AUCTION BRIDGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 236, 5 October 1928, Page 6

AUCTION BRIDGE.

IS CONTRACT BETTER THAN AUCTION?

(By A. E. MANNING FOSTER.) « As Contract Bridge is gaining ground in this country I advise players who are taking up the game to be careful about the stakes. A man I know was rather badly bitten at a London club through not realising the difference. Roughly, on the American scoring, Contract rubbers are apt to average approximately two and a-half times as large as Auction rubbers. That is to say, if you are in the habit of playing Auction at 2/6 per 100 you should not, to preserve the same balance, play Contract for more than 1/ per 100. Contract at 10/ per 100 is a high game and no one should venture on it without adequate capital. I find that many players get tremendously keen on Contract for a time, but the passion does not last. There is something rather, hectic about Contract. It has more thrills than Auction. But its fascination is apt to wear off and the player returns with relief to the quieter game. One thing is certain at Contract. The bad bidder has not a ghost of a chance. He is bound to lose even on good cards. The persistent flagflyer and overcaller gets it "in the neck." It is the opinion of Mr. George Reith, chairman of the Card Committee of the Knickerbocker Whist Club of New York, that Contract is not as good a game as Auction. He considers that it is less elastic because there is little opportunity to bid deliberately to trap the opponents into penalty situations. While penalties are incurred at least as frequently in Contract as in Auction, they occur usually by reason of the effort to attain game or slams with values just a trifle short. When one side has a game and is therefore vulnerable, the penalties for overbidding are so high that there is little incentive in that situation to exhibit enterprise. Cautious players then are likely to adopt the policy of waiting for the. hand with some values to give them the rubber, thereby limiting much of the competitive bidding that would occur in Auction. Low defensive bids are of no use at Contract and weak overcalls that would be made rightly at Auction are ruled out. The use of the iuformatory double is very limited at Contract. A number of systems and conventions have been devised to enable partners to discover they hold between them game-making or -slammaking hands. One to which I have previously referred, is the bidding of a second suit of which you hold none or of which you hold the Ace to show your partner that you can take the first; trick in it. But all these methods fall far short of accuracy and tend to spoil the game. The opening bid of two of a suit which I dislike at Auction is necessary at Contract to denote a hand which you invite partner to support on outside strength with the promise that it is solid if he goes into no trumps. The opening bidder of two, in fact, implies that he might have bid higher himself, but prefers to defer'it until he hears what his partner has to say and whether it fits. The partner of original bidder of two should at love score give the full raise justified by his values. Of course, if he has a Yarborough or nearly a Yarborough he must pass. Otherwise he must assist up to the limit necessary for a game call if he possibly can. If he assists beyond the game bid it is a sign that he is out for slams. a £t UB ', -*L at love score Z sa y® " Two Hearts," A No.hid," and Y "Five Hearts," this is an intimation to Z of a particular type of hand which offers opportunities for a grand or little slam if Z can rebid. The score is all important at Contract, and every player should keep it and refer to it before bidding A partial score is of more value at Contract than at Auction.