Evening star., 1946-01-13

.tpCilllls plC-CilipIlNC DiOo oAioi ~ on
under what circumstances. She says
Last night I was dealer and held
these cards: SO, J, 10, 9, 6, S, 2;
H-9, 2; Dc; CO, j, S.
Il passed and our opponents who
were vulnerable reached a four.
heart contract and made it. My side
was not vulnerable and my partner
said that l should have opened with
three spades. Was he right?'
Pre-emptive bids depend entirely
upon the circumstances and are not
generally advisable. They show a
hand weak in high cards with a SIM
gle long-card suit. Their purpose
should be to prevent, if possible, an
interchange of communication be-
tween opponents. They indicate less
than two and one-half honor tricks
With two and one-half honor tricks
a pre-empt bid should not be opened
and certainly not If the dealer is
Vulnerable and stands to lose more
than two tricks. They may be made
II not vulnerable and the probable
loss is no more than three tricks, or
500 points in either case if doubled.
Pre-emptive bids are not made on
good hands. If you pre-empt, your
partner should not raise without ex-
ceptional strength. A pre-emptive
bid of four in a major suit is some
times advisable on strong hand for
strategic reasons, even when the
partner has passed, but not when
the loss may be more than two
vulnerable or three not vulnerable.
On the hand given above the
openers bid should have been three
spades. That would most likely have
prevented the adversaries from get
ting together on four hearts. The
adversary at your left would most
likely, have hesitated to bid four
hearts against it, not knowing what
his partner held. He made an open
ing bid of a heart after you passed
and his partner was able to help
him to four. The most you could
have lost on pre-empt bid of three
spades would have been two tricks
If your partner had one trick or as
good as the ten of clubs-a loss of
300 if not vulnerable or 500 if vul-
nerable. This would have given you
chance for game on the next
deal whereas the adversarieS made
a game and a TOO rubber.
There was spirited contest on
Monday at Mrs. Dixie T. Wright's S
duplicate game at the La Sale be-
tween Miss Virginia Kinnard and
Mrs. Louis Salvatorel and Gen.
Robert Odic and Louis Salvatorel.
The girls, who had set out several
times to beat the men, were success
full by two points. The race switch
ed from one pair to the other several
times. but on the last board Miss
Kinnard and Mrs. Salvatorel we're
victorious and felt much pleased
with themselves. There was a chal-
lenge for the game tomorrow night.
A large delegation of local players
is attending the City Tournament
in Richmond which began yesterday
with an open-pair match and Is be-
ing continued today with a team-of-
four game. 1t is the first big bridge
event held in the Virginia capital
since the war started.
The National Press Clubs group
OF duplicate players, who have been
accepted as unit of the American
Contract Bridge League, are looking
forward to their first master point
game to be held in the club lounge
on January "a. Very few of them
now have master points. A plan is
being worked out to enable the
players to contest for the clubs four
major trophies once each month
rather than at the end of the sea-
son. Duplicate games now are held
every other Thursday evening.