Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-11-08

TO REPEAT, the high card require
ments for opening one, two and
three no trump bids are l11a-l2,
l4i2-l6 and l6la-ls. respectively.
Since the opening two no trump bid is
points stronger than the one no
trump, and the three no trump is
points more than the one no trump
bid, a simple way of learning to raise
a two no trump bid is to add 3 points
to your hand, and if that gives you 10,
you bid four no trump; If IL. you bid
five no trump; if IL. six no trump.
When responding to an opening
three no trump, you add and do like
wise. For instance, your partner opens
with three no trump and you hold a
high card value of 8, add S, making IL,
and raise to five no trump OIL tricks.
At this point we would like to call
our readers attention to a feature of
the Four Aces system which every
player would do we'll to follow. Re.
CARELESS Of whether the opening bid is
one. two or three no trump. any raise
to four. five or six no trump conveys
q definite and precise message, which
makes it unnecessary for the opening
bidder to do any calculating as to the
possibilities of a slam.
If any opening no trump bid is raised
to four, the responder says TO the
opening bidder. in effect: You should
bid six no trump II holding the maxi
mum of high card strength shown by
your opening bid. But holding about
the minimum shown. you should pass,
and the hand will be safe at four no
trump"
If responder raises to five no.
trump, the message impaired to the
opening bidder is: Il command you
to bid six no trump unless your OPEN
ing bid was shaded or doubtful. In
other words, If you pass, you really
must have an excuse for doing So"
THE corollary of the foregoing Is
that If responder raises to six no.
trump, his bid implies the following:
Il guarantee the success Of this con-
tract; you may consider contracting
for seven no-trump."
Fine differences, like these, 90 to
make the difference between an aver
age bidder and good one, or q good
bidder and an expert. We cannot too
strongly recommend the adoption of
these principles by all Of our readers.
Frequently players say to us, What
use is it to me to use the Four Aces
point count In responding If my part.
ner bids weak no trumps and SAYS
they represent or 81 tricks?" The
answer to that is simply that 3 to 3h
tricks usually represents between 8
and 101a points. Hence your part
ner's no trump is "a points lighter
than the Four Aces no trump. In
order to determine whether to invite
a slam, subtract 2Ha points from your
hand, and If after subtracting this ~
you have 10 points you should bid four
no trump; If IL. five no trump; If IL,
six no trump.
Finally, the -Four Aces point count |
makes possible the no trump rule of |
two-to-one. With 26 points and Is |
tricks In the deck, each two points rep
resent one probable trick. However,
declarer has . certain advantage, so |
that 17A or even II points should |
give . good play for three no trump,
while 22h points Gall the high cards
except the equivalent Of an ace and
jack should give better than an !
even play for slam.
tcopyright, 1860
The Four Aces will be pleased to answer |
letters from readers II . stamped (3-centl,
eH.addressed envelope Is inclosed with |
each communication. II you desire the |
pocket outline Of the Four Aces system of |
contract bridge. send, with your request. |
stamped (3-cent).l self-addressed large-
size envelope to the Four Aces, Inc, 100
West Forty. street. New York City. |
and you VIII receive an outline without any
The next article in this series viii
appear tomorrow.