Evening star., 1936-12-13


TT 10 q far cry from the early days
of contract, when . player holding
i . hand such as:
~Axx.1
<xxx
ms supposed to respond with three
heArts to partners opening bid OF one
spade. and with two hearts to partners
opening bid Of one diamond or one
club. It didn't take players long to
iind out that unsound Jumps in the
early stages crowded the bidding and
sot them into great trouble with mbfit
hands. Then. with the development
NJ the exploratory response, there wAs
2 no need for an immediate jump. After
all. partner had promised TO reoid II We
responded with q new suit.
However, there seemed no point In
kttine lump responses 60 to waste en-
tirely, 20 in the original -Four Aces
system we had the following two Jump
responses BY player who had not pre-
viously passed:
(A) The Jump responses Of two In
q highsr valued suit This bid wAs
used 40 forcing to slam IT partner
chad IN opening bid, and forcing to
rame II partners bid was psychic.
(Psychics were very prevalent at the
time) The following hand:
"A QJxx
YAK
*
With which he bid two spades in re-
spor,se to partners opening bid OF one
club, was . good example Of this bid.
with . psychic. our partner would bid
two no-trurnp, vhereupon We would DID
. four spades and have . very good play
for It. While If he had proper open.
ing bid, We would 20 on to the proper
slam contract.
(B) The Jump response Of three In
q lower-valued suit.
This conveyed o slightly different
message, since 1t allowed partner to
drop the bidding With psychic, and
while q strong slam invitation, did
not necessarily force the bidding to
that level, assuming the opening BAD
were 4 minimum.
This inconsistency, which % far u
the only one any one has been able to
point out in our system. led to ques.
! tions. since many people wanted to
know how to get to game following
partners opening psychic bid OF one
snade. Our answer was that major
suit psychics we're practically never
bid In first or second position, and
therefore that situation would never
arise In practice. However, In modern
bidding semi. psychic openings are
used quite successfully by many play.
ers, who frequently open with q one
. spade bid holding a hand such ~:
-,... A Qxxx
v-x
tx Xxx
Ak XXX
While We do not particularly favor
such bids ourselves, since they lead
to great complications for the bidder
and his partner, We have decided 70
make allowance for them in the Four
Aces system.
Accordingly. for some time We have
been trying out and are now prepared
to announce SpArt Of the systsm the
fact that, In addition to the anEls
Z lump (two OF . higher or, three OF .
lower valued suit), We use the double
lump to three Of . higher Of four Of 4
jover-vAlued suit.
The double Jump corresponds to the
iunp tvo-over-one Q.e., Il u forcing
I'd { slam II partner has . bid even
ti,cush Il y shaded. and forcing to Z
game II partner has An out-and-out
ueychic). when the double Jump =
made In . higher-valued suit, the oris-
inal bidder has "A easy time. since he
noW responds with three no-trump to
show the psychic. When the double
lump y made with four Of . lower
valued suit. however. things are not
quite % simple. since, the no-trunp
bid would b at the level Of four, there-
by shutting out . four.odd contract
In either major suit.
But the original bidder does have
heychie showing bids, which are IL