Show 1 BETTER r BRIDGE BRIDGEy ly f. f I IF y C eo H. H Both vulnerable South deals North V 82 82 A K 7 6 4 West Vest East EastA A J 9 6 5 A 10 7 74 t V K Q 10 t 4 A J 9 6 3 96 18 4 10 1072 72 8 4 58 South SouthA A V 75 75 Q J 10 9 2 Bidding South Vest West North East 1 14 Pass 1 Pass 2 4 Pass 2 A Pass 3 3 A Pass 54 5 A Pass Pass Pass Opening lead King of hearts My partner Margaret Wagar of Atlanta Georgia holding the north hand In the deal shown above employed a sequence of bids which to the gallery of kibitzers who had paid 12 pesos a copy for admission appeared to be a chain of psychics Our Argentine friends expressed their pleasure at Mrs Wagar's putting on a good show for tor their benefit but in actuality she had not made an effort to deceive anyone Paradoxically the thc theone theone one way to tell the truth about her tier hand was to speak a series of ingenious lies lies' lIe After the opening bid of one club it was clear that at least leasta la a game contract must be reached and an effort must be made to elicit detailed information of partners partner's partners partner's partners partner's part part- ners ner's holding the better to determine determine deter deter- mine whether the hand should play at three no trump five clubs or aslam a aslam aslam slam in clubs If south has a mediocre opening with heart protection protection protection pro pro- the no trump contract will willbe be the logical one If south has no heart stopper then no trump cannot be considered and a n. game or slam attempted in clubs When our opponents representing represent represent- ing the Jockey club of BuenosAires Buenos BuenosAires BuenosAires Aires played the hand north responded re responded re- re with three clubs south chose the short route rout to game hopIng hopIng hoping hop- hop I Ing that norths north's jump was based on a heart value and tried three no trump which was defeated when our teammates cashed five heart tricks Mrs Wagar who despite her voice and gentle manner manner manner man man- ner is the pistol-packing pistol type of player subjected this deal to her most delicate treatment She set about scientifically to determine whether or not I had a heart stopper To postpone the decision she made a temporizing bid of one diamond which I dutifully raised to two From her standpoint no trump was still unsafe and she decided decided decided de de- to make one more temporizing temporizing temporizing izing bid two spades As a new suit by responder this constituted a one round force It appeared that an effort was being made to get me to bid no trump which of course now appeared out of the question I was torn between raising raising rais raising rais- rais ing the spades and returning to clubs and decided upon the latter being unwilling to make any further further further fur fur- ther constructive bids with this more or less minimum hand Mrs Wagar now jumped to five clubs the final contract confident that the partnership did not pose pos possess 1 sess a heart stopper By her apparent apparent apparent ap ap- apI I parent falsehoods she had painted this honest picture of her hand Partner we have clubs diamonds and spades but it appears that we have no strength in hearts so we had better abandon hopes for a no trump game Copyright 1918 C C. H. H Goren |