Evening star., 1931-12-16

Sidney s, Lem lier as 1t was un-
derstood that the
subject of the conference should be
considered confidential between the
players and referees, but as some news
has leaked out I wish to say what it
was all about.
Culbertson Protest Dropped.
Mr.. Culbertson claimed that my
partner and l have been making four
card suit bids When in accordance with
the l-2-3 system, we should have bid
no-trump. In spite of our request he
was not able to mention any specific
hand which we did not bid in conform
ance with this system. When We finally
told him that il he had any complaint
20 make he should file protest in writ
ing with the referees he refused to do
so. AS a result the whole matter had
/ to be dropped
What Mr.. CulbertSons intention may
have been in bringing this matter up I
do not know, but as long as we are on
this subject I should like to point out
that Mr.. Culbertson made a oneida
mond opening bid on the following
hand:
Spades, ace, g. 3; hearts, queen, 7. S;
diamonds, queen. jack, s. g. clubs, king,
| jack 4. On page 70 of his Blue Book he
| states. in italics. Minimum honor
strength in the suit: If four-card suit
| it must be headed by ace. queen, or ace,
! jack, 10, or king, queen. 10"
AS pCr our agreement, CulbertSon Is
supposed to play strictly the approach
forcing system. How does he reconcile
his diamond bid on the above hand
| with what he says in his blue book? MY
| partner and I will not be petty enough
to file a protest because of this particu-
lar hand. although We at least have a
valid reason for doing So
Start of Better.
After Mondays unfortunate setback
we started off better last night. scoring
| game on the first hand, after nv
| partner, Oswald Jacoby. had opened the
bidding with one heart on the follow
ing hand:
Spades, q hearts. ace, king, jack. 4,
2; diamonds, jack. 9, 3, 2; clubs 10, 9. 5.
I responded with three hearts, our
opponents always passing, and he went
to four hearts which he made easily
His hand was especially gratifying to
me because it would not have been
possible to make an opening bid under
any other system with such minimum
bid the hand. However, in the 1-2-3
system. his one bid clearly shows to
partner that the hand does not con-
tain seven portable tricks, ana partner,
therefore. will not be forced to keep
the bidding open on almost anything
On tie other hand, when partner
makes such strong response as did,
knowing that Jacoby did not hold seven
probable tricks, he. of course, knows
that game is almost assured and that
it is fair gamble to bid for it.
Lucky Break in Second.
After this apparently fortunate be-
ginning We lost the first rubber but
had a very lucky break in the second
rubber Both sides were a game in,
| and Mrs Culbertson played the fol-
! lowing hand at five clubs:
North-LenZ, spades, g. 8, 7, 6, Q:
hearts, 8, 6, q diamonds, A, 9, 8;
clubs, 7, 4.
East-Mrs. Culbertson. spades, j.;
hearts, K. J, 10. 9, 8; diamonds, X, g;
| clubs, A, 8, S. 3, ?.
South-Jacoby, spades, @, 4; hearts,
A. 5, 4 diamonds, @, j, 10, 7, 4, 2;
clubs, @, 6.
West-Culbertson spades A. X, 10,
| 5, 8; hearts, @. 7; diamonds, 6, S;
clubs, K, j, 10. 9.
1t can readily be seen that if the
hand is played for an even break In
clubs the contract can be made, as
only one diamond and one heart should
be lost, but South having bid diamonds
the percentage was in favor of the
clubs being divided three and one.
Mrs. Culbertson played the king from
the dummy and then finessed the jack
A. @f TO- af hoo ri
have been lay-down, but the Culbert-
sons were right in playing the hand at
five clubs 1t was just one Of those
things. We followed up this lucky
break by making game and rubber
on the very next deal.
Uses Official System.
AS the session progressed, the chances
were about evenly divided, I used the
1928 official two-bid with advantage
on the following hand:
North-Lenz, spades, T. 5; hearts. ace
7, q diamonds, S. clubs, ace, king
queen, jack, 10, 5, 4.
East-Mrs. Culbertson, spades, king
queen, 10: hearts, queen. g. 5; diamonds
king, jack, 10, 8, 3, 2; clubs, 9.
South-Jacoby, spades, jack, 9, 6;
hearts, king, 10, 6, 4, g. diamonds, ace
| queen 4; clubs. 7. 2.
West-Cubertso spades, ace. 8, 4
3. 2; hearts, jack, 9; diamonds, 8, 7, 6;
clubs, 8, 6, 3
/ was the dealer and bid two clubs
which was overcalled by East with two
diamonds. My partner bid two hearts
and West passed. I went to four
clubs, and after a pass by East my
partner bid four no trump. but I re-
| turned to the club suit and played
the hand at final contract of five
clubs. There was not much to the
play of tie hand as East's bidding
| helped considerably.
/ i had two spades losers and one
heart loser in nv hand, but the dia-
mond finesse offered an opportunity
to throw off one Of the losers and
| five clubs were made easily, with
,, $50 honors. Although my partner S
four no-trump bid showed he was
much inclined toward slam bid it