The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-08-03
By VIM Y. MCKINNEY

Secretary American Bridge League
 There are several systems for valuing hands at no trump, but perhaps the most popular is the pitch count system which was ex- plained in our previous articles. An opening bid of one first hand shows a count of 13; second hand a cOnut of 12; third hand 14, and fourth hand IS. Partner should support to two no trump with q combined count of 22, and to three no trump with combined count of 24.
 Under the straight forcing sys- tenn, however, 1t is not advisable to open hands with one no trump that contain a biddable four-card suit, especially if the hand contains weak doubleton. In other words, an opening bid of one no trump normally shows distribute d strength and no biddable four-card suits. Four-card suits in order to be biddable must be at least as strong as ace, queen, nine. 10 or King. queen, nine, 10.
 In addition to the count, a hand should contain at least two quick tricks to open with one no trump, while in suit bids you are required to hold two and onc-half quick tricks.
 Original Suit Bids of One
 Original suit bids of one are made when holding at least a bid dablc four-card suit and two and one-half high card tricks. All writ CTS have their favorite high card trick tables. but the simplest one advocated by the writer Is as fol- lows:
 A K of same suit .........2 v J or same suit ......... 1K or same suit .............. l Q of same suit ........... x or same suit ............. H e J Of same suit ...... #
 (Only one c J may be counted
 in hand)
 V VT Did) ............. k c of not bid) .........1
 You will notice that the last three valuations have restrictions. Only one c must be counted in q hand as one-half quick trick When holding a hand containing two Q Js, the other is too suscep- tible to squeezes when being played at a suit declaration, but on prac- tically every hand that you would hold two and One-half tricks, If both o J's were counted. you would have an original no trump bid. c .'s should not be conuted in suit bids If the hand does not contain an ace. but they must be counted iIi no trump hand,
 You will also notice that the writer advocates an A c as only one trick unless the suit Is bid. If you hold q biddable suit headed by c and a side trick, you may count your A c as one and one half. or If your partner bids a suit and you hold A c in that suit, you may value It as two tricks While If 1t was bid by your left-hand op- ponent, 1t should be counted as only one trick. If your right hand opponent bid suit in which you held tn GA c, you would count that as two tricks.
 The reason for not valuing an e when not bid as one and one half tricks, is because so many times you may be called upon to make the opening lead and as we do not like to lead away from an .. C, sometimes an opening lead very detrimental to the hand is made in an endeavor to protect the A c suit.
 While opening bids of one arc required to hold two and one-half high card tricks as minimum there are many hands containing as high as five to five and one-half quick tricks that must be opened with one due to a bad distribution Opening bids of one should not be passed by partner if hts hand con talns at least one and One-hali tricks. This feature will be ex. plained in our next article. l Copyright, 1891, NEA Service, Incl