The sun., 1916-10-15
GAINS BY PASSING
AT ROYAL AUCTION
A Practical Test Of the Plan
Of Not Overcallig No
Trumpers.
By r. F. FOSTER.

from students OF the game of auction
who make q practics Of laying out and
playing over the hands published In
this department. Many Of them show
the care with which the situations have
been examined. but every now and then
! something Is overlooked.
Among letters received recently a
, number refer to the hand sent to THE
/ Sun by Dr.. Perry. and published on
September "a. with the suggestion that
readers might be Interested In discov-
ering how the hand should have been
+! played In order TO win the game. The
following analysis - typical Of several
that have attempted to solve the riddle.
II 10 from g r. Barnett Of Brooklyn.
whose name 10 familiar as . problem
solver. He says:
AT the third trick. D having won
the trump lead with the acc and killed
rs queen. II he goes right back with
the Jack OF trumps. throwing the lead
TO US king. no matter what Y leads
next the only trick Y or 2 can make
Ia the ace of diamonds. which leaves
y with four by cards and his con-
tract and game"
This line Of play overlooks the OBJ.
vious lead OF the forcing heart. which
takes out one more OF dummy's trumps
and leaves him the choice Of using the
ast one 70 catch Us nine. or shifting
to a plain suit.
fAnlA thA AtoVnnnA and Y
make both ace jack. The only
alternative Is the ace OF clubs and
another for Il TO ruff. as In the actual
play given. II A leads his last trump
TO catch US nine he loses two hearts
and the ace Of diamonds.
II y trumps the second round of
clubs and leads a diamond u will put
the ace right oil. shutting out dummy,
m will force dummy's last trump with
a heart. Now the nine Of rumps in
Us hand is good for a trick and saves
the game.
So far no one has sent H. the only line
~ play that would have won the game
FOR y. winning 3se points Instead of
losing 500. This was 10 let the trump
lead from VS. hand run UP to dummy's
ten. on the principle OF an ace Jack ten
hnesse. z would have won the trick
with the lone queen.
PuN NId II fN 10 10 UeAl. ne OILY
play that will save the game Is 10 lead
another heart, letting the weak hand
run. This Is the play that not one per
son in "A thousand would make, as II Is
against all the principles OF the game
and looks foolish at this stage OF the
play. II is quite another matter when
dummy has nothing left but the best
trump.
II z leads the diamond both o. Us
l frrIVnnS ra,,~h 80 5000 --
suit being then ruffed out and estab.
lished before A loses his reentry ace Of
clubs or his last trump. II q leads a
, club instead Of a diamond the lone queen
wins and n gets a diamond discard on
the ace OF clubs later. 30 that e can
overtrump Y on the third round OF d,a-
monds.
Another interesting letter Is from L.
A. Hawkins Of Schenectady with regard
to the first hand published on October /.
In which he thinks z should have gone
game In clubs. The line OF play he asks
TO have examined Is for z TO be In the
lead after the second round OF tru,nps
and 10 lead the spades 10 dummy's king.
queen suit through As ace Jack ten.
now II A plays small dummy win
with the queen. leads a diamond for the
nnesse and plays another spade. II A
does not play the ace now he will lose II
NfV iiIi touIlu, III tnS
ace Is the last trick A or d can make
as u can always put dummy In with a
small trump. 20 as TO get the discard of
the losing diamond on the king Of spades
These BY readers Of TIL,
Z are always Interesting and lnstruc.
tive. and they show how easily a gam,
may he saved or won by a very sliRh,
difference In tho play. hose who hav,
the advantage OF listening 20 the learned
post-mortems Of the crackajac ks who z,
over every possible play OF the deal,
mat show a swing In the big duplicat.
matches can realize how slight a thins
|, may change the result. When the cham
pionsh!p series starts at the Kn,cker
booker Whist Club next Thursday eve
ming some interesting hands may b,
J., looked for.
:. o~vERcALLiNo No rRvMpErs.
A correspondent in Chicago has beer
good enough TO send word to THE ST.,
> that two players who did not believe II
letting no trumpers alone agreed to pla,
duplicate against two who lid each a.
. them occupying the same positions blu
I at different tables In a duplicate gam,
, OF twenty eight deals.
r There were only -four deals that SCENE,
TO meet the required conditions a le9it
, innate no trump bid, perhaps only Jus
. across the line. and a decidedly justin
able second hand bid Of a major suit
In two OF the four deals the suit bic
went game against the no umpe bu
In the most powerful hand OF the fou,
I the game was missed by a trick, In tn,
fourth case the contract was set for on,
trick. Here is the first:
. $loo7S
n