Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-21
BRIDGE TALKS
BY MRS. JOHN MUNCR, JR.

The hand of dealer, which we will
discuss today, is one that presents the
problem of choice in bidding either
Of two salts. In other words a hand
containing two suits, both strong
enough to bid one on initially. These
hands are known as two-suiters, and
usually contain two suits of five or
more cards each.
1t Is not unusual for dealer or sec
ond hand to have two suits of the
same length and approximately the
same strength, but it would be very
unusual If his partner should have
the same number Of cards in each
suit, therefore 1t is desirable to know
which he prefers. It Is customary to
bid the higher valued suit first, and, If
there Is an intervening bid, then bid
the lower-valued suit, thereby saying
to your partner: 81 have two Ave
card suits, please raise the suit you
can best help me in" OF course when
there are three passes after dealers
bid, he loses his opportunity of bid
ding the second suit.
The reason for bidding the higher
valued suit first is that there may be
three passes, which happens about
OlCc AL IWcALy ILucS, dlu ndu you
mentioned the lower-valued suit first
1t would have to stand and your
chance of going game would not be as
great as had you bid the higher
valued suit first. The proper bidding
of two-suiter hands generally produces
game for the bidders, and this type
hand Is considered to be a very strong
hand among expert players. With a
two-suiter hand never bid more than
one initially in auction, consider your
partner and give him a chance to
choose between the two suits, selecting
the one he can best help you in.
The following hands illustrate this
point:
South, or dealer, holds
spsdss-Acs, king, jack, 9. 4.
Clubs-Queen.
west, or second hand, holds
spades-0ueen, 10, 8. ..
piamonds-Jask. - 5.
North, dealers partner, holds
AEs ssss:asseis; 10, S.
East, or fourth hand. holds
R sgsassLss. z
Diamonds-Ace, 9. 8.
Clubs-King. 8, z, s. 4. 2.
We will first take up the auction bid
ding. South, with a major two-suiter
naturally opens the bidding with one
spade, bidding the higher valued suit
first. You can see that the hearts as
well as the spades are strong enough
for an initial bid of one.
While West has the spades safely
stopped and the ace of clubs, the rest
Of his hand is too weak for him to
hi fY1Rp he
North, lacking normal support in
trumps, naturally has to deny this bid
of his partners, and to do this he will
have to bid two diamonds, as he had
five-card suit, headed by the king and
queen, and his bid of two diamonds tells
his partner that the strength of his
hand lies in the diamond suit. Nothing
is more important than picturing your
hand to q partner who has bid major
suit by denying that major when you
lack normal support In trumps and
showing him where your strength lies.
East passed. as the long club suit was
too weak to bid, especially when West
had passed.
The bidding Is now back to dealer
again, and he Is glad of the opportunity
to show his partner his second major
suit and bids two hearts. He would not
have been able to do this If his partner
had not denied his spade bid.
West is not pleased with the heart
bid, but can do nothing to improve
the situation, so he passes.
North Is pleased and passes, knowing
that dealer holds a two-suiter and that
his hand holds real assistance for the
second bid shown. East, displaying very
good Judgment, does not bid three clubs.
but passes.
The contract bidding would be lit
tie different. Dealer with this holding
would be justified in bidding two spades
originally, West would pass and North
would have to deny normal support in
trumps for the spade bid by bidding two
diamonds or two no-trumps. 1t is well
to remember that there is often choice
of bids, and the person playing the
hand has to make the decision as to
which is the best bid. However, with
either q two-diamonds bid or two
no-trump, when the bid comes back to
dealer he should bid three hearts, and
West would pass Now North, or deal
er's partner, realizing that dealer has a
two-suited hand, also that he has real
help for the heart bid, raises the three
heart bid TO four, or me-going bid.
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