The Coolidge examiner., 1932-06-17
Modern Contract
Bridge By LsIi. Hsaer.Iey
No. 4
The Rule of Eight

No. 4
The Rule of Eight
DURING the play of the thirteen
- tricks of a hand, four tricks
will be won by aces, about four or
five with other honor cards, and
the remainder with lower cards.
Thus we get a yardstick for the
trick measurement of a hand.
The Yardstick Of Tricks
Honor-Tricks Low Card Tricks
8 5
(possibly Si2)
In suit bids these low card tricks
are won by trumps, or by end cards
of set up side suits. At no trumps,
all tricks are won either by honors
or by end cards of suits.
In measuring your total trick eX-
pectancy, in accordance with your
honor-tricks you may use the fol-
lowing count:
The 1853 Count
cat No Trump
Honor-tricks VIII de- SO that the
held between velop low contract ex-
partners. card pectancy is
tricks.
4 to Az 2 to 8 One-odd
(Or downD
3 8 Two-odd
.5k or more 8 to 4 GAME
When you and your partner are
bidding a suit, it is highly improb-
able that against your trump de-
fense the opponents will be able to
win any low card tricks. SO you
have only the definite fear of their
defense in honor-tricks. Therefore,
n partnership holding of 51k honor
tricks with strong trumps puts you
in the game zone with major suit
bid. To carry you over the long
hard road to game at minor suit,
where the opponents must be held
down to two defensive tricks, some
additional honor strength is usually
needed.
To give a brief outline Of the spe-
ciflc use Of the yardstlck in the
most generally recurrent situation,
let US assume that you are in the
position Of responding to your part
ner's original suit bid of one. II
he has bid first or second hand, you
know that he has at least 21s hon
or-tricks. He may have more than
212 honor-tricks, even, possibly, as
many as 8. II so, these surplus
tricks will be shown in subsequent
rounds. For the present you must
assume that he holds the minimum,
an unbreakable rule in this system.
We will suppose that you have
counted your honor-tricks immedi-
ately upon sorting your hand so as
to be ready for any emergency. Now
you have only to add your number
to the minimum of 21s shown by
partner to know whether or not
your partnership total of honor
tricks (51z) puts you in the desired
game zone. II you find this to be
the case, you must serve prompt
notice of the important fact on
your partner. This notice may be
served in any one Of three ways
which you deem advisable. First,
by an immediate bid for game at
your partners declaration; second,
by a bid for game at no trump; or
third, by jump forcing take-out,
of one more than necessary, In an
other suit.
If your partner has opened with
a major suit in which you have
length or strength, and you have a
short side suit that gives you the
probability of making some sepa-
rate use of your trumps, it is usu-
ally best to choose your partners
suit for the game try.
Lacking trump assistance, or an
other biddable suit, a three no
trump bid would, naturally, be
your only recourse. But when you
hold with your honor-tricks a
long or strong suit of your own, the
game probability should be an
nounced by forcing take-out. This
forcing take-out is the most impor-
tant and the most often employed
Of the three unconditional forcing
bids of the forcing system. 1t will
be fully outlined in a later article.
(WNU Service)
&c, 1892, by Leila Hattersley.)