Evening star., 1936-07-12
Winning Contract
BY THE FOUR ACES.

ger of trying to apply them to q
particular person. For that reason,
whenever the question whether men
or. women are better bridge players
has been put to us, as 1t frequently
s,r our response has always been
very much like that Of the extremely
cautious gentleman who was STROLL
ing along q country road with
friend. They happened upon a flock
Of sheep and the friend remarked,
"Ah, those sheep have just been
sl1eared, haven't they?" The con-
seryative gentleman looked them over
speculatively and said, "On this side,
anyway"
However, in our constant contests
with bridge players Of both sexes and
all degrees Of expertness, we have
managed to draw a few interesting
conclusions in regard to the ma
jority. When it comes to average
players, we believe that the average
woman contract player Is the equal
or perhaps the superior Of the aver
age man. The reason for this lies,
perhaps, in the fact that there are
two distinct parts to contract-the
bidding and the playing of the hands.
The correct play Of the cards re-
ouires a distinct mathematical sense.
Since this mathematical sense is far
more likely to be found in men than
in women, we should expect the men
10 be better at the playing end and
It has been our experience that they
are.
Yet even here many women have a
slight edge in one respect. Defensive
play Is In large measure based upon
partnership cooperation. Over q per-
iod Of years the autohortties have
worked out standards Of defensive
play, many of which date back as far
as the early days Of whist. Invari-
ably women are willing to learn these
conventions; men often refuse to
bother with them.
An amusing example of the average
mans attitude towards the conven-
tions Of the game is contained in the
story Of the Midwestern millionaire,
who came to New York and found that
he was expected to play bridge. After
he had been playing while, he dis
covered that there were conventions
and rules, and finally that there were
bridge teachers. He went to one for
. lesson.
Laying out a hand Of 13 cards, the
teacher said, Here Is a proper OPEN
ing one-spade bid"
Never mind all that stuff about
the bidding" the pupil said. II can
bid all right. Teach me comething
about leads"
The teacher replied. well. the first
lead to learn is that of the king, when
you hold q suit headed by the ace
king
"a suit headed by the ace-king?"
exclaimed the pupil. Let that one go
too; when have suit headed by the
ace-king, play the hand!"
When it comes to bidding, women
enjoy two advantages. First, their
they will approach the problem Of
bidding from q partnership angle.
The average woman bridge player Is
willing to give her partner a full SO
per cent of decisions and a full SO
per cent of responsibility. The aver
age may player wants to be the guild
ing genius himself. He Is inclined to
insist on making the last bid, and has
no objection to making all the bids.
Secondly, while conventions are i'm.
portant to successful defensive play,
they are absolutely necessary to sue
cessful bidding. Every one Of us knows
at least one man who claims, "I play
common sense bridge for the enjoy
inent get out Of the game. II have
to learn rules Of bidding, 1t becomes
work and spoils my fun"
1t has practically never been our
experience to find a woman player
with the same contempt for conven-
tions. The average woman bridge play
er has definitely learned a system Of
bidding and follows definite rules. At
times she may 90 too far, and attempt
to apply her formula to every sit
uation.
A too-rigid application of formula
bidding produces the precision play
er." The precision player" is ulti-
mately . sure loser, because he is con-
tinually playing contracts such as
two notrunp and three spades, merely
because in his own mind they repre-
sent the precise number Of tricks that
he will take. He derives as much salts
faction out Of making the exact num-
Der of tricks he has contracted for as
the ordinary player does from making
a vulnerable grand slam.
It never occurs to him that contract
Is a game Of percentages, and that the
rubber bonus is 30 substantial, 1t Is
frequently well worth risking q pen
atty in an attempt to secure . game.
While system Is important, hexbility
is essential, and rigid adherence to
fixed rules will surely lead to disaster.
III the play of the cards, the prin-
.cipal failing Of women players seems
to be q policy Of timidity. For in
stance, we have seen q woman play q
hand deliberately to 60 down one trick
at non-vulnerable, undoubled con-
tract, because she was afraid that If
she tried to make the contract and
things went wrong, she would be set
three. Men are the opposite. They
will make every effort to fulfill q con-
tract regardless Of the risk.
On another occasion we saw q
woman player who, by fine bidding,
reached q game contract which nor
.mally should be q laydown, commence
the play Of the hand and suddenly
sfind out that all the trumps were
punched against her In one hand. She
sat back, studied the situation and
worked out q play to make the hand
= IN spite Of the bad break. Then she
turned to us and said, How should
= have bid and played the hand?"
- Even a poor man player would have
said, well, you. couldn't have done
any better, could you?" He would
have had enough confidence In him
self to know that he had played the
hand well. .-.
a. Men are usually over-bidders: Vonf-