Show CULBERTSON CULBERTSON on CONTRACT T by Ely Cu benson II World Champion Player and Greatest Card Analyst I TilE THE PENALTY DOUBLE OF A BID OF ONE Hand No 8 of the World Bridge Olympic series which was played simultaneously t h r a 0 the world in April was an illustration of the stinging penalty sometimes suffered on an apparently sound Opening bids should not be made Overcall bid This hand was not designed to prove that Overcalls o of Opening bids not be made for otherwise the defending hands would surrender to lo those who had opened the thc bidding one of their most effective weapons at the Contract table but it did portray vividly the dangers inherent in the distribution of two fifty cards to four our players around the table The hand and bidding were North North Dealer Dealer East ElSt and West Vest vulnerable A 44 4 A K 10 8 0 J 10 9 8 A A K 3 2 48 8 N A Q 10 j 5 W 3 E 96 Q 10 9 5 0 K Q 5 Sc J 5 4 A 7 3 2 J J JA 4 A 4 as The Bidding Figures after ater bids in table refer to lo numbered para para- paragraphs graphs South West North East EMt 11 1 Pass Pass Pass 1 North i-North North opens with a bid of one in his higher ranking four card suit 2 East's 2 East's hand calls for Cor an Overcall of oC one spade even though he is vulnerable vulnerable- The dL disastrous outcome out come Is Js one of those misfortunes which cannot be guarded against 3 South's 3 hand calls for or an immediate imme diate Penalty Double This apprises ap partner of the character o of his hand and promises a much bigger score than playing the hand at any declaration of his own In the play of oC this hand North and South must both be alert to take full Cull advantage of the favors showered showered showered show show- ered upon them thorn by the gods of ot dis diz The first play requires North whether or not the Queen of oC hearts has been played from Dummy Dumm to overtake the heart Knave in order order or der to provide an additional cn entry ry into nto his hand If the full extent of the disaster which East faces is isto to be capitalized by the defending players play ers North must be in the lead as often as possible His purpose therefore there- there tore fore In winning the first heart trick is to lead a trump as a il study of oC his own holding holdin and the Dummy discloses dEs dis cl closes ses that South's Penalty Double must have been een based upon great length in the trump suit and probably probably probably ably a il holding as well Therefore Therefore There There- fore In order to prevent pre East from throwing South in the lead when he ie has only trumps in his hand North must protect his partner If possible against such a course If Ie East finesses South of course wins and returns another heart which North wins and leads a diamond South wins the diamond with the theAce theAce theAce Ace and exits from rom his hand with the last diamond Thus played East should be penal I 4 tricks a penalty of 1400 points at a contract of one Most 1 players failed tailed to realize the full till trick-taking trick possibilities of their cards and some East players escaped with a penalty as light as and many were beaten only 1000 TODA TODAY'S YS Y'S POINTER Penalty Doubles even of low bids are frequently extremely profitable due to freaks o of distribution This docs does not suggest that overcalls should not be made but docs does indicate indicate indi indi- cate the lurking dangers in the peculiarities pe pc- pe- pe of distribution TOl S HAND lAND The bidding and play of the thc hand printed below will wm be disc discussed ed tomorrow to morrow East East Dealer I North and South vulnerable n 4 Q 6 c J 10 8 7 4 2 o K Q 4 10 4 2 4 10 t 4 4 0 Iw W cI 4 74 3 32 5 I a 73 4 A K J 8 7 J J 0 A J 10 J 6 G 5 6 Study the thc hand decide how you ou would bid and play it and then compare compare com corn I pare the results you obtain with those shown In tomorrows tomorrow's article Copyright 1932 Ely Culbertson |