Evening star., 1941-03-16

knolUn in Washington for num-
Der of years as director OF
bridge tournaments. He is sec
retary and director of the Wash
ington Bridge League and directs
competition also at Federal
Bridge League, National Press
Club and Columbia Country Club
competitions
In its strictest sense. ethics means
the science of moral duty. Some
people see no connection between
morals and bridge. To them bridge
is a card game and morals some
thing the clergy talks about. But
ethics, in a wider sense, is rule OF
conduct-the conduct of all honest
people in their dealings with others,
even in their bridge games.
AS a bridge player, do you try to
convey the meaning of bid to your
partner in way that your opponent
will misunderstood? For instance,
does Il pass" mean the same to
your partner as Pass? Does Il
bid one no trump" mean the same
as "One no trump? Or does the
emphasis you place on your bids
have a meaning for your partner
that your opponent knows nothing
about? Then you are taking an un-
fair advantage of your opponent.
Do you shuttle around IN your
chair and scrape your feet on the
floor when a partner makes bid
you do not like? When the bidding
has reached, say, four hearts by your
opponents and you are waiting to
get in a double, do you, by signs
and mannerisms, try to tell your
partner to pass instead of bidding?
Well, there is only one legitimate
way to attract your partners atten-
ton, and that is by proper bid or
call in the proper place. You fool
no one but yourself by using other
methods; sooner or later, every one
is talking about you.
Do you drop one card lightly on
the table in playing to trick, and
then, when partner leads suit you
want returned, do you almost thump
the table with your card? Do you
keep your hand on a played card
long enough to call your partners
attention to it? Do you, by holding
your cards and hand certain way,
convey information to your partner
as to your holding?
The things I have mentioned are
covered in the RULES of Contract
Bridge"-not as specific rules, but
as Communications; however, some
bridge players apparently have
never read about them. There is a
recommended method for calling in
bridge-why not use it?
Arc you addicted to clipping" as
the so-called bridge "sharps" call
1.-THE art or science of finding out
what cards your opponents hold by
taking a quick look into their
hands? Some players seem to have
the eyes of rabbit-they rotate in
all directions. There is a specific
rule regarding players obtaining
illegal information about cards their
opponents hold. The difficulty, from
the directors standpoint, is the i'm
possibility of proving such knowl-
edge,
Another method that some
smart" players use to obtain infor-
nation about the opponents holding
is to ask the bidder to leave the
table and then proceed to cross
question the partner as to what the
bid means. The only thing they are
entitled to know is whether the bid
is a private convention, or whether
it has some special significance to
partner that the opponents would
not know of. The number of honor
tricks or high card holding is none
of their business. On the other
hand, the person questioned must
be truthful and tell anything special
that the bid means and not hand
out the old phrase, Il do not know"
when, as a matter of fact, he has
played frequently enough with the
partner to know exactly what it
means.
1t is a strange anomoly that men
and women of unquestioned honesty
and integrity have no scruples when
sitting at bridge table. They can
see no wrong in obtaining points
unethically from their opponents,
but they probably never think of the
rest of the field. A point taken from
your opponents is not only one for
you, but one for every pair sitting in
the same direction as your op-
ponents; so you really do not get a
complete beneft-you must share it
with the Others
There is another kind of conduct
at the bridge table that is most