The San Francisco call., 1906-10-18
Copyright, 1905, by r.. F. Foster.
No. 10.

When the dealer passes the make IL
is for one of two, purposes: In order
that the dummy may make oeciara-
ton that will make a good score IL ne
has good hand or in order that ne
shall lose as little as possible IL ne IS
not strong. When the game is not In
danger 1t is supposed that the dummy
will be conservative: but If the score
is much against the dealer he may pass
the make as an invitation to dummy
to take a chance on anything resem-
bling a hand
There are many hands on which
dummy should unhesitatingly declare
spades at one state Of the score, and
with equal confidence go no-trumps at
another.
But the refinements of the score
must be let alone for the present, be-
cause the score is something like a
balance wheel, adjusting other parts
Of the mechanism Of the hand, and
these other parts must be thoroughly
mastered before the balance wheel can
be put in place
At normal states of the score the
dealer passes the make because his
own hand is not strong enough to OFFER
any hope of winning the game; In
other words, he does not feel justified
in making an attacking" declaration.
AS we have already seen, dummy must
make some allowance for this weak
ness on the dealers part, but at the
same time he must not be afraid TO
take a little risk. One cannot always
have certainty, and IT Is very sell
dom that dummy has such cards as 10
give him reasonable hope of winning
the odd trick without the slightest as
sistance from the dealer. The COM
mon view of the situation is aptly ex-
pressed in the phrase, THE dealer must
have something"
When dummy cannot go no-trumps or
make 1t red, the choice comes down to
clubs and spades. The spade has one
indisputable advantage, the adversaries
cannot possibly win the game from
grand slam. In clubs they can win
the game If they double and make only
four by cards.
For this. reason the spade declaration
has come to be looked upon as abso-
lutely safe as well as the make that
will lose the least. From the habit Of
so regarding it at the score of love-
all, players have come to think that it
is the safest make at any score, but
there are many who do not agree with
this and insist that clubs are better If
there is any. balance of strength in
favor of that suit If the object is to
lose as little as possible the club is
as safe as the spade, they say, because
clubs are less likely to be doubled.
1t is undoubtedly true that the ma
jority of spade hands are doubled, and
it is also true that the adversaries are
not as quick to double clubs they are
to double spades. But the mere fact
that the spade will probably be made
worth four, and the club will probably
be played at four, is not enough to
justify the selection of the club in pref
erence to the spade. There is always
the danger that the club may be
doubled, and the possibility that it
may lose the game. which cannot hap
saries are nothing UP.
Some years ago there was quite a
discussion about the advisability of
declaring clubs in preference to spades
and what is called the Indian system"
was very largely adopted. In this
method, which was introduced by
players In India, dummy always de-
clared clubs in preference to spades
holding five of the suit, or four to two
honors as good as x. @. Failing such
strength as five in suit, or four to two
good honors, the club was still the
choice whenever both suits were rather
weak. but the clubs had the best of
what little strength there was.
This system brings about some curl
Gus declarations, of which the two fol-
lowing are good examples. They were
first published among others in the
Times of India, and afterward IN the
London Field.
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