| Show BETTER BRIDGE I j By C. C H. H NORTH 5 V 48 8 WEST ST EAST Q J 9 It 10 7 3 2 yes 9 8 Q J 10 7 3 4 Q 10 9 7 4 J 4 4 Q J 9 5 10 6 SOUTH A 6 A 4 4 4 1 The actual bidding South Wr Vest t North East EUit 1 diamond Pass 3 clubs Pass 3 spades Pass Pas's 4 hearts Pass 4 1 no trump Pass 5 hearts Pass 6 no trump Double Pass Pass Pass Opening lead lend Nine of hearts Hands of certain types should bo be bid to the hilt and then some Others should hould be handled with kid gloves despite a wea wealth ih of honor tricks It is a mark of the astute player that he knows When to deliberately deliberately deliberately de de- de- de underbid a hand which on the basis of honor tricks alone rates very highly Failure to take into consideration tion the dangers of a misfit hand resulted in a staggering loss to the fhe North and South players when I 1 saw this hand played South opened quite properly with one diamond and North because he held four honor tricks made a jump shift shirt to three clubs South then bid three spades and North showed his second suit by bidding four hearts which was the only thing that kept East from lapsing into a state of suspended animation South then called four no trump 1 I take it this was Intended as a a conventional bid and North showed that he had two aces That's all that mattered to South who thereupon thereupon thereupon there there- upon bid six si no trump West Vest who had been biding his time entered the picture wi with th a resounding double and opened the nine of hearts This rendered it impossible to bring in the club suit even had hadIt It split favorably and the damages were assessed at 1100 points This was admittedly a hard luck hand and the loss was out of all ll proportion to the offense Nevertheless Nevertheless Never Never- there was no good reason to reach a slam on the combined holding This cardinal principle must be recognized That slams should not be attempted until a good convenient place has been en found to play the hand Slams arc are not merely a question of aces and I kings There is the slight ht detail about collecting 12 tricks Norths North's jump to three clubs was Wa ill-advised ill despite his hia four honor tricks First because he should allow al allow al al- low himself as much bidding space as possible to adequately describe his 6 5 holding in hearts and clubs and secondly because the jump shift announces slam intentions which at the time of the opening diamond bid should not yet be entertained entertained entertained en en- inasmuch as no convenient convenient convenient conven conven- place to play the hand has yet been found If It North responds with two clubs South will bid two spades North may now show his second suit mit by bidding three hearts and South will wUl show that he had five spades by them this by inference will identify a six-card six diamond suit since the latter was bid first When North realizes that his partners partner's hand is made up almost entirely of spades and diamonds diamonds diamonds dia dia- monds he will see the futility of pondering over the heart suit and the best bet will then be the shortest shortest shortest short short- est road to game via three no trump Due to the unfortunate distrIbution distribution distribution dis dis- dis- dis even this contract cannot be fulfilled but those are are the fortunes of war It is good general doctrine to underbid misfits and overbid those that match up well Copyright 1948 by C. C H. H Goren |
