Omaha daily bee., 1909-11-28

- vans AhE uALLbIElCe between
1913 and 1885, which is 53S, so A is credited
with that amount and b is charged with
II. A and c are then compared in the
same way and finally b and c are ad-
justed. The additions prove that A wins
all the money. the losses being shared by
b and G.
With regard to the tactics of the game
they differ in no respect from any form
OF bridge when it comes to the play of
the cards, but in the bidding for the trump
there is a material difference from the
factors that control in auction bridge for
four players. In three-hand you are never
trying to coax your partner to increase his
bid or to go no-trumps by showing him
your strength. You are strictly on your
own account all the time.
To the beginner the confusing element
In three-hand auction is due to the fact
that the hand which will be your partners
II you get the declaration is absolutely
mum in the bidding and Is Always more or
less of a mystery. When this form Of the
game is first tried good players rapidly
arrive at the conclusion that they can
credit the dummy hand with strength in
the suits which are not named in the bid
ding If the suits are expensive ones.
Suppose that the dealer starts with one
club, the dummy hand lying on his right.
Second player goes one in diamonds and
the third bidder cannot nave anything in
hearts or he would bid one heart to over
call one diamond instead of riskinK three
in spades
This looks as If the dealer could trust
dummy for the hearts. Knowing that the
spade suit will be on his right and the
diamonds on his left, he can calculate the
probabilities Of succeeding with a no
trumper according to his chances of stop
ping either or both the declared suits and
of finding dummy with the hearts.
With a little experience at the game the
sharp players soon begin to utilize this
system Of trusting dummy by turning It
into a very fine bluff. When they have
nothing at all In a suit they bid on it,
so as to make tho other players think it
it not in the dummy.
The effects Of this style of play are
sometimes rather curious. The player who
has made the bluff is perhaps left with the
declaration and finds to his agreeable as
constituent that dummy has the whole
suit and the contract goes through swim
mingly, hanks to dummy's help.
On the other hand, 1t sometimes turns
out that when one player has made a bluff
on hearts, another has made a bluff on
diamonds. The one who is bluffing on
diamonds thinks the other is afraid OF
that suit and that the diamonds are act
ually in the dummy, so he calls two or
three in diamonds, although he has moth
ing in that particular suit himself. When
dummy's cards are turned up, he finds
to his disgust that dummy has all the
hearts and has nothing In diamonds at all.
and he goes down for three or four tricks.
The chief skill in three-hand lies in the
Judgment Of what your cards are worth
II taken In conjunction with an average
dummy. In this respect, the declaration.
II sound, very closely resembles the make
In ordinary bridge, but, Of course. no
trumpers for more than one or two
tricks should not be lightly risked If the
bidding shows a strong suit against you In
which you have M protection.
There are some who profess to think
this game would be much improved II
the dummy hand were turned up before
the bidding began, and each player were
allowed to bid on what he thought he could
do with that and for a partner.
The writer tried this style of playing
three hand just as al experiment, and it
was found that while one player might be
wiling to undertake TO do a certain thing
with dummy for a partner, his undertake
ing was as a rule, either very limited or
very safe. The others, at the same time.
had ample opportunity to Judge what they
could do against the exposed hand. and
the great objection to this form of the
game turned out to be the time the players
took to think it all over before they would
venture to make a bid at all.
Take it all together, the rules they have
drawn up for three-hand auction bridgs
seem to make a game that is quite good
enough TO pass the time very pleasantly
when 1t is impossible TO get a fourth 10
make up the regulation table.