Evening star., 1931-12-09

lsek, q, q, diamonds. jack. 3. 2; clubs,
south Spades. Jack, .: hearts, see,
| Jack, 8, q, diamonds. Jack, .. 2; clubs.
IL, 8. 4, 2,
/ West--spAaes, Gee. ., 4; hearts, queen,
| To- 2, 9, 4, Diamonds. 4: clubs, ace,
queen. 9, 3,
Cuibsxtssu Refused Slam.
| Ely Culbertson WAS sitting In the West
position and Was the dealer was
| sitting North. Mrs Culbertson East and
Jacoby South. Culbertson made q bid
| OF one heart and his partner responded
with a forcing bid Of three diamonds.
North and South. of course, passed each
time. Ely's response TO the three dia-
| mend bid was three no trump, with
which he wanted to indicate to his
partner that he had a minimum bid
as far as quick tricks we're concerned.
The partner was not satisfied with this
game contract and made q strong slam
| invitation by bidding four no trumps,
but Ely declined to do any more bid
ding with his hand, and he was quite
right in doing so even though he did
succeed In making slam, because the
missing diamonds were equally divided
between the two opponents hand.
SdiDoTt&Ons Open WpA VIII.
The first rubber was won by the Cul-
bertsons by 935 points and we won the
second rubber by a score of ASS points.
We all seemed to have settled down to
business, as the bidding and play was
certainly superior to yesterdays exhibi-
tion,. with the exception Of only one
hand
1t was deal No I, which won the sec
ond rubber for us.
The hand
North-Spades, ace, queen, 8; hearts,
4; diamonds, ace, jack, 10, 7, 6, 3;
clubs, king, queen, 10.
East-Spades, king, 7, hearts, ace,
queen. 9; 6. 4; diamonds, 9, S; clubs,
jack, 9, 8, 6.
south-Spades. jack, 10, Q, 8: hearts,
JACK, 8; diamonds, king, s, 4; clubs, ace,
5, 3. 2.
West-spades, s, S, 4, 2; hearts, king,
10, 3, 3, 2; diamonds, queen, 2; clubs,
a. T.
was the dealer, holding the North
hand, and bid two diamonds. This
hand is perfect example for a two
bid in accordance with the requirements
OF the "l-2-3" official system. It holds
almost four quick tricks and over seven
probable tricks. West and East passed
during the entire action. Jacoby made
a positive response. holding one and
hall quick tricks. normal trump SUD-
port and some plus values, and bid two
no-trllmp. 1t was necessary for him to
make q jump bid as In accordance with
the efilcial system he could be sure that
l would rebid my hand at least once
If given chance.
Diamond Bid Safer.
! raised the bid to three no-trump,
although ! believe now that a three
diamond bid would have been safer n
would then have been I'D to Jacoby to
decide whether the hand should be
played at diamonds or no trumps. In
any case, three no-trump was the final
BID and Culbertson, sitting West, led his
fourth highest heart, which was the \
three. East, Mrs Culbertson, played
the ace and returned the six of hearts
and to Jacoby's great satisfaction his
lack held the trick
Mrs. Culbertson was perfectly right in
playing the six OF hearts, as she wanted
to convey to her partner the approxi-
mate length OF her heart suit, but Ely
misinterpreted the play. He had no
possible re-entry and therefore was
holding Off his king OF hearts. He
hoped that East would take one of the
next tricks and play once more through
I he hearts he thought Jacoby was hold
ing. OF course, after the jack of hearts
trick, Jacoby ran off his diamond and
club suits, which, with the ace OF spades, |
gave him four no-trump and the second |
game OF the second rubber.
Surprised at Criticism.
Before the beginning OF last nights
play there were many whispered and !
outspoken wonderings whether I would |
repeat some Of the mistakes" made |
last night in our match with the Gull |
bertsons. was surprised at some of |
the criticisms in the newspapers, for !
felt quite satisfied with our lead OF I
lis points.
/ was told in some newspapers by
number Of quasi experts as wen as by
my adversaries, MFR. and Mrs Culbert-
son, how badly my partner and played |
yesterday. took this much to heart
and Immediately began to look over
the records of hands to find out how ii
had happened that we should have lost
thousands OF points On them.
One OF the claims was that W had
made three slams, and had not bid one
Of them. 1t was true that our side I
scored three slams, but one of them /
was made possible by the misplayx of
our opponents only. This happened on
the following hand:
North-Spades, 8, 3; hearts, queen.
10. 8, 8, 2; diamonds, king, queen, 5:
clubs, king, 8, 7.
south-Spades, king, 10, 8, S; hearts,
king, jack, 4; diamonds, 7, 4; clubs,
jack, 10, 6, g.
East-Spades. queen, 2: hearts, ace.
7, s, 5; diamonds, ace, 9. & 8; clubs
ace, 8, 2.
West-Spades, acc Ack. Q, 7. al
hearts, 9; diamonds, Jack, 10. g. q
clubs, queen, S, 4.
Opponents Held Honors.
My partner and I played the east
west hands and succeeded in making sir
diamonds. 1t is hardly worth while 10
analyze the hand. Every average PLAYER
will be able to see that even five dia-
monds cannot be made against perfect
defense. want to call special atten-
tion to the fact that our opponents held
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4 ~ Abruli