The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-04-18
OPTIMISM A FAULT
ATROYAL AUCTION
Examples Of the Losses That
Are Caused by Mistakes
in Bidding.
MORE CHANGES PROPOSED

| pTopOseu CndnGo8 - tne IuWa OF HuC-
ton there are very few that have had
any practical trial at the card table
for any length Of time. but the follow
ing from q. L. Maltby OF Vancouver
seems TO be an exception. He says:
"A little experience with equal values
Of the suits In bidding has shown us
that there IL no scope for determining
the combined strength Of the partner q
when used for Informative purposes
only.
we have therefore returned to the
system which we have been using for
the pas, year and which has been tried
out here by players OF all degrees OF
skill. not one OF whom caree 70 return
to the old way.
We play the minor suits, clubs and
at and no trumps at 10. so that any
suit will 70 game at four odd. no trumps
: at three odd. but there il still room
for takeout bids and overcallirg the
.
without Increasing the contract.
| "1netead Of the nullo we play the in
ver,ed no trumper. IN which the deuces
and treys are the highest cards OF the
suits. but do not allow the declaration
until after q no trumper has been bid
BY an opponent.
We have abandoned the compulsory
bid. but II all four players pass We do
not throw out the deal. but play Il at
no trump the player TO the left OF the
dealer leading for the first trick. The
winners OF the odd trick score nothing
but 100 In the honor column. no matter
how many tricks they have over the
book nor what aces they hold. This
allows us to abandon the hand az soon
\ as seven tricks are won b. either side
and the cards shown 20 prove no revOkes
have been made.
| We believe this to be the ideal sys-
tenn"
DR. w n q Mackay. secretary OF
the Rex Club in Philadelphia. which
has an auction bridge tournament every
| Tuesday evening AT 1901 North Thir-
tenth street. to which visitors are al
1
! the Knickerbocker IN New York. writes
( to say that they have tried out all sorts
! OF systems In their tournaments and
/ that they are strongly In favor ~ r.tain-
! ing the presen, suit values. II the COM
pulsory bid is eliminated the spade bids
! are limited 10 two ;ricks and must al
WAYS mean strength In the spade suit
Itself
The great need among auction play
eYs TO-DAY" he says. rs not 40 much
tinkering with the suit values. but more
attention To a sound system of declaring
and a reasonable amount OF adherence
to the conventional bids.
We believe that the system OF call
Ing short minor suits TO show sure
tricks. as advocated by THE SrN. IN far
superior TO any system that requires one
10 bid minor suits only when long
enough In them In play them az trumps
as advoca ed by Work and others"
Several remark that the idea Of ro-
ine game with any suit at four odd
would he inconsistent with the present
sui, values in the bidding. because the
bid would not be powerful as the re-
suit r. Bristol Of Conev Island says
We have noticed the following dis
advantage in trying 10 get the play with
minor suits for trumps even when they
will go game with four odd suppose
one bids four clubs or diamonds. over
called with four royals Now you have
to bid Ave diamonds or six clubs 10
overcall.
ITO obva,e this situation. which
comes up continually. why not make the
suits equal in the bidding. 90 that three
In anything will overcall two In any
'hlTs' Nothing hut I" ,rumper
should overca.l suit for an equal NUM-
Der OF tricks.
The objection to equal suits. az al
/ ready pointed out in these articles. Ia
that II deprives the game of It's variety
y. q. Rraine's idea was to obviate this
hy making the supporting h!ds IN the
minor suits just low enough To be over
called by a major suit without increas-
ing the contract which is the system
adopted in Vancouver
The variety of inference and the OPP
portunity for shrewd Judgment IN the
, bidding are undoubtedly due to the
present low value Of the supporting
| suits and the takeou,s that follow bids
in those suits. II there are no longer
any bids made for the purpos. OF show
| ing sure tricks without any idea oi
having the suit for trumps. every dec
1 Ia ration must be made on n game hand
| and there are not enough OF those hands
to make the game interesting from the
bidding standpoint.
The modern PLAYER. II allowed TO pass,
will not bid on hand that has not
a reasonable prospect Of going game II
he In likely to be left with any bid he
makes Such a system would soon ma kc
auction as monOtonous AZ Proctors sys-
tenn OF playing poker, which was never
to ante until you had three OF a kind.
DIR. Mackay hits the nail on the head
when he says that the most pressing
need among auction players to-day Is
not to tinker with the suit values but
to get down to a sound system of bid
ding Any one who will take the trouble
10 watch an average rubber. even among
J good players. must be forced 10 the con-
! clusion that most of the bidding Ia a
mixture OF guesswork and optimism.
One would think that any player OF
average intelligence could learn the three
fundamental principles OF declaring In
about fve minutes. yet many sit down
at card table day after day for Ave
months and never learn a. much as
one OF those principles, much less put II
! in practice. Nothing exposes this weak
ness In the bidding like a duplicate
match. where the cards remain In the
trays to be examined at leisure, after
they have been played over dozen
times or more by various persons with