The sun., 1916-08-20
ON REDOUBLTNG
IN ROYAL AUCTION
Explanations That Clarity the
New Conventions for
Average Players.
By r. r. FOSTER.

In his latest book. expert Auction"
f. v. Shepard advices the player Of aver
age ability to let the modern redouble
alone. a. It IL dangerous to attempt UGH
a bid against better players. or with
an unreliable bidding partner. He rays
further that the convention 10 not for
gcnefAi use and should be employed only
by teams that have carefully studied
these redoubiss and know how to use
them properly.
10 But the same 10 true Of all bids and
pioys. Why stop at the redoubie? It
Is dangerous to make . perfectly sound
n heart bid with some partners be,
cause Of their tendency to carry II to
four hearts II II 70 overcaiied. II is
dangerous to lead through dummy's
strong suits with some players oppo-
site you. because II they win the trick
they will come right back with that suit.
The moment n begins to advocate
conventions that are not 70 b used ex-
cept By the initiated the great mass Of
players will begin to FEAR every stranger
"'ts "hVss sney nIuy v iIltO y IuUDSI.
They will think he knows these tricks
and carries them up his sleeve. The one
convention they are told about as sacred
IL the elect will lead them to believe
that there are others even more deadly.
II the redouble IL . good thing for
any player. or team Of players. II should
be a good thing for every one. II they
do not understand Il or cannot draw the
proper differences from It that does not
make 1t IN less valuable han the lead
Of the queen instead Of the ace after the
king when holding all three.
II your partner does n0e understand
the conventional lead Ind erumps you
queen under the impression that the de-
clarer must be holding up the ace. as
you do moi lead 1t. that Is no reason why
such q lead should b recommended for
experts only. but rather q reason why
tho leads should Be more generally
studied.
II this redouble Is to become part Of
the game. no matter by whom played. II
should be sufficiently well ventilated to
clear It from any suspicion OF being a
private convention. There are certainly
enough good teachers Of the game In this
country to explain It to their pupils 30
that they can use II. Those who do not
take lessons but trust to picking up the
game have no more reason to md fault
than the solf player who does not know
how 20 handle a mesh'e in n bunker.
The chief danger with all these new
things IL the tendency to overdo them.
10 inject them into hands that do not call
for them. Thu player who doubles a
suit bid OF one trick Is supposed TO have
at least two tricks In each Of the other
suits. But when this Did first came out
they Got to doubling on q king Jack In
one suit and FOUR TO a queen In another.
They wanted to see the wheels 20 round.
To redouble on cards that do not Jus
fifty II may be wicked from the partners
point Of view. but II Is no worse thar
n original bid that IL unsound, and
they are made BY the million every day.
II has always been the aim Of TIL
SrN to place any of these new conven-
tons before Its readers as ciea riy as pos
s!ble n to define the limitations of
their use. BY taking up the three ex-
amplss In Mr.. Shepard's book which
were printed last week and Analysing
them the average player should b. able
TO get . pretty clear idea Of how and
when 70 nae the redouhlA.