The sun., 1915-06-27
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49, Ia al
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i dealt and at one table bid two
spades. went no trump. and r. hav.
ing the lead. passed. and made six d!a.
monds by starting with the fourth best
Dummy discarded the queen Jack small
in clubs and one OF each of the other
suits. This discarding is instructive &c
the beginner, as II follows out a pr,n.
ciple but little understood. which Is tina,
II 10 useless to keep the same number
OF cards OF the same suit in each hand
when they are all good anyhow. B then
leo heart to his partners encourag-
ing discard Of the seven, and the ace
made, setting the contract for one trick
acss easy.
Instead Of such hands being any argu-
mont for the value OF the old two spade
bid. and showing the want OF some con-
vention to replace It. they should be an
excellent reason for eliminating the pos
sibility even Of all such bids so as to
force the dealer to declare what he ac-
tualy holds. The more ambiguous bids
We can get rid OF the better for the
game.
The correct opening bid on rs cards
Is no trump or clubs. At the tables at
which Il did go no trumps Il asked for
q diamond lead and passed. This led
to show the club suit, as he could not
stop the diamonds with the lead coming
susoueh u supported the CLUBS.
At some tables z bid the clubs orig!-
nally and went no trumps. which is a
rather risky bid. with no sure trick in
anything but spades. and the lone ace at
that. These short suits are almost GER
tain to be led. as some one must have
four or five OF them.
At two tables when z bid the clubs
originally passed and B bid the d,a-
monds. although there does not seem to
DO much hope OF game in that suit, nor
danger Of clubs making five odd. Y sup
ported the clubs. and IL Y and z had the
nerve to go on with that suit they went
game. led the diamond and z rufred
the second round. leading the spade,
trumpdns another diamond with the
Jack OF clubs and ruffing dummy with
another spade.
A trump lead then allowed z to lead a
third spade. which established tho
queen. Another trump lead exhausted
A and put In to make the spade, after
which q heart through went TO the king.
ana the ten fnessed on the return mace
the queen good. so that the only tricks
Tor A and b were the first diamond and
the ace Of hearts.
At tho other table. which the clubs
ana diamonds were bid against each
other. the club end OF II lost It's nerve
and tho hand was played at four dia-
monds. which was set for one trick
only. opened with one OF his touch
ing honors in spades. got in on the club
and rufed Y with a small spade. d
trumped a second club lead from Us
hand. and established the spade ten
but eventually lost a trick in hearts.
The correct and conventional bid Of
Two spades meant two sure tricks ir
the suit and one sure outside the bid
belns classed az one OF those in tha
minor suits showing support, but no
desire TO play the named suit as
trump. As the spade Is no longer a
minor suit, players will have TO handle
all declarations in that suit precisely as
they nave always treated the heart suit
A moments reflection must show that
there Is little or no loss OF opportunity
In the elimination OF the spade value
st two trick. provided the cards held
were such as would have dictated A
legitimate two spade bid in the old DAYS.
lf two spades meant two sure tricks
In short spade suit and one sure trick
outside, the odds are two to one that the
outside trick was club or a diamond
III such IL the case, II Is a perfectly fair |
club or diamond bid, for any hand !
that contains the ace OF minor suit
and two sure tricks In spades to back
IL up is certainly fair offer OF support |
Tor any better declaration the partner |
may have
Here Is a fair example OF the differ
ence In the bidding under the old count |
and the new. The hand was PLAYED last |
week at one OF our local country cluba.
but the game not being duplicate, It is
oiHcult 20 Say what might or might not
nave been done with II had It gone the
rounds OF dozen or moro tables: