| Show ir C CULBERTSON on CONTRACT I By Ely Culbertson II Worlds World's Champion Player and Greatest Card Analyst IN DUMMY IY PLAY Much has been said of at the use we of psychology in correctly Con bidding tract hands However the opportunity opportunity to fix an opponent by the use of does not end in the con conS A really fine line Dummy player play play- er is marked not only by his technique and ability to execute difficult end end- plays as there arc are probably scores of players quite capable In jn that respect re reo respect but by his ability to lead the defense into channels which best belt suit his purposes The good Dummy player knows that he is not a and cannot make tricks out of nothing somewhat as a magician would take uke a rabbit out of a hat but realizes that to really steal tricks he must have the cooperation cooperation cooperation co co- co- co operation even though it be unwilling unwillIng ing of the opponents Therefore he must g give ve them every opportunity to err give them as many gu guesses ss s as possible pos pos- sible sibl and capitalize on any slips lIps they may make He should make his play of the Dummy as deceptive as possible pos sible try to mask his intentions and give jive erroneous impressions of his holding He should conceal the weaknesses weak weak- nesses and hide the strength of his hand as much as possible Each hand offers different ways of doin doing this and it is up to the resourcefulness and andIn andin andin In of each individual Declarer to find the best way of leading the i opponents from the straight and nar row The good Dummy player knows all the finesses that it is possible to take but avoids taking them whenever pos pOSe sible He tries to postpone his guesses as long as possible something may turn up in the meantime to obviate ate his guess and save his taking a possible losing finesse He is also aware that for every fine fino squeeze play thrown or other play end there is a counterpart in the pseudo pseudo- play of the thc same ame type In other words squeezes pseudo are just as good as legitimate squeezes if successful Similarly making the defense think a hand is stripped and th that they must lead up to your is just as good if they fall and do lead up to your as if you had hi legitimately stripped the hand In playing a difficult Dummy Dumm hand which seems almost impossible to tomake tomake tomake make try to think of a possible division divi sion ion of the opponents' opponents cards with which the contract could be made by a certain line of play and then play for this distribution if it seems at all probable according to the knowledge you have of the hands up tip to that point South was Declarer on the hand below at a contract o of four spades A K 6 5 S V 4 0 A 9 SI A K 9 Ej W S N A 4 A 10 9 4 3 c V K 0 10 8 7 76 East Enst had overcalled Norths North's Open Opening ing diamond bid with one trump no-trump and that was the only adverse bid bidding ding The Opening lead by West was the heart Ace Small cards were played from Dummy and Declarers Declarer's hand East played small West now shifted h 1 ud J to the deuce of diamonds which Declarer was able to mark for fora a singleton lead and to place East with Knave King vC Accordingly According According- ly he ho went up with Dummy's Ace and then studied d the hand A spade tri trick k much obviously be lost and two diamonds sufficient to set the con tract But this particular Declarer thought of the division of the cards which was not at all nil improbable wherein the contract could be made and he acted accordingly He played two rounds of hearts discarding the I third club from Dummy played Dummy Dummy's Dum Dunn mys my's Ace and King of clubs and then led the King of trumps He followed 1 this with a small trump and when East played small finessed the 9 spot West took the trick with the Queen did not have the Knave of spades or another diamond and was forced to lead either cither a heart or a club giving the Declarer the necessary ruff anc and discard The making of this hand depended only upon East's holding three trumps to an honor and West holding two to an honor as West already al already ready was marked with a single singleton tor diamond Of course if jf East had held of the the Queen small spades contract could not have been made nor could It have been made If East had held two spades and West three But Declarer on this particular hand by pl playing yIng fort forc the one winning division divi sion slon of cards was was able to successfully fulfill a difficult contract Tomorrows Tomorrow's Hand The bidding and play of the hand printed below will be discussed tomorrow to tomorrow morrow North North Dealer Dealer East and West vulnerable A to 10 9 c V Q 10 7 oJ J 94 2 A Q S 2 A 2 4 48 8 V 9 98 8 I N V A K 65 0 Q 3 Ej W E EA E El 4 42 2 4 J 10 9 7 i 3 Ls I 0 A 8 6 K 6 4 A A K Q J 7 5 J Jo 0 o K 10 7 75 5 8 48 8 Study the hand decide how you would bid and play it and then compare com corn pare the results you obtain with willi those shown in tomorrows tomorrow's article Copyright 1932 by ly Ely Culbertson QUESTIONS ANSWERED Mr Culbertson will be glad to answer answer answer an an- questions on bidding and play of hands sent in by readers Address him In care of this newspaper inclosing In inC ing a three cent stamped self self-ad dressed envelope In the Old Testament Satan is mentioned three tim times s |
