BRIDGE CONVENTIONS THAT ADD INTEREST TO THE GAME

Hutt News, Volume 2, Issue 15, 5 September 1929, Page 3

BRIDGE CONVENTIONS THAT ADD INTEREST TO THE GAME

Many ' conventions introduced, to i>Tl>""!^,c in recent years h.ave added a dcci ■ • :-•. i " fillip to rh o game and, ih son.o cases, -have Materially simplified it, because, by conforming to certain (f the;: , players learn much valuable in_,for::i"tion concerning' their '.partner 's aii«.i opponents' hands.. Naturally, to be .beneficial, all the players must start, the game with full_ knowledge of the conventions that will be employed. A friend of mine made the fatal mistake of playing to an American convention wJiich, being very well known, /he took for granted., would be familiar to' his partner. Unfortunately, such was not .the case, and results were disastrous! It is worth while,' therefore, to remark, "I suppose we play to-.the usual conventions?"—to;the.table in general*, so that :if anyone is. uncertain, he or she then -has the opportunity of verifying the conventions referred to. Sometimes players who are not expert become confused in deciding which are definite and most'- generally used conventions. V Doubling One No-Trump. One very useful and. much used convention .is the Aniel'ican on,e of doub-~ ling one no-trump. Th^s means .that she doubler has a strong >hand and' he. expects his partner to take him out into her strongest suit. This convention, has "done a great deal to popularise the one no trump call, which formerly, was only' given when one's hand was very strong The convention makes it possible fox t-he ,call to be made from a hand of moderate strength. If the uo-trump call is doubled, the bidding will not , rest there, the convention making it imperative that the doubler, is superseded by a bid in another suit," Doubling a suit is another useful convention. .Here, if say, one spadcis call ed and the eldest hand doubles, it may be assumed that he has ,three strong suits but is weak in spados.' His partner, if possessing a good guard in spades (personally I. think i a double guard essential), will then call one notrump. If she also is weak-in spades she will take her partner into her longest suit. , ... • A New Convention. A new convcnticiL with which I do not agree, and consider too risky to employ unless ciTcivnistances are exceptional, ib that of showing a suit of 4 cards to 3 'honours, when the, hand contains an' outside ace. I must say in its favour, however, that I once played when a man, whose partner had doubled a notrump call, showed a 3-card suit—-and justified it! The oily time. I would employ the convention would .be if my score was about 28 in the rubber game, and even then 1 should not show the suit unless I iheld the top honours. Raising Your Partner's Call. Raising youT partner's call is a e'onn vent ion about which many players are not clear. If you have strength in the suit your partner has called, ibut all your other suits are. weak, it is better to wait to support him until the second round of calling. If without your support your partner still carries on with his call this will indicate that ho has I other good cards; then it will be safe to support him if still necessary. L: The freerdouble convention is fro- '< quently used bu|_>is extremelyj.aainoyihg I because it so often is unsucj||§Biful. It is never employed until the bidding is high, and, the douiblc should never be made unless one has three certain tricks in one's own handj ,t»i.e fourth being judged, from previous calling, to be in one's partner's hand. Indicating a No-Trump Hand. Calling one clu.b to indicate that the caller can support no-trumps if hvs'. partner, can call it is a well-knawii and Useful convention which gives desirable information to his partner. An Important Point in Leading! Leading the highest card you1 hold of the suit yout partner has called is. a convention that is .so essential as .o become almost a. rule; and also! is one •which is often ignored. The only exception to this play is when the call' 'is no. trumps and it may'^be better policy to lead from your own strongest suit to inform your, partner'where-your ■ strength lies before leading his suit, unless you hold an honour in t2ie latter. ■If your partner has not made any call against a no-trump declaration the conventional lead is the 4th highest of your longest suit. ' - • irnder-Calling. ;. Another convention concerns undereaUing: If a player absent-mindedly Baider-calls, the bidding is decided by the player on the left of the undercaller. The former can do one of seve-

■ral things, the most usual being the following:—?

He can close the bidding, either by making, the hand he played in his partner's call or by obliging the undercaller to call the right amount of triaks in wihich cases doubling is not permitted. He can leave the decision to his partner,-no discussion on the subject being permitted.

The player on the Tight of the undercaller cannot claim the penalty, lie can merely draw his partner's attention to the' fa-ct that an under-call fias been made. ,