Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-04-22
Bridge
By Frank B. Lord

By Frank B. Lord
For the second time in two sue
cessive years the contest among the
duplicate bridge players of the Ma
tional Press Club for the Ely Cul-
bertson master trophy resulted in a
preliminary tie. The foursome
composed of Mrs. Jean Henry, Mrs.
Dorothy Whitcomb, Mrs. Paul
Golden and Mrs. Mildred Under
man and the team of Mr.. and Mrs.
David Sentner, Mrs. Ray Roberts
and Ralph Weber each won is of
the "a boards played. The tie was
broken in the play of three-board
series which terminated in a victory
for Mrs. Henry's team. The match
was spirited to the end.
On the first board of the play
off game Mrs. Henry and her
partner bid and made three clubs
and on the same board her team
mates defeated the Sentner team
on a bid of two spades. This was
first blood. They also won the Sec
ond heat with comparative ease
This was sufficient for the decision
but while it was pending and the
score was being made up the third
board was played and this was won
by the Sentner team too late to be
effective in the contest.
in the same event of a year ago,
when there was tie, compromise
was reached because one member
of the evenly matched teams was
unable to take part in a playoff
The names Of the members of each
team were inscribed on the cup
and the team that was unable to
complete the series forfeited the
right to the clubs own award, which
went to their rivals.
The second of the clubs major
trophy series will be played April
80. 1t will be a pair game for
the Victor Smith Cup. There will
follow two other matches at in
tervals of two weeks, one for the
Col. Marvin H. Mcintyre Cup and
the other for the Mexican Ambas-
sador's Trophy. These also will be
pair games. In the Mcintyre Cup
event only members of the club
will be eligible to participate, but
there will be a special game for
the women guests of the club and
the winners will receive club prizes.
Results in the Federal Bridge
Leagues team of four series Tues
day night at the Wardman Park
Hotel were as follows: Gruesomes,
Cascades and Jeeps each won IA
boards in Section A. the Stays won
Is boards in Section B, the Grey
won Is boards in Section c
and the Vols and Hi Speed each
won 1914 boards in Section D.
TWenty-four boards were played in
each section. The leaders in the
four sections are: Government, in
A, with a percentage of .612; Pick
ups, in B, with .523: Oaks, c, .493;
Wild Deuces, D, All.
Last Tuesdays session was the
10th in the second half of the
leagues team of four season series.
The teams will now be frozen in the
various sections where their per-
centages have placed them, and be-
ginning May l, there will be series
Of sectional playoff games for the
leagues semiannual prizes. There
will be three such games on success
sive weeks and the scores will be
added to make up the percentages
for the half-season. The leaders
will then participate in a contest
for the Luther Stewart grand
trophy, gift of the Federation of
Employees which has
been in play since the league was
This Tuesday the league will hold
its monthly master point game,
which will not affect the team scores
IN the team of four series. 1t will
be pair game at which guests will
be allowed to play.
A reader who lives in Arlington
and plays bridge in Washington,
but does not further identify her
self, says that as a beginner she
has difficulty in deter
mining what she should do when
holding as dealer. two and one
half honor tricks with only a four
card suit She cites this one: Spades,
king, queen; hearts. king, queen,
nine, eight; diamonds, queen, six;
clubs, king. eight, seven, and asks
for suggestion and advice.
The judgment of players differs
as to what the call should be with
such holding, which all admit is
too strong to pass. Some experts
declare that If such hands are not
opened, many games will be sacri-
feed. Others say that the holder
should force partner to make a
choice of suit. This is done by
what is known in Washington as
the short club" bid. 1t guarantees
the holding Of two and one-half
tricks, and the initial call is one
club. Then if left-hand opponent
passes, partner must bid his strong
est four-card major; not having
one, he must bid a diamond, thus
keeping the bid open and passing
the buck back to the club opener.
That would indicate that the oppo-
sition has most of the high cards,
and nothing would be lost. If the
partners one bid is major and that
happens to be the openers short