CONTRACT BRIDGE THE OFFICif\L MEDIUM FOR ENGLISH BRIDGE UNION NEWS BRIDGE AT MANCHESTER 6 . READ : A. •· SMITH EVERY SATURDAY IN THE .. ~ I •' \ · \ CONTRACT DRIDGfi JOURNAL 1 THE "CONTRAC't BRIDGE JOURNAL" CIRCULATES IN I THE BRITISH ISLES SOUTH AFRICA IRAN EIRE ITALY AUSTRALIA MALAYA BELGIUM NORWAY CANADA SWEDEN CEYLON DENMARK EGYPf SPAIN INDIA SWITZERLAND NEW Z~ALAND FINLAND pAKISTAN HOLLAND TURKEY and the U.S.A. SUBSCRIPTION RATES Australia A£1/18/0 Belgium Frs. 218 Italy Lire 2624.25 Canada $4.60 Denmark Kr. 30 Norway Kr. 31 Ceylon Rs. 20 Egypt E£1.50 Sweden Kr. 22.50 India Rs. 20 Eire £1/10/0 Spain Ps. 46 NcwZealand £1/10/0 Finland Mks. 970 Switzerland Frs. 19 Pakistan Rs.13 France Frs. 1520 Turkey T£12 South Africa £1/10/0 Holland Fls. 16.50 U.S.A. $4.50 Malaya Rs. 14 Iran Rials 135 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION 30/- POST FREE The Copyright of this Magazine is vested in Cambray Publications Limited. · Reprinting of contents without permission is prohibited. It Union.is pub]' 1 5hed under the authol!tY. of the English Bridge - Please cut out and attach to Competition Entry CONTRACf BRIDGE JOURNAL COMPETITION VOUCHER SEPTEMBER, 1952 CONTRACT DRJOOB JOURNAL BRIDGE The Official Bulletla of the THE BELGIUM BRIDGE EUROPEAN FEDERATION BRIDGE REVIEW • • ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION Annual Subscription Rate : (10 issues) 30/- I 10/­ post free pOit free • European Brid.ge Review • Enskede, Sweden Agent in Great Britiun : Circulation Dept. : MR. G. C. H. Fox 114 Wigmore Street, Rue Phillipe-le-Boa., lO London, W.l. Brussels Belgium Single copies 3/- from Newsagents CONTRACT BRIDGE JOURNAL CHAMPION BRIDGE BOOKS THE FOUR ACES SYSTEM OF CONTRACf BRIDGE by world champions Oswald Jacoby, David ' Bumstine, Michael T. Gottlieb, Howard Sclzenken and . Baron Waldemar von Zedtwitz. Introduction by Harold S. Vanderbilt. This all-American bidding system, based on the oh-so-easy 3-2-1 point count, bas beaten every known system. Not the writings or pet theories of one player, but a harmonious system as practised by the world's top masters, as they bid it, as they play it. as they win by it. The 332 pages of this jumbo book lucidly cover every phase of winning bids, made easy in simple lan­ guage for average players. Profusely illustrated with type bands and bidding sequences. An one-guinea value for only 15/- post free EXPERT BIDDING by Samuel M. Stayman, ~orld champion player. Stayman's new 4!-2-3-1 count 1s making a. stir in American Bridge circles. 16/- p~ paid THE 4 CLUB BID by Jolm Gerber, the Texas Star, saves a round over Blackwood and just as easy. Paper, 6/- post paid Mail cheque or money. order to British Sales Agents :- Cambray Publications Ud., 3 Cambray, Cheltenham tllow about six weeks for delivery, since these ooks are shipped only on' order from U.S.A . 3 CONTRACf BRIDGE JOURNAL Please recomme'nd "-" ••~---y ... ~ ... the .. --­ t-\\£TTEs·----· . C. B. J. c}~ . '+ I to your friends. >:.W~~~\ 'SI ~~D~ Full of the latest news ~1iii!J'iilh.~IJJ_ ,...,~ and articles by the ~~~1/J () world's best writers. News of French Bridge in:- BRIDGE LE BRIDGE Monthly Review of the 32 Rue Chalgrin, FEDERATION OF Paris, 16. ITALlAN BRIDGE (F. I. B.) Official Publication of the "DEFERATION FRANCAISE · Yearly Subscription : de BRIDGE" ' £1 : 0 : 0 Subscription rate per year : Write to:­ Frcs. 1000 (French) Director : FEDERICO ROSA Write to above-address. ' Via Monte Napoleone 8, Free specimen copy on request. Milan, Italy. - 4 CONTRACT BRIDGE JOURNAL FOR ENGLISH BRIDGE UNION NEWS SEPTEMBER, 1952 No. 11 Editor-in-Chief : H. ST. JOHN INGRAM TERENCE REESB HAROlD FRANWN Editor: ... 1. C. H. MAIL'< 1\lanuscrlpts and all Bridge Correspondence to : THB EDITOR, CoNTRACT BRIDOE JOURNAL, 3 LONDON LANE, BROMLEY, I<.ENT• • All Correspondence on Subscriptions and Advertlaln~r to Publishers : CAMnRAY PunuCA.noNs LTD., 3 CAMBRAY, CH'ELTENUAM, GLOs. Telephone : 55708 CONTENTs Page CONTENTS Page 6 ANY Q~ONS 23-26 7 NoRTII v Soum WALP..S 27-28 l.ot.noN AND THE Sotrm by Ttrence Reese 8- 12 ASKING BIDS 29- 32 Tli.ILS AND TRIBULATIONS by Gordon H. Hammond 13 E.B.U. NOTES 33-34 brtar l UOGEt.tl!trr BEST HAND ... 35 by Paul Masters 14-17 l.fll)J..u..ns , •• anLDRENS OUTING . •. 37 b AND Till! NORTII y Harold Frankl'tn ... 18-20 DowN YoUR WAY ... 38 ~ llll! BollDER by C. E. Dickel .. 21-22 CoMPETmON .PAOBS ... 4o-46 s . EDITORIAL> When our next issue comes out . The 16 c<?untries are divided on October 1st, the European. mto two sechons and the two top Championships will be over and teams of each section play off as we sincerely hope and expect that a semi-final, the winners playing the British team will be booked a 100 board match final. Great for the World Championship Britain is certainty in the stronger against the U.S.A. After the section having to play amongst Olympic results in Jlelsinki it others, Austria, Sweden, Holland would be very unwise to prophesy and Fr~nce. Italy (the holders) by anything, so we will keep our companson have an easy section fingers crossed and trust that ow: and we expect the final to be boys and girls-(that should fought out between that country please them)-get their fair share and ourselves. of the luck. Do not let us for a second run away with the idea In t.he Women's Championship, that at duplicate bridge, skill is all there IS only one section, all play­ that matters. Far from it as many ing all and as last year, it looks as know to their cost. Luck plays a if Denmark, France and Great tremendous part on occasions. Brit~in will be chiefly interested in No-Trump contracts played the the final · placings. There is no other way round, wrong choice on reason why we should not confirm an optional finesse, a lucky lead, the Venice result if (and it is an and even the dropping of a card important if) none of the team get • -which becomes exposed-are temperamental and affected by a only a few of the little things bad board. May we offer one which may make the difference word of advice Ladies-If any­ between losing and winning a thing goes wrong, forget it at once match. and argue out the rights and The men's team is made up of wrongs when you get back from very experienced players with Dublin with the Cup. Ewart Geoff!ey Fell as non-playing Kempson the non-playing captain captam. None of them is likely of the Ladies team is a past master to g~t rattled if things go wrong in the art of holding a team ~nd It can be safely assumed that together and it certainly will not If. a couple do get a bad board it be his fault if anything goes wdl be forgotten straight away wrong. an~ no silly effort made to recover The Championships finish too pOints on the next. Every board late in the month for us to report sho~ld and will be played on its in detail in our next issue but full ments, always with the proviso accounts with many hands wiU that exceptional tactics may be ·appear the following month. necessary on the last few boards of a match. Terence Reese, Harold Frank­ The real excitement will com­ lin and the Editor will all be ~ence on Thursday, September writing on the championships. _5th, when the semi-finals com­ The best of luck and a happy mence. time to both teams. 6 . ·. · Club Night - Manchester by our Travelling Correspondent There can be no bridge club­ bridge, the predominant game in certainly no pr~vincial one-with the club, generally goes on until a more impressive record over the the small hours. The stakes vary past tournament season than the from a bumble shilling to the size Central Road Club of Manchester. of game one finds in some London Consider these performances : In Clubs- and.experience has shown the Provost Trophy at the E.B.U. that the standard of card play is Southport Congress four of the never higher than when the stakes eight teams who reached the final are appreciable. Consider these were from this club-and this in two examples that I " looked in " a star·studded field representative on. of the whole country. And the + 10 9xx youngest of these teams in playing \} AK lOx 0 XX . 1 experience, A. J. Preston, H. Reece, M. Blank and A. Feldman 4 J lOx· became the new holders. +J xx + AKQxxx In. the Crockford's Cup, the \} xx \} QJxx EngliSh Teams Championship, 0 Jxxxxx 0 KQ two of the eight teams who dJt XX 4t X reached the final were from this • None dub and in~vita.bly, they had their \) XXX representatives m the last eight of 0 Axx the Gold Cup. The North soundly .e. AKQxxxx defeated the South this year-with There was nothing' timid about ~team that included three Central oad members and the Club's the auction which was :- two leading lights, B. H. Franks Nortlz East South West an~ S. B.laser. helped England to a No 1+ 34 No :hlsstantl~l VIctory over Wales in 46 4\} S.t. No years Camrose match. 66 No No No The declarer was·I. Schneider a ·the~f~b hn bde no doubt but that seas~ned tournament player. The ~ as . one a great deal to im openmg spade lead was trumped Nlrth~W~~:ymg standards in the by dec!arer who drew one ro:md • recent · .