Evening star., 1948-09-07
New, Less Stringent
Contract Bridge Rules
Take Effect Oct. |
BY the kssoeieisd Press

Sf1ASn1S.-1u lie game OF con-
tract bridge is going to change or
October /, but many bridge players
will never know it.
A committee of British and Amer
ican bridge experts has been study.
ing the rules Of the game for yeal
and half, and has come up with
new international contract bridge
code which was tested recently al
the semi summer nationa.
world bridge tournament here.
The new code will be officially
adopted October Ia date set arbi-
trarily by the National Laws Com.
mission of the American Contract
Bridge League so that publishers o1
the laws could have sufficient ad-
vance notice to put out a new batch
of rules books.
The new laws, according to one
of their formulators, Waldemar Won
Zedtwitz of New York, chairman OF
the Board of the American Contract
Bridge League, will do little to
change the game, except:
The code was prepared to pre-
sent the old laws more clearly and
in a more logical sequence than had
previously been the case, and to
mitigate certain penalties which
tended to impose certain hardshlps
on players based largely on tech
nicalities."
Not So Strict.
In other words the rules aren't
quite so strict as they were before
Suppose you are housewife who
meets once a month with the girls
to play a little bridge. In the midst
of a heated discussion on the high
cost of lust about everything, say
that you lead card out OF turn.
What happens?
In all probability one Of the girls
will remark. IT'S not your turn,
dear" and, thus corrected, the play
lurches on.
The new rules won't affect this
type of bridge game, chiefly because
the old rules didn't affect 1t much
either.
But If you're a dyed-in-th
bridge shark, playing with three
others of your species, and you lead
out of turn
Well, under the old rules the de-
clarer-that's the man who got the
bid on the hand-could then tell
YOU which suit to lead or, II he
chose, prohibit the lead of any one
suit.
Leave Card Exposed.
Unoer the new code the card led
out of turn merely becomes an ex-
posed card. You leave it lying face
upward on the table, and must play
it at the first opportunity. The de-
clarer may. If he wishes. forbid the
lead of that particular suit, but that
suit only.
That's a big change to a tourna-
ment bridge player.
Here are some other major
changes:
The bid-out -of-turn laws have
been simplified. Under the pre-
vious code when there was a bid
out of turn the severity OF the
penalty depended upon where the
errant bidder sat. Under the new
laws, If you bid out of turn your
partner Is simply barred from bid
ding for the rest of that hand.
The laws regarding the insuffl-
cient bid, says Mr.. Won Zedtwitz,
have been rewritten 80 as to miti-
gate the penalties on the one hand
and give the insufficient bidder pro-
lection on the other"
How 1t Works.
Say one persons bids spade and
YOU bid a diamond. That's an in
sufficient bid, because spades are
higher than diamonds. Under the
old laws you would have had to
make the bid sufficient, or bid two
diamonds. That doesn't sound very
serious, but suppose one player had
opened with four spades apd you
thought he had said one spade. You
were prepared to bid two diamonds
and did so. Then, informed that
the first bidder actually said four
spades, you would have had to bid
five diamonds and probably would
nave been set about 1.100 points.
So the new code says that you
are allowed to pass. but that If you
elect to do so. your partner may not