (b). completes the picture. We must hare An.nrcr to (b): Three Diamonds JO· hearts, otherwise the double would Two Clubs, 6; Two Dia~onds, 4. ' ' have been a somewhat futile bid, but The panel's rotc: 13 for Three Dia­ our diamonds arc virtually self-support­ monds; 2 for Two Clubs (N~ncs and ing," Barbour); 2 for Two Diamonds (Fil­ Except that other panelists suggest arski and Rimington). that the double followed by a jump bid RODRIGUE: "Ask the idiot who is the standard way to show an Acol doubled!" Two-bid after the opponents ha'c opened the bidding, and Acol Two-biJ5 Leaving this friendly suggestion on do not necessarily contain a second suit. ?nc side, the jump to Three Diamonds IS well supported. When preceded by a Problem No. 8 (I 0 points) ~ouhlc, the jump bid indicates a hand l.m.p. scoring, game all, the b1dding JU~t ~hort of an immediate cue-bid in the has gone: ~pponcn~s· suit. It strongly suggests SOU Til WEST NoRTH EAST ·' <>.ne-~UJted hand or at least a hand in •• :!~ whtch the two suits arc disparate in •+ 4+ 5~ length as in the problem hand. 2+ 3\/ No No Dblc Nll Tw~ Diamonds suggested by two No No ~.an~IJ~ts, ~trikes me as being over­ South holds: l:,tUtJous and hkcly to miss ., g·tllle Wl 'l · · . ' ' · +J74 C,/(,53 005 +KQJi5 II~ 1 hn:e Clubs docs not begin to What should South h:ad '! de~~:nhe the hand. Annrcr: Any h~arl, 10; Kin!!.l)fd 1 ~'· Lt Dt ~I u: 'Three Diamonds. This S; Four of spad~·s, 4; Qu~~n l)f Ja.llll'' ' · 111111/ get over the ides that I have ., .,, Jhl\\erful ~uit in a strong hanJ, ai- -· The• pand'.1· rt~tc: 7 fM th~ Th •. ' ' 54 1 Jrh; 8 for the King of clubs (Reese, Sha rp! , Nunes, Le Dcntu, Buckley, The new, true cfcusic of bridge Mr . ~t a rku s and Rodrigue); 2 for the (G vy R6 :T'I S~1 in t.': r D4i ft Tr 'r;·l ;t..,} f ou r of spades is more modest in his expecta­ CoU.JSGS: "Queen l' f lklllh'nJ s. tion , than 'Bring-'cm-Back-Alive' Bar­ The \\hOle pt)Sititm is ft'!!!!Y anJ I f,·-.:1 bo ur, hut makes a good point about that l willl~ the l'dd nun l'llt \\ ith my part ne r's po\\ihle club void. choice of leal!. l c a nnot~,.,. the t\h\ i,'lh 1'1111111•s : "Three of llearts. The Kint-: Kin~ of Clubs or a trump k.1J l!.:f,·.ltir:_; ~ > f Cluh, fool- s tempting, but if partna the contract. It is unlil..d~ tlut r .1r1 n;:r " ." 'id in dub, then \\e arc probably hao; thc Ace of Cluhs anwn~ hi' g,,, E.: ~ . £"111' tu llc fc a t thc contract an) lww." M' hc mu't ha\e v;lllll:' in J i.mwnJ-;. " 55 &\1@) ~9~ ~@ /f@

lfp{Jg £b0~ID®~ ~~~oo(b @~ ~~DE)@,~ ~ - )~ /

/':::./ ------___ ./ Directed by NICO GARDENER British International and Life Master

TUITION CLASSES -tr BEGINNER'S CLUB

POSTAL COURSES -tr PRACTICE CLASSES

There is no better or gayer way to learn the game than at the London School of Bridge, 38 King's Road, Chelsea. Telephone: KENsington 7201-2. 56 BRIDGE ACADEMY Conducted by G. C. H. FOX The noted bridge teacher and colunmist discusses variations on the use of the weak no-trump in match-point pairs.

\tany players favour the three­ side not being \1llncrable. quarter no trump. This means In fact there is only one that they play a weak lNT position where the vulnerability is opening except when they are. critical. This ·is where you are \ulnerable and the opponents are down two doubled, losing 500. not. There does not appear to be This is, of course, too large a any great advantage in this. penalty to incur to save a non­ Apart from the effort required in vulnerable game (400), so that in noticing the state of the score and theory it may be argued that the the increased risk of a misunder-· · three-quarter no trump gains on standing, a no trump that crashes this occasion. But in practice it is likely to be a bottom anyway. hardly ever happens that way. Suppose you open 1NT, vul­ If the opponents have a biddable nerable, are doubled and go game you are likely to be defeated down 800. Whether or not the· by more than two tricks. If opponents arc vulnerable is com­ your Joss is only 500 it is probable pletely immaterial. The only that they have between them thing that counts is whether any­ 22-24 points and are likely to one in your line has also gone stop in a part score, so your down 800 or more. result is bad whether they arc Even if you are not doubled the vulnerable or not. ~ituation will not . be greatly A variation which has more to different. Suppose you go down recommend it is "weak fourth in two, losing 200. This is nearly hand" no trump. This mc3ns always a bad result for the simple that you the norm3l Acol \\cak reason that the loss is greater and strong no trumps, but any than any part score. It is not 1NT opening last in hand j, in any way aflcctcd by the other weak. (contimlt'd em pag,· 61) 57 BIDDING WISE Ronald Crown discusses standard British bidding. In his final contribution to Brh(r:e Academr. Ronald Crou·n discusses the "Prepared Club'; or "Short Club" hid.

A great deal has been written mond and partner responds Two about the Prepared Club and . Clubs, any bid that you now this has tended to obscure and make is unsatisfactory. If you make difficult a subject which is support clubs, you imply a hand really very simple. To start with, with better distribution. If you the name: it is so called because ·.·. rebid 2NT; . yoti suggest a hand there is a certain type of hand on · · contai~ing about 16 points. which, if you don't open One The sohition isnot to open One Club, you will not be "prepared" Diam~nd : but to bid One Club to deal with every possible re- instea·d. , l'fO\V · you can rebid sponse which your partner might I NT over partner's response. make. But if you do open One . . · Similar · remarks apply to ex­ Ciuh, the future has no problems amples (2)and (3), but you should for you; you are "prepared." remen1ber this exception: If, hav- Thc Prepared Club is used . ing opened with One Club, you mainly on hands which are not have ·ail ·opportunity to show a good enough for a strong I NT major .suit at the Orie level, you opening; i.e., which have less should do so. · So, if on exampk than 16 points. This is because (2) partner responds One Dia­ such hands can present a problem mond or One Heart to your One on the second round of bidding, Club opening, you should rebid unless they happen to contain One Spade. . two biddable suits. Consider the There arc certain hands which following examples: contain two four-card suits but (I) +Qxx \/AJx OKJxx +Kxx which still present a pr(lblc1.11 ' (2) +AQxx \/QJx OQxx +Axx This occurs when the two ~ult: ()) +Jxx C/AKxx OQxx +Axx arc spades and diamonds. T On ( 1), if you open One D1a- general practice on such har ss follows: When the doubleton li .. . j; clubs. open One Spade; \.vhen ... Improves on Dr. Johnson. r t doubleton is hearts, open One It gives the bridge pbycr both I! argument and understanding." ii (Jub. Examples: n (.\fanch~sttr Guard£an) ii (4) .Ahx \?Qxx 0 KJxx +Kx (5) •KQxx ~xx OAQxx +QJx THE 1: BRIDGE PL\ YER'S J; With example (4), open One il Spade and over Two Clubs bid DJCfiO~ARY Two Diamonds. If partner res­ by TERE~CE REESE ponds Two Hearts, bid Three Hearts, as it is generally accepted Mayflowu 2Js. that a response of Two Hearts to an opening bid of spades shows at least a five-card suit. at least Four Clubs, and if he gives preference to clubs after W1th example (5), it is best _to bidding his own suit, you can open One Club as you could be give return preference. Let us in trouble after an opening bid use example (2) and assume that of One Spade. And if you opened the bidding is as follows: One Diamond you would not be too happy after a Two . Club Opener Responda response. I+ 1\/ Do not use the prepared club I+ ~· where it is unnecessary. With a Opener shall now bid Two Hearts, hand such as: knowing that there will be at .KJxx \?Kxxx OQx +KQx least seven trumps in the com­ the correct opening bid is One bined hands. Spade, for you can comfortably Many people look upon an rebid Two Hearts over partner's opening bid of One Club ,,:ith two-level response in a minor suit. suspicion. This is of cours.: One of the objections some· wrong. The "prepared .. club is ~imes raised to the prepared club not used \'ay often. anJ your I that you can be in difilculty if partner is just as likdy to h:m: partner supports or gives pre­ fin: or six clubs as any ('thcr suit. ~ renee to clubs at a later stage If the opening is rrepared. th.: 1" the auction, in the belief that hand will haw JH't kss than thr.:e You ha\'e a cluh ~uit. The answer clubs. The l)penin~ t'lid l'f One i\ "t . . 4UI c !llnlplc. If partner giws Club must ne\er be m:tde t.'ll a llllfllcdiate suppllrt, he will han: ~ingkwn 0r dt,uhktllll. ·

~ ·) PLAYING WISE Dan Burgess develops your card-play with lessons designed especially for the improver. This month lze continues lzis adrice to declarer.

Jn the Club the other night I of the defender's play to trick 1. watched a confirmed "unlucky" The opening lead, + 7, cannot be player mangle the hand below in "fourth best" so must be "top Four Hearts: of nothing". West's play of the 8 NORTH must be a "come-on" signal, • Q4 2 ·showing +A. The logical in­ C/AJ62 ference is that East thinks West 0 KQ9 5 has a doubleton and is hoping to +A 7 give his partner a ruff on the SOUTII third round. Declarer can afford +:K J 10 to lose one trump trick provided CVK853 he does not lose a ruff as well, so 0 J 8 7 he must forget the trump finesse +~K43 and draw two rounds with the West led +7, dum~y played Ace and King. So long as the the Queen and East played the 8. spades arc reasonably kind, thi5 Now declarer led a small heart play guarantees the contract. from dummy to his King and That is a fairly simple cxampl finessed dummy's

Students are invited to write to Bridge Academy on any subject connected with bridge

G. C. H. FOX (Continued)

(from page 57) doubled is negligible. Further­ The theory underlying this more, it is unda precisdy thes;: method is that since no one has conditions that the pre-emptive opened in front of you the value of the I NT opening i:; lllCI ) t '> trength is Jikdy to he evenly needed, to prc.:vc.:nt unwt:lc~.1 m:: di tributcd and the risk of being competition. CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS 5/- per line. Special terms for a series BRIDGE CLUBS AND HOTELS HOliR:"E,fOUTif. BRA~KSO:\IE PARK . liAR ROW wr.sstx Cu;s. Tel.: West bourne .64034. Resi­ IIARROW BRIOGF. CLUB-16 Northwick p It dential Bridge Club in own beautiful grounds. Road, Harrow, Middx, Tel.: Harrow 3?~8 16 Bedroom~. Club Bar. Excellent f

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TUITION NICO GARDENER guarantees to improve PERFECT YOUR BRIDGE under cham­ )·our game. Tuition, practice classes and lectures pionship guidance. Private or Group Tuition. all under pc:rsonal superv·ision; also postal course. Practice classes, Duplicate coaching. Master The London School of Bridge, 38 King's Road, Points contests. Lectures. Folder free from London, S.W.3. Tel.: KENsington 7201. the Mayfair Bridge Studio (Dept. 5), 110 Mount Street, London, W.l, or 'phone GRO 2844.

Diary of Eve11ts 1964 October 4- 6 N.E.B.A. COI'GRESS Salt burn 9-12 E.B.U. AuTuMN Co:-;GREss East bourne 16-18 WEsT oF Er.:GLAND Co:-;GRESs Weston 23-25 ST. Dur.:sTAI"S Co~GREss Ilk ley Oct. 30-Nov, 1 Sur.:DAY Tt~IES CuP London Nowmbcr 6- 8 N.W.C.B.A. CONGRESS Black pool 14-15 CAMROSE TRIAL Leicester December 12-13 Lt ouu:R MtMotUAL CuP London 1965 Jan. 2- 3 TOLU:~IACIIE Cut• South-cast 22-24 Wtllll:LAW Cut• East bourne Ftn, 13-14 MASTI.RS PAIRS LmmoN March IH CHARITY CuALU:NGE CuP Worldwide 62