Evening star., 1936-11-29

to the days OF anticipation" people
were taught to bid one spade. Now. II
partner responded with two diamonds
the books were rather silent on what
to do next, because naturally no one
would know what to do next.
But under the principle Of antici-
patton, you don't open with one
spade-you open with one club. II
your partner makes the expected re-
sponse of one diamond, you bid one
spade, and have shown both Of your
suits at the level of one.
We refer those players who would
like an expert discussion on the
theory of the choice of suits either to
our book or one of the other books on
contract. We are glad to state thai
the choice of suits Is pretty nearly
standard today. For others the fol.
lowing summary will give the proper
choice in all but q few instances
When holding:
6-4 bid longer suit first.
6-5 bid longer suit first.
SIS bid higher ranking suit first
5-4 bid longer suit first. Excep-
ton: Bid good four-card suit first II
it ranks Immediately above the five-
card suit and hand contains a high
card value of less than H.
A with touching four-card suits,
bid the higher ranking first.
With four-card club and spade
suits. usually bid club first.
With four card suits in spades and
diamonds, or hearts and clubs, bid
the suit which provides for salts
factory rebid over any response in
another suit.
With three four -carders, bid the suit
which ranks Immediately below the
singleton. Spades are considered to
rank below clubs for this purpose.
About the only exception which we
would consider at all is with a weak
f1ve-card spade suit and strong five-
card club suit, where a player might
decide TO open with club rather
than a spade.
In the early days of contract, people
were very strict in their requirements
for biddable suits. Today the win
ming player will bid very weak suits,
our own rule being that any suit of
f1ve cards or more, any four-card
major suit headed by ace-l0. king-lO
or queen-jack. any four-card minor
suit whatsoever or any three card
minor suit headed by the ace or king
| is biddable.
OF course in bidding a three card
or worthless four-card minor suit. we
are particularly careful that our hand
warrants it and that We have no
other bid. The following Is a good
example of a three-card minor suit
opening:
Spades-Q xxx
Hearts-A Xxx
Diamonds-A Xxx
Clubs-A Xxx
This hand is too weak to open with
one notrump and too strong to pass,
so We open with one club. There is
no danger in such a bid, since very
few partners will condemn the hand
to game in minor suit unless they
see no chance for game anywhere
else. Hence, if our partner does insist
on taking us to five or six clubs, we
may be sure that he will have at least
five trumps which, combined with our
three, will give us a satisfactory hold
/ ing in that suit.
tCopyriaht. ls36.D
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