White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1932-09-08

be won by aces, about four or five
with other honor cards, and the re-
mainder with lower cards. Thus we
get yardstick for the trick measure
ment Of hand.
The Yardstick Of Tricks.
Honor-Tricks Low Card Tricks
8 5
POSSIBLY sly
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 expect
ancy, in accordance with your honor
tricks you may use the following
count:
The 4-5-51a Count
(At No Trump)
HOnor-tricks Will de- So that the
held between velop low contract ex-
partners. card pectancy is
4to Az 2 to 3 One-odd
(or down ~
3 Two-odd
51A or more 3 to 4 GAME.
When you and your partner are
bidding suit, it is highly improbable
that against your trump defense the
opponents will be able to win any
low card tricks. So you have only the
definite fear Of their defense in hon
or-tricks. Therefore a partnership
holding of 51a honor-tricks with
strong trumps puts you in the game
zone with major suit bid. To car
ry you over the long hard road to
game at minor suit, where the op-
ponents must be held down to two
defensive tricks, some additional hon
or strength is usually needed.
10 give brief outline Of the spe-
cific use OF the yardstick in the most
generally recurrent situation, let us
assume that you are in the position
Of responding to your partners orig
inal suit bid Of one. If he has bid
first or second hand, you know that
he has at least 21a honor-tricks. He
may have more than 21a honor-trlcks,
even, possibly, as many as 5. If So,
these surplus tricks will be shown
in subsequent rounds. For the pres
ent you must assume that he holds
the minimum, an unbreakable rule
in this system.
We will suppose that you have
counted your honor-tricks Immediately
upon sorting your hand 80 as to be
ready for any emergency. How you
have only to add your number to the
minimum of ~ shown by partner
to know whether or not your part
nership total Of honor-tricks (51a)
puts you in the desired game zone.
If you find this to be the case, you
must serve prompt notice of the i'm
portant fact on your partner. This
notice may be served in any one OF
three ways which you deem advis-
able. 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 another 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 probabil-
ity Of making some separate use Of
your trumps, it is usually best to
choose your partners suit for the
game try. ...
Lacking trump assistance, or anoth-
er biddable suit, a three no trump
bid would, naturally, be your only
recourse. But when you hold with
your 3 honor-tricks q long or strong
suit of your own, the game probable
ity should be announced by forcing
take-out. This forcing take-out is
the most important and the most Oft
en- employed of the three uncondl-
tional forcing bids Of the forcing sys-
TEN. It will be fully outlined In
later article.
90. 1882, by Leila Hattersley.)
(WNU service)