Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-12
BRIDGE TALKS
BY MRS. JOHN MUNCE, JR.

Continuing the discussion of initial
suit bids, 1t would seem fitting to re-
peat the points previously covered in
initial bids with five cards or longer
suits, as they are very important.
In summing these up you will find
the following very easy way to remem-
Der them:
A hand with a suit of five or more
cards contains the necessary strength
for an initial suit bid of one, when it
has:
First-Two quick tricks in the long
suit. In other words, five-card suit
headed by the ace and king, and with
no side strength whatever.
Second-With a five-card suit head
ed by the ace or king-queen, which IS
one other quick trick on the side.
Third-Holding five-card suit head
ed by king-jack; king-10 spot; queen
jack, or queen-10 spot, with two quick
tricks on the side.
Fourth-With jackie spot heading a
long suit, and three quick tricks on the
side.
This brings us to the discussion Of
the initial bids of four card suits, which
are generally conceded to be sound and
advisable The following illustrations
are splendid examples of the bids.
Dealer holds the following:
Spades, ace, 7-spot and 2-spot
hearts. ace, king, 4-spot and 3-spot;
diamonds, 7-spot, 5-spot, 3-spot and 2
spot; clubs, 5-spot.
This hand contains four-card suit
strong enough to bid on initially, as it
is headed by the ace and king, and the
hand contains a side trick in the ace
of spades, therefore the correct bid for
dealer to make, on his hand would be
one heart.
Another example, dealer holds:
Spades, ace, king, queen and 7-spot.
Hearts, 9-Spot, 7-spot and 5-spot.
Diamonds, 8-spot, 4-spot and 3-spot.
Clubs, 6-Spot and 2-Spot.
The hand just given is an accepted
bid of one spade initially although there
Is no side strength.
If holding such suit as the ace, king,
jack and 10-spot of spades and no side
strength, this is also recognized as
strong enough to bid one spade on mi
TALLY.
Any four-card suit headed by the ace,
king, jack and one small card would be
bid initially when you have king on
the side or Queen-jack OF the same
suit.
We discussed previously the four card
suits headed by ace, jack and contain
ing two small ones of the suit: or king,
jack, 10-spot and one small card Of the
same suit, as being doubtful bids, but
with side strength consisting of an ace.
queen of the same suit, or one quick
trick plus king, to bid one initially is
generally advisable.
To bid any weaker four-card suit the
hand would have to be of most I'M
usual type, with extraordinary side
strength and then. generally some other
bid would be advisable.
The indiscriminate bidding of four
card suits would be most unfortunate.
They should not be bid unless the per-
son bidding understands and complies
with the minimum requirements. and
the most important thing in bidding
four card bids is to know that you
have a dependable partner, and one
who will not unduly raise your bid of
one, and who will deny the suit when
he should. Later bids and denials will
be discussed in another talk.
One will do well to remember that
every combination given for four card
bids shows substantially three tricks
Do not bid four-card suits with less
strength.