The Washington times., 1927-01-26


South" position. She held: Spades
g. s. 4; Hearts. Z. 5. Q; Diamonds
K. 2: Clubs. K. j, 9. Z. 8.
Spades: Q. 10. 5. 8; Hearts, A. 10
9. 5; Diamonds. 10. 3. T.: Clubs
Mr.. Work. North" held: Spades
Mr.. Work. North" held: Spades
9. Z. 2; Hearts. K. 6. 4. 8; Diamonds,
5. 4, 8; Clubs. Q, 8. s.
Mr.. Shepard. East" held: Spades
A, K, ]. Hearts. @. ]; Diamonds, A,
@. J..s. 6: Clubs. A. S. 4.
Mrs. Tubbs. the first bidder,
passed. With her holding of five
clubs TO two honors. there are play.
ers VINO would bid one club. That
sort OF non-dependable bidding may
work well in a few hands, but in
the long run 1t is bound to be a
losing proposition.
One Of the most important of the
basic principles Of the modern con.
ventional game is that an original
suit-bid should show at least two
quick tricks.
Upon this guarantee the partner
Of the first bidder bases all future
declarations, and losses are very
liable to enSue IL the guarantee be
made and the hand Of the guaran.
tor fails to furnish the promised
tricks.
For the same reason, both Mr..
Whitehead and Mr.. Work passed.
Question Of What to Lead
Mr.. Shepard held a very powerful
hand with the required strength for
a fourth-hand. bid. The only ques.
ton was, what should he bid? Had
he bid a diamond. it would have
been an invitation to his partner to
take him out in the partners best
suit or a no-trunnp, inasmuch as a
bid of q minor suit by fourth hand
shows a very strong hand probably
with strength in other two suits and
surely with weakness In at least one
suit.
However, with his holding, Mr..
Shepard felt that any bid, except
spades, that his partner might make
In reply to one diamond would call
for a no-trump from him. Had his
heart holding been two small hearts
instead OF the queen-jack, the dia-
mond bid might have been prefer.
able to no-trump; but with the
or hearts he decided to
make his declaration one no.trump.
While he was taking a chance on
the heart suit, merely the 10 and
two small in his partners hand
would serve as a stopper. So he
said one no-trump, which held the
bid.
Comments on This Point
In commenting on this phase of
the game, after the play of the hand
was finished, Mr.. Work said: ''Mr.
pass after Mr.. Shepard's
one no-trump would not excite COM
ment in expert circles, because it
is quite evident that he should not
bid; but there may be some who
would imagine that in view of his
weak. minors he should call two
hearts.
Taking out partners uncontested
no-trump with a four-card suit is
not advisable under normal condi-
lions. The take-out may stand and
the adversaries may have six, posi-
bly, seven trumps. The division Of
these adverse trumps may be I'M
fortunate and game, easy to reach
at no-trump, may be miles away
with a suit contract. A four-card
take-out is recommended only with
an exceptionally strong major, side
strength. and a hand which contains
that recognized no-trump menace
worthless singleton"
Mrs. Tubbs led the Of clubs
the fourth best Of her longest suit.
When Dummy went down, it was
evident to Mr.. Shepard that he held
enough winning cards to make
game, provided a sufficient number
of these winners could be developed
before the opponents ran the club