Show j BRIDGE I MADE EASY I Joy I h A V Abbreviations A ace K king queen Q jack J-jack any X-any card lower than 10 Initial No Trump Bids hen you hold three cards in a asuit asuit suit no matter how small the danger danger dan dan- ger of the opponents making T r or e ethan than four tricks in that suit Euit is greatly minimized the beIng that the cards are fairly distributed dis- dis among all the players From this thiR we deduce the rule that it is inadvisable to bid a no trump initially if blank in a suit or when holding a singleton or worthless doubleton in one of the suits When this Is clear it becomes equally self evident that if you hold two suits blank or 01 two suits with singletons or two suits with worthless worthless worth worth- less doubletons on my any such holding hold hoM- hoMIng Ing you ought not to bid a no trump A suit is mathematically and surely sureh stopped when It contains the theAce theAce Ace or any of the following K J 10 Q J 10 J 10 9 8 For the purpose of bidding an initIal no trump a mathematically sure stop is extremely helpful but it is not absolutely necessary If however you were to postpone bidding bidding bid bid- ding a no trump until your hand always contained three suits mathematically math math- ema cally surely stopped you would be passing up many a hand handout I out of which you might reasonably make game For the purpose of bidding an Initial no trump the following may maybe maybe be considered probable stoppers as distinguished from the sure stoppers stoppers stop stop- pers previously listed Q T X T 10 X X J X X X X Every sure stopper Is obviously a probable stopper but every probable probable able Is not stopper a sure stopper Stoppers in three suits alone would not justify an initial no trump You Tou also must hold some hi high h cards and the hand must be worth at 1 least ast two quick tricks As an illustration illus illus- when you hold Q J 10 Q J 10 Q J 10 X X you have three suits stopped The rhe hand is not worth two quick tricks and you ou therefore have no bid It If you ou hold Spades A X A-X X X Hearts A X X Diamonds K X X Clubs X X X X your YOUl hand contains two and one one- half quick tricks with three suits safely stopped Yet there are many players who assert this Is too weal weak a holding on which to bid a no trump t Copyright ht 1928 hy by the Ready Reference Publishing Co |