Auction bridge in ten lessons

part i Page

Introduction..5

Lesson 1. General Principles. Bidding No Trumps. - - - - 7

Lesson 2. An Initial major suit bid. - 13

Lesson 3. An Initial minor suit bid. - 17

Lesson 4. Supporting the partner or chang¬ ing the suit. - - 22

Lesson 5. Opposition bidding. 27

Lesson 6. The lead. - - 31

Lesson 7. Playing to score. Doubling.

Returning a lead. - 37

Lesson 8. How to play a No Trump, hand. 41 Lesson 9. How to play a suit declaration.

The Eleven Rule. - - - - 46

Lesson 10. How to finesse. Covering an

honor. Discards. 51

PART n

Page

1. The Pre-emptive bid.The choice between

two suits of equal value. 57

2. Conventional Doubles 61

3. Calling No Trumps on two suits.

“Marking time” with a minor suit. - 65

4. Calling “two” as an initial bid. The

art of finessing..70

5. The No Trump rescue abandoned.

The partner doubled. - - 77

6. Raising one’s partner without oppo¬ sition. False-carding. Refusing to take a trick. Partner’s suit twice overcalled

by opponent’s No Trump. 80

7. * Counting the Discards. 87

8. The lead “emphatic.” Leading

through opponent’s guarded queen. - 91

9. Opposition play. Taking out Dummy’s

10. Establishing a long suit. Playing to

rule..99

The Laws of Auction Bridge. - - 103

Introduction

This book has been written in two parts—the first part for the beginner and the second for the more advanced player, so it is to the beginner that I will first address myself.

My experience has been that the beginner, really anxious to play Bridge, is often deterred un¬ necessarily at the beginning of his labors.

He either dips into the middle of an advanced book on the subject, and, after reading a few pages, decides he is quite unequal to mastering the game, or he reads a book through from start to finish at one sitting, and then, after playing a few times, is entirely discouraged by the results of his performance.

I would therefore strongly advise the genuine beginner to read only one chapter of this book at a time; and to practise between each chapter ac¬ cording to the instructions given.

After studying the ten lessons he should play the game to make himself familiar with handling the cards, and after a week or so, when he is sufficiently sure of himself, he should read the second part of the book.

The writer’s object has been to appeal to his reader’s common-sense, and as this virtue will always be required of the Bridge player, if he is to become expert at the game, there are included herein no pages of statistics, or table of leads, that the reader is required to learn by heart.

Beyond common-sense he will only need ex¬ perience; and no book can give him that.

It is taken for granted that the beginner has studied the rules of Auction Bridge (included in this book), or that he has been able to watch the game in progress, and has, by either means, been able to form a rough idea of how the game is played, Viz.:—that there are four players, and that the whole pack is used, etc., etc.

From that point the beginner is to be assisted to an intelligent understanding of the game.

As the observations in the second part of this book are based upon the principles laid down in the first part, the more advanced player is invited to consider this book as a whole.

I am indebted to the New York Whist Club, for permission to publish their code of rules, which is here given in full.

G

The reader will have noticed from the fact that the suits have different values, that, with legi¬ timate strength, it is easier to make game with one suit as trumps than it is with another, and still easier to make game with no trumps at all.

As it takes four tricks (with the score at love) to make the game in SPADES or HEARTS, and five tricks in DIAMONDS or CLUBS, the former are called Major suits, and the latter Minor suits.

In this consideration of the suits lies the value of an unhampered, or “initial” bid.

Your initial bid gives your partner your idea

of the shortest and easiest way towards game.

If you call “No Trumps” you give him a defin¬ ite idea of the value of your hand in general strength.

If you call “one Spade” or “one Heart” you imply to him the minimum number you hold of the suit that you are declaring trumps, and the rela¬ tive strength of those trumps.

To give him correct information in this initial bid is of the utmost importance; he will make his plans for the hand accordingly.

It is difficult to obtain game in a Minor suit; and, for this reason, if you bid one DIAMOND or one CLUB, you are really, if you are an expert bid¬ der, suggesting to your partner that with the assist¬ ance you give him in your Minor suit, if he is legitimately able to change the bid to something more profitable he will find your hand useful as a Dummy hand; in other words you are advising him how he will be able to play the hand if he is able to secure the declaration with a Major suit, or No Trumps.

The beginner is asked to let this idea si \k into his mind and there to take root, as many a player makes a bid of “one” in a Minor suit with no such meaning or intention, and again and again is re¬ corded the heavy penalty to which the first bad Minor suit bid may be attributed.

It is necessary now to go into details, so that the inexperienced player shall, with the aid of common sense, be able to value his hand.

The No Trump Hand

If it were possible for each of the four players to have a normal hand, the pack of fifty-two cards would be so divided that each player would have one card of each denomination, viz.:—one ace, one king, one queen, and so on.

We will now consider the four players as sitting in this wise at the table in all our examples:—

Y

A B Z

Z and Y, as partners, would have as good a chance to get half of the thirteen tricks as A and B, * with normal hands.

They would, if such a thing were possible, be capable of taking 3J4 tricks each.

If, therefore, Z, as dealer, has a hand slightly above the average he naturally looks upon his chances, with the aid of his partner’s hand, as being favorable to his taking more than half the 13 tricks.

Supposing his hand contains an ACE, a KING, a QUEEN, a JACK, and a ten, and, we will say, an extra queen, so assorted as to guard three suits, he will consider the extra queen (which by the law of averages should belong to someone else’s hand) gives him the right to assume that he and his partner can make at least seven tricks in No Trumps (the “ book ” of six tricks, and one more) instead of the tricks to which with normal hands they should be entitled.

Such a hand is considered a minimum ONE NO TRUMP hand:—

Example:—

SPADES—Ace, Queen, 3, 2.

DIAMONDS—Queen, Jack, 8, 7.

Later on it will be necessary to go more min¬ utely into the taking powers of these cards, and to advise the partner of the original NO TRUMP Declarer how to estimate the strenglh of the hand which he holds, and which may become Dummy; but at present I want the beginner to recognise immediately a “NO TRUMPER” when it is dealt to him.

The above illustration, as you will note, con¬ tains a queen above a normal hand and three suits are guarded—that is to say the opponents are unlikely to have the control of more than the club suit, and the partner’s hand may be able to protect that.

It is, of course, not necessary to have precisely one of each of the five high cards (or Honors) and an extra queen, but the hand, to be a sound “NO TRUMPER,” must have strength equivalent to that.

Here are other examples:—

DIAMONDS—King, Jack, 10, 7.

CLUBS—Ace, King, 5, 2.

HEARTS—Queen, 10, 8.

DIAMONDS—Ace, King, 4, 3.

CLUBS—Ace, 9, 3, 2.

These are considered “light” NO TRUMP- ERS, and the writer has specially given these illustrations so that the beginner shall not be afraid to call NO Trumps when he has a hand to justify such a bid.

There is no doubt that a really good Major suit is a better game-making proposition than a doubtful NO TRUMP, but, as these early chapters are not to be considered the last word on the subject, the reader will, with experience, gradually acquire judgment if he reads attentively and practises conscientiously.

The reader is asked to spend a little time studying 13 cards at a time, without of course attempting to play them.

He should deal the pack into four hands, and carefully study each hand until he is able to re¬ cognise a “NO TRUMPER” with ease and con¬ fidence, disregarding any other bid.

When quite satisfied on this point he may proceed to the next chapter.

An Initial Major Suit Bid

If, on being dealt your 13 cards, you find upon examining them that they do not answer the requirements of a NOTRUMPER, you naturally wish to make the next best call of a Major suit if possible.

To make a bid of ONE SPADE or ONE HEART it has been proved by long experience that you must guarantee to your partner that you expect easily to control the suit, that is to say that your suit is headed by one of the two highest honors, that it is supported by at least one other honor, and that it comprises at least five cards.

The only circumstances in which you would be justified in making an initial bid in a Major suit, holding less than five cards of the suit, would be when you hold four honors alone, or Ace, King, Queen, and one other card.

If you, as initial bidder, make a sound bid of ONE in a Major suit, your partner will be able to tell at a glance whether the two hands combined are longer, and in all probability stronger, than the opponent’s in that particular suit—he can support your bid with confidence if his hand justifies it, or change the declaration if he thinks it advisable.

As in the previous lesson on calling NO TRUMPS, the taking-powers of the hand making the initial MAJOR suit bid are estimated as being increased from the 3J4 tricks of the normal hand to at least 4 tricks.

The bid also gives the partner the information that if he sees fit to bid NO TRUMPS, which would be an improvement of bid, the Declarer has the control of at least the suit he has named.

As every initial bid should be a “shot” for the game, between the two partners there should be perfect confidence and mutual trust.

If A and B play together A must never make a bid that will mislead B, and B must feel secure in that.

If B, as partner, looks at his hand and sees two ACES, besides two cards of the MAJOR suit his partner has named, he must know at once that he and his partner predominate in that MAJOR suit; and his consideration will then be only as to whether he will support in the MAJOR suit, or whether it will be profitable to improve the bid into NO TRUMPS, taking all his other cards into consideration.

As the reader is presumably at the elementary stages of the game, it is inadvisable as yet to make many calls upon his judgment, but a few examples will here be of value.

You will notice that the following hands do not answer the requirements of a NO TRUMPER, but they will give sound information to the partner as to the strength of the Major suit named.

(1) . SPADES—Ace, Queen, 10, 8, 3.

DIAMONDS—King, Jack, 10, 4.

Bid one Spade.

HEARTS—King, Jack, 10, 4, 2.

DIAMONDS—10, 9, 8.

CLUBS—Ace, Queen, 9.

Bid one Heart.

(3) . SPADES—Ace, King, Queen, 9.

DIAMONDS—King, Jack, 8, 3.

Bid one Spade.

As your partner, unless he has an unusual hand, is not at all likely to “back-bid” (that is to say go into a MINOR suit after your declaration of a MAJOR one), these bids should be of very great value to him, and he will build his hopes for the hand upon the soundness of your judgment.

The reader is advised to deal the pack into four hands as before, and then to study each hand separately with a view to discovering NO TRUMPERS and MAJOR suit bids among them.

An Initial Minor Suit Bid

If the cards dealt do not justify you in making a NO TRUMP or a MAJOR suit bid, and if the score stands at nothing in your favor, your con¬ sideration must be to what extent your hand would be useful to your partner if you call a Minor suit and he is able to alter the bid to something more profitable.

To the writer’s mind this is the most im¬ portant point as regards sound bidding, and it seems to be understood only by a small proportion of players. Consider, for example, the following hand:—

SPADES—Queen, 10, 3.

DIAMONDS—King, Jack, 10, 3, 2.

If you make a bid of ONE DIAMOND with this hand it would be very doubtful if your partner, changing to a more profitable bid and using your hand as the Dummy, would be able to make use of the cards in it; or if the hand would give him the necessary two tricks he would expect from it to secure the contract.

He might have the ACE or QUEEN of DIAMONDS himself, but there is no reason why you should count upon it, or make' that circum¬ stance a necessity.

It is sounder, therefore, for the initial Minor call to signify a request for an improvement of bid.

The difference between making four tricks in a MAJOR suit and five tricks in a MINOR suit, to secure the game, is so material that MAJOR and MINOR suit bidding must be clearly understood.

There are authorities who claim that MAJOR and MINOR suits should have the same require¬ ments as to length and strength.

Their argument is that the suits thus bid are equally effective in disturbing an opponent’s NO TRUMPER.

This argument would be sound if the com¬ bination of the opponents’ hands is invariably to be looked upon as a potential NO TRUMP bid; but experience teaches us that a Major suit is often more profitable to the opponents than calling NO TRUMPS, and to call One Diamond on the above hand might serve to guide them to Spades or Hearts, as the case might be.

What is more important, perhaps, is that the argument overlooks the fact that the sound initial bid is one that is “out for game,” and not a de¬ fensive call.

If you bid a Major suit your partner may use his discretion and improve the bid into NO TRUMPS, but if you bid a Minor suit he may improve the bid into a Major suit or NO TRUMPS, and you should be prepared for him to do either.

The following hands would be suitable for a bid of ONE in a Minor suit, because, if your partner improves the bid he will not be disappointed in the strength of your hand. He may in some cases be a little disappointed in the Minor suit itself, but he will be compensated by the strength you hold in other directions.

You will not at any time be inducing your partner to make a bacj bid, but you will be ad¬ vising him, before he has sight of your hand, how he will be likely to play the Dummy if he is able to secure the declaration with his own bid.

Such a bid is of inestimable value.

DIAMONDS—Ace, King, 10, 3, 2.

CLUBS—King, Jack, 4.

Bid One Diamond,

HEARTS—Queen, 10, 9.

CLUBS—King, Jack, 10, 3, 2.

Bid One Club.

(3) . SPADES—King, 9.

CLUBS—Ace, King, Queen, 3.

Bid One Club.

The writer is anxious to avoid statistics, which are usually a source of terror to the beginner, but it can easily be shown that a very small per¬ centage of games are won, from love, on an original Minor suit bid of One.

On the other hand straining after NO TRUMPS has lost many a good game that might have been made in a Major suit, and the expert Minor suit bidder must, when bidding, say to himself 4 ‘is this bid going to help my partner should he change my bid either to a Major suit or to No Trumps, and play this hand as the Dummy?”

Deal out your pack as before and look first for a No Trump bid, then for a Major suit bid, and lastly discover if there is a Minor suit bid in the four hands.

Study these in any order, without any attempt to bid the suits against each other as at an Auction.

Supporting the Partner or Changing Suit

We will now imagine that the Declarer Z has made a bid and has been overbid by A (the player on his left) in this wise:—

Spades, Queen, 4.

Hearts—Ace, Queen, 10 4, 3.

Clubs—Ace, Jack, 6. 6.

(A bids "2 Hearts”)

Y

A B Z

Spades—Ace, King, 10, 3, 2, Hearts—9, 7.

Diamonds—King, Jack, 4.

Clubs—10, 8, 7.

(Z bids “ 1 Spade.”)

It is important for Y, the partner of Z, to know —if the bidding is to be scientifically continued— what support is expected from his hand if he raises his partner to a bid of 2 Spades.

It is recognised by all leading authorities that the sound initial bidder of One NO TRUMPS, or ONE of a Major suit, values the trick-making powers of his hand at not less than four tricks.

It is also recognized that playing the two hands (Declarer’s and Dummy’s) is such an advantage as to be worth a clear trick.

This leaves the Dummy as being required to make two tricks to enable the Declarer to secure his contract.

Y then, on viewing his cards, is aware that if his hand is to be the Dummy it must contain two tricks in order that Z may secure his original con- ' tract of ONE SPADE.

If Y is to raise the bid to TWO SPADES, his hand, obviously, should contain three TRICKS.

It is difficult for the beginner to appreciate what card is likely to take a trick, and what is not, but if he can grasp the rudiments of sound bidding, play and study will gradually help him over this difficulty.

We will now imagine that Y holds the following hand:—

Spades—Jack, 9.

Diamonds—Ace, Queen, 8, 2.

Clubs—King, Queen, 5, 3.

Y

A B

Z

Y will consider that in all probability his hand will take tricks, either with the Ace and Queen of Diamonds, and one of the honors in Clubs, or that it will take tricks with both the honors in Clubs and not with the Queen of Diamonds.

This, in either case would make the hand, as the Dummy, worth three tricks.

Y notices also that he only holds two cards of the suit that his partner has declared trumps, but he knows that the two cards he does hold will probably be sufficient for Trump-clearing pur¬ poses, as his partner will have made a sound bid on Five Spades headed by two Honors, or else on four cards headed by ACE, KING, QUEEN.

Y therefore raises the bid to “2 Spades,” and thereby gives his partner the information that he considers the hand worth 3 tricks.

If the King of Clubs were missing from Y’s hand he would not be justified in raising the bid and giving his partner to understand that he holds three tricks; although with luck the hand might contain that number of tricks.

During tht first round of the bidding your bids must be perfectly sound and you must not count on good luck in the distribution of the cards to pull you through.

Supposing, now, Y cannot give support in Z’s initial bid, but has a perfectly sound bid in some other suit or in NO TRUMPS, it is very im¬ portant that Y gives that information to Z as soon as possible, so that they will not be bidding at cross purposes.

We will imagine Z to have called as before, and Y to have the following hand:—

Hearts—King, Jack, 8, 6.

Diamonds—Ace, Queen, 8, 2.

Clubs—King, 5, 3, 2.

Y

A B Z

As Y is by no means sure that he and his partner Z predominate in Spades it would be wise for him to give notice of that to Z at the first opportunity.

As he is able in the above hand to protect the adversaries’ declared suit of Hearts he has nothing to fear, and has every reason to feel confident in changing the bid to “2 NO TRUMPS,” and he gives his partner useful information.

Deal out the cards as before and attempt to bid the hands against each other as Z and Y versus A and B, the dealer Z making the first declaration.

Opposition Bidding

t

Having discussed initial, or unhampered, bids, it is necessary to consider the position of the second hand after his opponent has made a declaration.

It is very important, if the opponents are to make the best use of their strength, that the second hand should declare his suit whenever possible, but, as his call is a “forced” one, his partner cannot expect the bid to have exactly the requirements of an initial bid.

If the dealer calls NO TRUMPS and the second hand has the complete control of a Minor suit only, he will “pass” for two reasons:—

1. If he bids his Minor suit his bid is very unlikely to stand, and the opponents will probably change from NO TRUMPS into a more profitable Major suit.

2. If the bid of NO TRUMPS made by his opponent should stand, he, the second hand, will have the lead, and by leading out his set Minor suit he may defeat his opponent’s NO TRUMPER, or, at any rate, prevent him from making game.

j

The second hand would therefore “pass” with either of the two following hands:—

DIAMONDS—Ace, King, Queen, 9, 8, 7.

DIAMONDS—King, Queen, Jack, 9, 8, 7.

CLUBS—Ace.

In the latter hand A as leader would play out his King of Diamonds in order to clear away the Ace of Diamonds, and would then hope to regain the lead with his Ace of Clubs, his object being to continue making tricks with his established Dia¬ monds.

If, however, the second bidder has a hand that does not answer this description, but which might either gain the declaration or prove a useful op¬ position, he should make a call whenever possible, as he will probably not have an opportunity of calling on the second round of the bidding.

By calling a suit he still tells his partner that he holds five cards of the suit he names, and that they are cards either as good as would be expected of them were the bid an initial one, or that they are strongly supported by another suit.

As the subject of conventional bidding is left to the second part of this book the writer has carried the point of 2nd-hand bidding as far as is desirable at this stage.

The beginner must remember that the second player having the lead is a very important factor in the science of 2nd-hand bidding, and op¬ position bidding must be made both with a view to defeating the ends of the initial bidder and to secur¬ ing a material advantage to the second and fourth hand players.

Do not therefore frighten an opponent out of a light NO TRUMPER by warning him of the fact that you hold a strong Minor suit: because he may change to a valuable suit bid afterwards; but, if your opponents name a suit and you hold a NO TRUMPER, and are not afraid of the suit named, then call NO TRUMPS at once, and thereby give your partner the useful information that you hold the opponents’ suit guarded.

This is a most important point, as the op¬ ponents are more than likely to open the play with the suit that one of them has bid, and if you be¬ come the Declarer you must be prepared for them to do so.

Deal out the following hands and study the bidding of them, making Z, as usual, open the bidding:—

Spades—Queen, 10, 8, 3.

Hearts—Aee, 3, 2.

Diamonds—9, 7, 6.

Clubs—Jack, 5, 4.

Spades—King, Jack.

Hearts—King, Jack, 10, 9, 8.

Diamonds—10, 5, 4, 3.

Clubs—Queen, 2.

Diamonds—Queen, Jack, 2.

Clubs—King, 8, 7.

Y

A B Z

Hearts—Queen, 5, 4.

Diamonds—Ace, King, 8.

Clubs—Ace, 10, 9, 6. 3.

Hearts—Ace, King, 9, 8, 3, 2.

Diamonds—7, 6, 4.

Hearts—Queen.J 10,*4.

Diamonds—Queen, Jack.

Clubs—King, Queen, 9, 7,5.

Spades—Queen, 4, 3, 2.

Hearts—Jack. 6, 5.

Diamonds—Ace, 9, 8, 3, 2.

Clubs—Jack.

Spades—Ace, King, Jack, 10.

Hearts—7.

Diamonds—King, 10, a.

Clubs—Ace, 10, 8, 4, 2.

The Lead

As the rudiments of sound bidding have now been lightly dwelt upon, it is time to consider how the Declarer’s opponents can make the best use of their opposition.

We will, as usual, take Z to be the Declarer and A the leader:—

Y

A B Z

If A, during the bidding, has been able to declare a suit, he has given a certain amount of

i

useful information to B.

If B has been able to support his partner in that suit, further information will have been gained.

If B bid a suit, and not A, A will have an idea of the strength of that suit in B’s hand, and if Z be playing a NO TRUMPER it would certainly suggest a possible point of vulnerability in Z’s hand.

As experience teaches us that it is usually better for B to have his suit led to him by A, than for A to lead his own best and longest suit, we generally find that A will lead the suit B first mentioned during the bidding.

If B did not bid, then A must fall back upon his o,wn best and longest suit, and lead from that.

Now, as to the quality of the card that A shall lead:—

If A is to lead B’s suit, B is anxious to know what chances he has of making tricks in the suit. A therefore usually leads the best card he holds of .B’s suit, to give him information.

We will say A leads the Jack of Hearts, as B mentioned Hearts during the bidding—the winning declaration being “Spades” played by Z.

Hearts—King, 4, 3, 2.

Diamonds—

A leads the Jack of Hearts

Diamonds—

If the Jack is A’s best Heart, whatever Z plays out of the Dummy-hand (Y) it will be necessary for B to put on his Ace of Hearts to win the trick, as Z, the 4th hand in play, must be holding the Queen of Hearts.

In the event of B not having been able to call a suit during the bidding A must do the next best thing, and that is to lead from his own longest suit.

Without discussing any knotty points at this stage, and rigorously avoiding “tables of leads,” we want the reader to use his common-sense, and give his careful attention to the following points:—

When the suit of four or five cards to be led from does not contain the two honors Ace and King, or any three honors of the suit in sequence, the safest lead is the 4th-best card, counting from the top, of the longest suit, thus:—

HEARTS—King, 10, 6, 5. Lead the 5. or * .

HEARTS—Queen, 9, 8, 4, 2. Lead the 4.

That, as a general principle, is quite sound.

(There is an odd sequence lead which might here be referred to, and that is when the lead is to come from King, Jack, 10. In this case the correct lead is the Jack.)

If the suit is decidedly strong in length, and is headed by a sequence of two honors, in order to attempt to establish the suit quickly, an honor must be led:—

HEARTS—King, Queen, 10, 3, 2.

In this case, as there is a sequence of two cards at the head of a 5-card suit, the King should be led being the top of the sequence, hoping that the length of the suit will enable it to be cleared in two rounds. Take again the following hand:—

HEARTS—Ace, King, 5, 2.

It would not do to wait until the second and third rounds to make the Ace and King, as the opponents might possibly be trumping the suit by that time, so from the above hand the King should be led.

If B , as partner, sees A’s King of Hearts take the trick he will reasonably suppose that A also holds the Ace. A may not wish immediately to continue with his Ace of Hearts, but in the mean¬ time he has given useful information to B.

We will now suppose, instead of such cards, that A has three honors in sequence:—

HEARTS—Queen, Jack, 10, 2.

If A lead out his Queen of Hearts his partner cannot imagine it to be his 4th-best of the suit, as that is impossible—it is therefore a “sequence lead.”