Contract bidding

R. J. LEIBENDERFER

During the year 1930, Mr. Ely Culbertson acted as captain of four contract teams which, between them, won three major American championships and the International match in England. This is an unusual record and makes Mr. Culbertson's methods of bidding and play of more than usual interest.

The following hands all occurred in the above mentioned championships. They are interesting examples of clever bidding, both as to attack and defense.

Dealer, North. West and East, vulnerable.

North was the dealer and passed. Mr. Lightner—Mr. Culbertson's partner—bid one spade, South passed and Mr. Culbertson bid three clubs, a forcing bid. Mr. Lightner now bid six clubs, which was made. The hand occurred in the International match against England. The following comment on it by an English critic of some renown is pertinent.

"This hand exemplifies the value of the Forcing Take-Out as an aid to arriving at the best declaration for the partnership. The 3Club bid by Culbertson entices Lightner to bid the Small Slam, which was made, re-

suiting in a net gain of 650 points to America. A risky bid for a vulnerable side to make."

Dealer, North. West and East Vulnerable.

North dealt, and passed, as did East. Here is where Mr. Culbertson "did his stuff" by bidding one no trump. West doubled, Mr. Lightner bid two clubs and East bid two no trump. Mr. Culbertson passed and West bid three hearts. All passed. This was a case where Mr. Culbertson's "psychic" bid had prevented a game bid by the adversaries. The English critic said of that hand:

"Culbertson makes a psychic bid of No Trumps on a weak hand. It was highly dangerous, but he had many times succeeded in this sort of bidding, for which he deserves due credit. His bid saved 480 points for America, for it succeeded in bluffing Mrs. Evers, who, but for the No Trump bid, would surely have bid 4 Hearts, and yet she seemed justified in stopping at 3 Hearts, she and her partner being vulnerable."

The following hands have both been selected as good examples of "psychic" bidding. The first was a bid against Mr. Culbertson in the Asbury Park Tournament, and the second was a bid by Culbertson in the Vanderbilt Cup.

North and South, Vulnerable.

Mr. Culbertson dealt and bid one spade, and Mr. Barrett doubled. This was one of the most successful "psychic" doubles ever perpetrated and, if you don't believe it, just follow the results. Mr. Lightner passed and Mr. Rau bid two diamonds. Mr. Culbertson doubled; Mr. Barrett passed and Mr. Lightner bid three diamonds. Mr. Rau passed, Mr. Culbertson bid three spades and, when Mr. Barrett passed, Mr. Lightner bid four spades and all passed. The result of seven spades laid down showed how even the experts can be fooled at times by a "psychic" bid. Take courage, ye dubs! Mr. Culbertson's opponents on this hand, Messrs. Rau and Barrett, are two young players who have created a sensation in the -bridge world by their successful use of the so called "psychic" bids, so much so, in fact, that they have now become known as the "Psychic Twins".

East dealt and passed. South passed and West bid one club. Mr. Culbertson bid one no trump, the usual non-vulnerable "psychic" to confuse the opponents, if possible. East was not fooled, however, and bid two no trumps. South passed and West bid three clubs, to show his unbalanced distribution, but a four or five club bid would have been more to the point. Mr. Culbertson passed the three club bid and East, thinking he had done his duty by bidding two no trump, also passed. Result —six clubs! This "psychic" bid of Mr. Culbertson's won this match for his team and, incidentally, the Vanderbilt Cup, so that we must give him due credit.

Here's another "semi-psychic" that Mr. Culbertson tried out in the Vanderbilt Cup against my partner and myself. The bid did not work out quite so well, but that was due to the fact that Mr. Vanderbilt crossed his plans by making a "psychic" pass, with a really strong hand.

Neither side vulnerable.

West dealt and passed. Mr. Culbertson bid one club and I passed. South bid two hearts. West passed and North tried to correct matters by a minimum response of two no trump. I passed and South persisted with three hearts. West passed and North saw the finish, but was forced to bid four hearts or pass out a game. I passed and, when South bid six hearts, Mr. Vanderbilt doubled and we defeated the hand one trick. This result was due to Mr. Vanderbilt's clever pass, however, rather than to lack of skill on the part of our adversaries.

Knowing when to stop bidding, in a try for a slam, constitutes one of the fine points of contract bidding. Here is a fine example of that truth from the Asbury Park Tournament:

Neither side vulnerable. North dealt and passed. East bid one diamond and South passed. West bid one spade and North bid two clubs. East bid three spades and, when South passed, Mr. Culbertson was confronted with the problem referred to, whether he should try for a slam or not. The hand was very close but, as he said later, the fact that Mr. Lightner had bid only three spades decided him to abstain from the slam try. That his judgment was good was proved by the fact that the hand was only good for five spades.

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In order for a player to qualify as an expert, he must know just when to ignore a rule or to shade a convention. Sometimes it is much wiser to wait and see what happens, rather than to bid, particularly with an odd distribution of cards. The above hand, from the Asbury Park Tournament, is a good example.

North and South, Vulnerable. Mr. Culbertson dealt and, although he held two and one-half honor tricks and, therefore, a technically sound opening bid, preferred to pass because of his unbalanced "distribution." North also passed and East bid one club. South passed and West bid two hearts. North bid two spades and East bid four hearts. All passed and four hearts only were made, and even that result was only possible by fine play. If Mr. Culbertson had made an original bid of one heart on this hand, his partner would have carried the bid to at least five, which could not have been made.