The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-11-02

LESSON NUMBER 8, The Opening
 Bid of Two.
 The Official System is the sys- tenn by which the approximate strength and general character of the hand is clearly conveyed by the opening bid.
 It is the system of logical se- quence, as applied to the opening bid. Every bid has a mathematical meaning in orderly progression. Every bid conveys approximate but definite information to the partner. Every bid means exactly what 1t says.
 To Illustrates:
 The suit bid of one shows to
 tricks.
 The suit bid of two shows 6 to tricks.
 The suit bid of three, Ca de-
 mand bid) shows 9 to 10
 tricks.
 , The suit bid of four
 tmajor) ...: Show shut-oa' The suit bid of bids with
 four or five frcakish
 (minor) .... hands To illustrate further:
 An average hand" contains about three (3) probable tricks Just short of an opening bid.
 A bid of one represents a hand about 259e stronger than an "aver- age hand"
 A bid of two represents a hand about twice as strong as an "aver- age hand"
 A bid of three represents a hand about three times as strong as an average hand"
 A bid of four in a major and four or five in a minor represents a hand powerful at offense-worth- less at defense. A hand with prac- tically all of the strength concen- trated in the suit bid.
 The Open Bid of Two
 The opening suit bid of two Is q most important link in the Official system bidding chain. It Is the halfway mark, the dividing line between a better than average hand, as represented by a bid of one, and less than a game-demand hand, as represented by bid of three. It is termed the game-in- vitation bid and this term describes it's function exactly. Other sys- tems of bidding, which reverse q natural order and arbitrarily make two bid denote stronger holdings than a three bid, are confusing be- cause contrary to natural numeri- cal sequence.
 The forcing bid of two places the partnership under severe handicap by eliminating the valu- able intermediate bid of two, be- cause the original forcing bid Is really a negligible factor in the of- fensive tactics of the game.
 To illustrate the infrequency of the forcing two bid: in London. in September 1880, two hundred hands were played between an Eng fish team and an American team, primarily exploiting the forcing system. The American team made exactly two opening forcing bids or one in one hundred hands When a convention eliminates a really constructive bid, such as the invitational bid of two, it's incor- poration within any system is de- plorable.
 Requirements for the Suit Bid of Two The general basis of the invita- tional two bid is about seven (7) probable tricks in the hand. This requirement., however, may be re' duced slightly depending on the length of the suit bid and the mum. Der of high-card tricks contained in the hand. The shorter the suit the more high-card tricks are re' quired. so we have these simple measurements:
 1. Seven probable tricks-if ths hand contains only three (3) high card tricks.
 2. Six and one-half (6h) prob. able tricks--if the hand contain, three and one-half (3h) high-card ] tricks.
 With more than three and one half (3h) high-card tricks the bit may be shaded to six (O probable tricks.
 The invitational two bid is not ( game-demand bid and 1t does no force the partner to bid, but 1t Il forcing" to this limited extent it obligates the original bidder t6 respond once to any bid of lesi than game made by the responding hand.
 EXAMPLE NO. i Original Bidder Partner list rOund--2 hearts May past EXAMPLE NO. q Origlnal Bidder tat rOnnd-4 &fa ufOKiGs