The San Francisco call., 1906-11-01


dummy unless he has in his own hand
the support that dummy has , right to
expect. he must not only settle upon
what that strength should be, but must
be able to recognize il at a glance and
must also be sure that his partner will
understand that he is TO be depended
on for so much and no more.
While this may seem simple mat
ter. a little thought viii show that ii
is full Of difficulty. and the history Of
the game tells US that many efforts
have been made 10 overcome il.
Strength is a varying quantity. 1t
may be in high cards or in trumps- 1t
may be in the ability 10 win tricks. or
10 prevent the adversaries from Win
ming them X may be restricted TO a
certain suit, or distributed among sew
eral.
In Southern Europe, where bridge is
supposed TO have had its origin, the
dealer never passes the make unless
he is able to protect the heart suit;
that is, 10 stop the adversaries from
running off all the hearts against him
in case dummy goes no trumps. No
attention is paid 10 strength or weak
ness in other suits; without stopper
in hearts the dealer must declare on
his own cards. While this system has
its merits. il drives him TO some Pc
culiar declarations, simply because he
cannot pass the make. It frequently
enables the dummy TO call hearts when
he would not otherwise risk il. be-
cause he knows the dealer has a sure
trick in the suit It is also useful in
enabling dummy TO go no trumps when
he is weak in hearts
In India and Australia the dealer
goes farther than this. and will not
pass the make unless he has three rea-
sonably sure tricks in his own hand.
Whether these tricks are all in one
suit or in several. or what suits they
are in, makes no difference.
This sounds easy. but il brings about
the question Of settling what kind of a
hand is worth just three tricks. no
more, no less, because if the hand is
worth more than three tricks. it is
probably no-trumper. and if il is
worth less il must be made a spade If
the dealer never passes the make ex-
cep~ when he has exactly three tricks
in his hand, he must be able 10 decide
upon thre e-trick hands with tolerable
accuracy.
When the dealer does pass. dummy's
task is easy. much easier than the deal
er's. because the dealer declares on
proba bilities only, or average expecta-
tion, whereas the dummy can declare
on a certainty. because he knows the
passing hand has three tricks in it
This system prevents any serious
losses, and also avoids the unpleasant
experience OF continually declaring
spades on hands which. combined.
would have been very fair no~trump-
ers or red makes.
At present bridge players seem to be
divided into three different schools on
the subject of defensive declarations
those who believe that the dealer
should never make anything but an
attacking declaration leaving defen-
sive ones entirely TO the dummy; those
who believe that the dealer should
make a defensive declaration only
when he has not a single trick in his
hand and those who believe that the
dealer should not pass unless he has a
certain number of reasonably sure
tricks, usually two or more There
are no followers of the ure-stopper-in-
hearts theory in this country at
present.
The argument of the first school is
that the constant making Of defensive
declarations by the dealer irritates the
dummy, who does not like to lose
chance after chance of making A big
score in nO-trumps or hearts just be-
cause his partner is either very timid
or very distrustful. The dealers object
they say, is to prevent dummy from
viii result in loss in the majority of
cases. The dealer hopes TO protect his
partner from this impending loss, but
in many cases the partner does not like
this protecting hand continually
stretched out over him. as Bads-
worth" says Helikes 70 take chance
and when he gets a glorious hand he
wants full swing TO declare on it and
score every point it is worth. Nothing
makes him so angry as TO be shut off
by an original spade, and TO have the
hands abandoned, giving him two
points, when he had hand worth
sixty. Any one who has sat between
two players, one Of whom believes in
original spades while the other ridi-
cules them, must have seen some fine
exhibitions of self-control .
The advocates of the defensive spade
say that it pays. and they base their
claims on certain mathematical calcu-
lations that it should pay. but that it
actually does pay has never been dem
onstrated to the satisfaction of the
playing public. or they would
probably have adopted it long ago.
Those who belong to the second
school and insist that when the. dealer
has not a single trick in hfs hand he
should declare spades, but that with
even one trick he should pass, go upon
the theory that they are simply invit-
ing disaster when they ask dummy not
only to make the declaration but to
take seven tricks with his own cards
Why the possession of a single trick
should make such a difference is not
clear TO some persons. but the argu-
ment in its favor is this: If the dealer
can get lead into HIS own hand, even
once. it may be of the greatest ad-
vantage. either in enabling him to take
a finesse with dummy's cards or TO lead
10 a guarded honor, instead OF away
from II. The position Of the lead is
often worth much more than the sim
pie trick which places it in the right
hand.
The followers of the third school,
who insist on three tricks in the deal
ers hand every time he passes the
make. do not live up TO their creed very
strictly. and usually satisfy their con-
sciences with two tricks when they
want very much TO give dummy a
chance. Those who stick TO the three
trick theory are sure-thing players. and
their system enables them TO call trump
suits with light cards and to go no.
trumps on much weaker hands than
would be considered safe for dummy
under other circumstances. Those who
follow out this system consistently
never come any serious troopers in the
way Of losses, but the dealer will fire.
quently snd that he has made a defen-
sixe declaration on a tWO-trick hand