Evening star., 1934-04-13
You Cannot Have It Heads 1
Win. Tails You Lose"

YE MO01 dQUut lIldt WIlCu
A ! the opponents open the
wv bidding against you they
make it very hard for you
to get to many a game
which is a lay-down to make, but a
tough assignment to bid. That Is,
when your hand, is not strong enough
or not aggressive enough in type to
permit force, and when the strength
Is divided in a manner which IS easy
to play but hard to bid. As you know,
one purpose of my treatment Of third
hand bids is precisely to interfere with
the bidding I expect to be exchanged
by opponents who may, fear, have
a game If they can get to 1t. We are
now considering this situation from
their standpoint. We have a game,
but they have opened the bidding.
Our strength Is divided so that a
force Is impossible. A distributional
double is the first step; it is the
doubler's rebid which is delicate
problem. In yesterdays article ex-
planned the kind of reasoning to apply;
but 7 want to warn you that it is far
from infallible. Some of these hands
will get to three and go down; others
will get to four and go down; others
will stop at two or three, and game
will be made. The procedure I sug-
gest is the best I have been able to
devise up to now for overcoming the
interference occasioned by the oppo-
nents having opened the bidding
against us when we have q game hand,
particularly when the game is in
trump suit divided A between our
two hands.
Effective in Tournaments.
would add that under match-point
scoring it works very well, because so
often when you are wrong because you
bid too high, and take loss OF SO
or 100 points, it turns out to be
good board after all because you have
kept the opponents from part-score
contract which they could not have
lost, and they would have bid again
had the doubler not raised. I mean
that the raise, when resulting IN g
set Of one, acts as a second parrlcaoe
in shutting out raise by the oppo-
nent on your left. Had you passed
he would have given that raise. NOW
you would have to rebid to defend the
part score; but after that raise one OF
your opponents would be pretty sure
to double you. You will now be SET
one doubled and if you are vulnerable
that will be Q lost board. AS you
know. a part-score bid and made car
ries a bonus of so points in duplicate
play. so it Is better to go down 100
than to let the enemy make two hearts
or three in a minor, which would net
them 1870 plus SO. However, II
they could make only two IN a minor
900 points, you would lose the board
by going down 100, and this is point
to remember when, under match
point scoring, you are maneuvering
and fighting a part-score hand. Never
forget the vulnerability condition OF
either side when game is not involved,
and the bidding in the part-score
arena.
Defending Against Double.
Since we have today been consider
ing the other side of the table, let me
say that when my partner opens the
bidding and the next hand doubles,
do not bid on weakness at this -oint.
I treat the double exactly as / would
an OVeTCdll. IL HAS hcpt IIic oiuulAAe
open for my partner, SO this function
no longer devolves on me. If do bid,
it is because am making a construc-
tive move and can see at least another
bid ahead. To raise his suit is to say
Had there been no double, could
almost, ii not quite, have given you
a leeway Jump raise" To bid a no
trump over a double would be p.ac-
tically strong enough to bid two no
trumps hat. the doubler passed. Some
players, I notice, always raise over
double to show weakness except for
that one message-that they have
fit in the openers suit. The nov or
never" idea, no doubt. I do not agree