The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-06-07
PROPOSE NEW COUNT
AT AUCTION BRIDGE
Spades at Six q Trick and No
Royals Latest Idea in
England.
SOME WORTHLESS HANDS
Examples Of Combinations of
Cards Of No Value to
the Player.
SOME WORTHLESS HANDS


land to do away with the original spade
call at two a trick by the dealer In auc-
tion bridge and also to abandon the royal
The idea seems to be to make spades al
ways worth g. clubs Z, diamonds 3. hearts
0 and no trumps 10. so that II shall take
,fve tricks in a black suit. four In n red
and three at no trumps to go game on
the hand.
In order to protect the dealer from
forced losses he II to be allowed to pass
the declaration. This naturally makes II
necessary to give the second bidder the
same privilege, and so on round the table.
II no one makes a bid there. must be
new deal. whether by the same dealer or
the one TO his left Is not yet settled.
That such a system would never be
| popular In this country seems obvious.
| We have done everything with n view TO
| getting quick action. and II Is hardly to
| be expected that we should adopt methods
which are even slower than those we have
| improved upon.
| We stopped playing spades because they
were worth only two a trick and II was
| considered a waste OF time. We advanced
the values OF all the suits so that there
should be n chance to 20 game on the
deal with any of them for trumps The
| time wasted In playing spades would be
| nothing compared to the time wasted in
dealing the cards with four maurers In
| the game.
II IL were the rule to have a new deal
| In case no one made "A bid, one of two
things would Inevitably result Players
would lose patience at the waste OF time.
get reckless In their bidding and reduce
| the game to gamble. Just as a poor
poker player who gets tired OF waiting
| for hands goes into pot after pot on
| nothing. or We should have to make
some additional rule providing that II no
bid was made the deal should be played
on some predetermined declaration.
That Is the rule In almost every game
by all the players. Even In auction
pinochle the dealer mus. bid twenty.
| whether he has II or not. The only pos
sible declaration on which a hand could
be played with Justice TO those who
passed honestly would be nullo.
| This Is practically the same as the
ramsch In skat which Is designed to
smoke out the maurers that will not bid
their hands for what they are worth.
| In the absence OF some punishment for
| those who would never make a bid until
they had n sure thing. but would lie back
to set the more venturesome. We should
soon have a new school % players on a
| par with those who never open a Jack
pot with less than aces, and never see
| a raise with less than threes
| The nullo would speedily bring these
| players to book. beau lose who sat
tight with all the vim. d, cards would
| be obliged to win the majority Of the
tricks II no one made bid. AS the nullo
| would not be declared by either side II
would be to the advantage OF either to
make II, as 1t would count toward game.
| Let one side win eight tricks and the
| other i've and tho difference would be
| three. At ten trick this would be n
game for the holders OF the small cards
| who really had nothing to bid on.
ms all that
waste their time at the card table will
never be popular In America, although
| II may suit a nation that can see the
strikerout walk hundred yards to the
| clubhouse and the next batter walk the
same distance from the clubhouse every
| time a man Is out.
Any law that renders useless such a
process as dealing fifty-two cards one at
a time, after all the accessories of shut
Ming and cutting. cannot meet with general
| approval In this country. Either the
dealer must be allowed to retain the
present safety bid OF one spade or there
must be a compulsory declaration when
all pass, and this must be of such n ma
ture as TO punish those who should have
| bid on their cards
| At the next congress OF tho American
| Whist League, which meets at Lake
Placid in the week beginning July 6,
there will be abundant opportunity to
discuss some OF the points about the
present practice in playing auction. and
| the league Itself may even be prevailed
upon TO take up the management OF the
game and regulate IT, Just as II has sue
| cessfully managed whist for so many
years.
II II were possible to standardizs the
| bids and to get teachers to agree upon a
| system just as they are trying to stand
ardze tho hesitation and the onestep we
should soon have a much more harmoni-
| Gus rubber and there would not be the
same wide difference OF opinion as to
! what constitutes a bid and what - only
a passing hand.
During recent game at one OF the big
hotels the writer was particularly i'm
pressed by short conversation between
an experienced player and his partner.
who was evidently a beginner.
| do NOT forget" he said that your
bid Is not a make, but Is merely a decla-
ration Of what you have In your hand"
| And II ] have nothlng?" demanded
his fair partner.
"Then bid nothing" was tho immedi-
| ate response. But remember that II you
have anything you must show IL or your
partner will infer that you have moth
| Ing"
This Is excellent advice. all that Is
| needed to complete the lesson being an
essay on tho difference between anything
/ anu uOlHinks anu inc dDlllty 10 ulsUnRulsn
| between the two. Very few persons seem
able to see the difference between COM
| binations OF cards that are good for tricks
and those that are good for nothing.
| There are many combine lions that are
| good for tricks only when the partner
holds the cards that NIL out the sequence
The king Jack nine and two small are
good for three tricks II the partner has
| the ace and queen. II all he has Is
two small the suit is good for nothing.
As q rule worthless hand may be
described as one in which the high cards
are not aces and are not In sequence.
One OF the most remarkable instances OF
q worthless hand. when Judged by this
rule. Is probably the following: The
player holds two kings, two Jacks two
tens and a queen. yet he never wins
trick for his partner. who IL playing
no trumper.
While such combinations may win
tricks In the play. owing to the ability
OF the partner to I'LL out tho weak spots
that Is no excuse for naming them In
| the bidding. because this leads the part-