Original Bids of Two

Mr. Bidwell Learns by Experience How They Bid Long, Weak Suits in Ohio

R. F. FOSTER

"THE trouble with my bridge last summer", remarked Mr. Bidwell, as he seated himself at the card table, "was that I never knew what kind of game I was up against".

"Now that the American Whist League has taken up bridge, we shall soon have a standard system of bidding and play", was the consolation his friend offered.

"The trouble with these standard systems is the same as the trouble with the laws for any game, Mali Jong included. Not one person in ten knows anything about them. How many of the people you play with outside the club and a few men friends ever read the laws, or know anything about them"?

"They may not know all the laws, but they know the principal points".

"I don't agree with you. They may know the principal points of the regular straight game, so far as it goes, but they do not know anything about the laws for minor irregularities. Not one bridge player in a hundred can tell you, offhand, what the rule is if a player passes before the dealer declares".

HIS friend removed his cigar from his mouth to allow room for a smile. "Fact is", he admitted, "l don't exactly know that myself. But that doesn't amount to anything. We just pass it over".

"Well, it's the same way with the bidding and play you meet with when you cut in with strangers. They don't study the books, and don't want to. They have picked up the game somehow, and don't know there is any other way to play than the way they have learned. When you cut in with one of them, you don't know what to do, so you just pass it over until you find out what you are up against and can make adjustments.

"If you could get every bridge player to agree to follow a standard system of bidding and play, it would be all right; but you can't do it. Ninety per cent, of them would not know there was a standard system, and then they would want to know why they should follow it, when the way they played had always seemed good enough".

"The difference of opinion is what makes a horse race. Why shouldn't it add to the interest of a rubber"? asked his friend. "You are a good enough player to catch on to any system in a few rubbers".

"And it is of no use to you next time, because you cut into a different system altogether. Let me show you a couple of hands that I played last summer with a charming widow from somewhere out in Ohio, an equally charming divorcee, and a doctor to make us up. Here is a pack of cards".

This was the assortment that was laid out on the table.

"My partner dealt and bid two hearts. As she explained later, they always bid that way in Ohio to show length without the tops, and nothing outside, especially denying anything in the Other major suit. Not knowing the Ohio system, I took it to mean that she held about six hearts to three of the top honours, with a trick on the side. The doctor bid two spades and I helped the hearts. They went on with the spades, my partner passing, until it got to five hearts, which the divorcee doubled; and we went down three hundred, as she had to trump all mv diamonds".

PROBLEM XLVI

There are no trumps and Z leads. Y and Z want Five tricks. How do they get them? Solution in the January number.

"I suppose then that the doctor opened with the ace of clubs and got the encouraging nine from his partner, who came through with a spade"?

"Exactly. And then they led through my ace of trumps. It was actually five tricks before we got a lead."

His friend smiled while the cards were rearranged.

"The next rubber I cut the divorcee and found the widow on my left. Having learned her system, I thought I could see its weakness and was ready to take advantage of it. This is what happened to her".

"I dealt and passed. The widow bid two spades, and my partner hit the ceiling with five diamonds. The doctor evidently had more confidence in his partner's bids than I would have had and went to five spades.

"Now I figured that if the widow's twospade bids meant length and weakness, especially in outside tricks, my two kings were winners. Not liking the idea of going to six diamonds, I doubled the five spades. The widow, who is a good sport, redoubled, hoping, as she said afterwards, to frighten my partner back into diamonds".

"Of course you won the hand"?

"YES. My partner led the ace of clubs in order to have a look. I gave her the seven, but that was unnecessary as she made the same inference from the widow's bid that I did, and placed me with the high cards that were not in dummy. I gave her the ruff on the third club. Then she laid down the king of diamonds and came through the hearts. The ace went up and the widow got a heart discard on the club, so that she could trump a heart and pick up my trump; but she was down four hundred on the redouble".

"Seems to me you got the key to that Ohio system all right".

"I thought so, but I soon found I had learned only part of it. Let me show you the deal in which I learned the other part".

"The widow dealt and started with the usual two-bid. My partner bid two spades. The doctor helped the hearts and I went on with the spades, the widow going to four hearts. I did not quite get this rebid of the weak hand at first, and should have paid more attention to it, I suppose.

"My partner passed, and instead of going to four spades, I thought we might pick up a few hundred more by a double."

"What happened? The hands against you look pretty strong."

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(Continued from page 70)

"Strong is right, and the widow was some little player. My partner led two winning spades and then shifted to the singleton, crediting me with some tops in clubs. We never made another trick. The widow led the queen of trumps and when it was not covered put on the ace, dropped all my partner's trumps and got discards on the clubs in dummy. Five odd. One over her contract."

"What is the answer?"

"You mean, what is the Ohio system? Why, the widow explained that where she came from they always played that way. It is only with seven in suit that they bid with no outside strength. When they have only six in suit and bid two, they have something on the side, such as an ace or two."

"How do you know which it is?"

"I asked her that, and the only response I got was a shrug of her pretty shoulders and a smile."

"It will take some time to standardize that system."

ANSWER TO THE NOVEMBER PROBLEM

This was the distribution in Problem LXV, in which the difficulty was to pick out just which of the seven tricks to be played for were to be surrendered to the defence:

Hearts are trumps and Z leads. Y and Z want four tricks. This is how they get them:

Z starts with the queen of diamonds, which A wins with the king, B discarding a small spade. A returns the diamond, Y playing the six. B trumps the trick, and Z gives up the ace of diamonds.

If B now leads a small spade, Z puts on the six, and A sheds a small club. Y trumps the trick, and leads the queen of clubs, B discarding another small spade; Z a diamond. Y leads seven of diamonds, which B trumps with the jack and Z overtrumps with the queen. Now the losing trump puts A in the lead, Y discarding a club, so as to make the last trick with the jack of diamonds.

plausible but false solution is to start with the ace of diamonds, instead of with the queen. This allows B to trump the trick and lead a small spade, A discarding a club. If Y trumps and leads a club, B discards. Then, if Y leads another club, B trumps with the four of hearts, and the solution is defeated.