Evening star., 1942-05-03
In Local Bridge Circles
BY Frank B. Lord

A new convention has come to
crowded Washington which for the
duration is seeking to avoid the
character of convention, which
means the assembling of many per-
sons. The new convention, however,
calls for no use of space and causes
no congestion except in the mind of
the studious bridge player. 1t is
rather method designed to direct
bidding when playing the popular
game.
In 4he language of bridge it Is
known as the Culwood slam con-
vention, and the name is one that
has been coined from combination
of Culbertson and Blackwood, those
two masters of the game whose
methods are most commonly used
by bridge players when seeking to
arrive at a slam contract. It's au-
thor is Thomas Bigelow, prom
inent player of Madison, Wis.
1t is described by Mrs. Florence
Osborn as -Four no-trump asks for
aces as in Blackwood, but more, 1t
indicates the bidder as having:
(a) Any three aces.
(b) ANY two aces plus the king
in any suit previously bid by either
player. Bidder may have more than
this. but cannot have less. Four
no-trump may under some circum-
stances be normal call.
Co The reply of five spades indi-
Gates the partnership has four aces
and the kings of all bid suits.
Id The reply of five no-trump
indicates the partnership has four
aces and two of the three top honors
of the trump suit in the responding
hand.
Co A five no-trump bid. follow
ing four no-trump and made by the
same player, and the responses, are
as in Blackwood."
At first the Culwood convention
may appear a bit complicated to the
average player, but careful study
of it will show that it has the merit
of being able to convey information
not so definitely possible under
either the original Culbertson or
BlackWood slam convention.
Some of the bridge experts else
where have tried it with success and
it is recommended by them. OF
course, the deals to which it would
be applicable are not very frequent,
but they are likely to occur three or
four times in an evenings play, and
if advantage is then taken of the op-
portunity offered by the Culwood
convention it will prove profitable
Washington players have expressed
a willingness to give it trial. 1t
required some time to get them ac-
customed to Blackwood, but most
of them now use it and find it very
informative
A 66 per cent game, with Mrs.
j. R. Belt as his partner. catapulted
DR.. Neil j. McHugh from sixth to
first place in the Agriculture Bridge
Club competition for the Mcdonnell
Cup. The race has become very
close. With 16 games completed and
uNTee 10 20, NuSu ouChicy, eiiC PicS-
ent holder of the cup, is less than
half match point behind, and G. H.
Warthen, in third place, needs only
one and one-half match points to
regain the lead. DR.. c. C. McDon-
nell and F. j. Hallauer, fourth and
fifth, are 10 match points behind
the closely punched leaders.
The percentages of the leaders are
as follows:
DR.. Neil j. McHugh --- $3.50
Rush Buckley ---. .5357
G. H. Warthen n-. .5348
DR.. G. C. Mcdonnell .5273
F. j. Hallauer r--- 5247
1t is not always necessary to hold
five-honor count hand in order to
make an. original two bid, as Bert
Andrews, chief of the New York
Herald Tribune bureau, demon
strated one night last week in
rubber bridge game at the National
Press Club. For the purpose of
making slam a two-suit hand is
frequently much better.
The cards were distributed as
follows.