Evening star., 1937-03-07

More Common Errors.
ONTINUING our discussion Of
general errors OF bridge
players. we come to the habit
~ of making one bid too many.
There are so many phases Of this
error that we intend to devote not
only this article, but our next weeks
to it. Accordingly, we start with the
first phase, that Of promiscuous over
calls, where even the first bid H one
too many.
In the old days Of auction and the
early days OF contract there used to
be o mistaken conception that an
opening bid showed more strength
than an overcall and that therefore
any hand which warranted an OPEN
ing bid would also warrant an over.
call of some sort. Actually, the mini
mum high-card requirements for an
opening bid are greater and always
will be greater than the minimum
high-card requirements for an over
call But the opening suit bid will
rarely be doubled for business, the
overcall frequently. Hence, in the
early days of contract we had the rule
of two and three, which read that in
overcallirg vulnerable your hand
should have sufficient playing strength
so that you could not be set more
than two tricks; in overcalling not vul-
nerable your hand should have sufii-
cient playing strength 50 that you
would not be set more than three
tricks doubled.
Today this is succeeded by the
principle Of risk versus gain, an
nounced by us in 1888 and since then
generally adopted by other writers
and players. This principle is as fol-
lows: In defensive and competitive
bidding any risk taken must be COM
mensurate with the possible objective,
and in accordance with it, you must
frequently risk penalty Of more than
two tricks vulnerable and three tricks
not vulnerable in game and slam
situations, and not more than one
trick vulnerable and two tricks not
vulnerable in non-game (part score)
situations. For instance, suppose you
are second hand, vulnerable, and hold: /:
Spades Kxxxx
Hearts x
Diamonds A XXX
Clubs XXX
and the dealer, not vulnerable,
opens with pre-emptive bid Of four
hearts. You must overcall with four
spades. This action exposes you to
penalty which on some rare occa-
sion will be severe, but the proba-
bilities are that you will make your
contract. In other words, the objec-
| tive, which is a vulnerable game, Is
large enough and the probability Of
attaining the objective great enough
! to justify the risk.
But now back to the promiscuous
overcall. Consider the following
hand:
Hearts Jxx
Diamonds AQx
Clubs A XXX
The player on your right opens with
one spade and now you say to your
self. With q high card value Of 912
and four-card suit headed by the
ace-king, I must overcall." But II
you will think a little further, you
will say, why? We cannot make
game unless my partner has an un-
usually freakish hand, in which case
he will undoubtedly bid when it comes
his turn without my taking any ac-
ton. Furthermore, II my partner has
. weak hand and ! keep still, the op-
ponents are likely to continue to .
game which will probably be set. But
if overcall what is likely to be the
result? First, ! risk being doubled In
the event that the club suit Is massed
in back Of me, and If am doubled,
I will probably be set three tricks
and perhaps as many as five. But
even if ! am not doubled, I may have
warned the opponents against going
on toward an unmakable game con-
tract"
Now let us consider q better hand:
Spades XXX
Hearts JxX
Diamonds AQx
| Clubs A K xxx
The opening bid to our right Is one
heart. Now it is rare indeed to flnd
. player who will pass If not vulner-
able. and a great many players will
actually bid vulnerable. Yet We still
recommend . pass. There is still
little chance that the opponents have
game and you should ignore the
chance for your side to score q game
because to bid Is so fraught with dan
ger. OF course, some players may
argue that II they fail to overcall,
| their left-hand opponent will become