Judge — May 16, 1931 — page 24: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Mr. Lenz will welcome correspondence from Judge readers and twill give advice and answer questions related to Auction and Contract provided correspondents send stamped addressed envelopes for reply. HE quick-trick requirements for a demand bid of three are not stressed as being of paramount im- portance because the chief essential is the ability to rebid or to hold ade- quate support for the partner's dec- laration. @KQI852 OKQIT43 0Q None The Bidding soUuTH WEST NORTH EAST 3 Spades| Pass 4 Hearts 3No Trumps | Pass Pass Pass Pass It would assuredly appear that South should take in enough tricks to win the game in the great majority of instances, if he obtains the contract at the major suit that his partner can best support. While the quick-trick values in South's hand are nothing to boast of, the taking tricks count up to ten and, aside from a very freakish distribu- tion, the game seems certain. It is quite true that the adversaries would do very well if the contract went to them but with an opening bid of three Spades the chances are that the deal would be played at four Hearts. As the cards lay, game at Spades is impossible, but at Hearts double- dummy defense is needed to defeat the contract. If South had opened with a bid of one, any of three con- tingencies might have occurred. First: The contract would have been for less than game. Second: The adversaries would have bid for game and made it. Third: In the endeavor to save the would have been taken. d contains quick-trick values as well as taking tricks, it is of e most acceptable, but quick- ks alone are not enough for de- mand bids. This deal was sent to me by a o93 9 1074 99853 & 8642 @QJ64 992 oO AKQIS ak3 @AK108 9 AKQ O62 #A1095 player of some standing as an example of what had happened to him in play- ing the One-Two-Three system. To quote from his letter: “Holding six quick-tricks on the rubber game, I bid three Spades and my partner was forced to call three No Trumps. My right-hand adversary doubled and we went down a thousand points.” This seems like a tough spot, but I nevertheless think it illustrates the beauty of the system—if correctly used. T° start with, the two demand bid would have ended in a game dec- laration and the resultant set. Had South bid four Clubs, the penalty would have been but one or two tricks. The principal fault, however, was that South did not have a proper De- mand bid because there was no “out,” if the partner held a worthless hand. There was no rebid in South’s hand nor was there any escape from a No Trump declaration, either doubled or undoubled. The opening bid should have started with two Spades, which North would not have disturbed. If East had ventured to bid three Dia- monds, that contract would have been defeated two tricks. 22 WIGH WAT (Continued from page 17) go home to a flat in the Bronx after a day’s work and know the thrill of quiet, simple family life, untroubled by having to buy hundred-dollar tires and send thousand-dollar-a-week al- lowances to daughters at fashionable finishing schools. In other words, we're beginning to live, shaking away the imprisoning shackles of success. And I'm living in hopes that we keep right on progressing backwards till we become the laziest, best living and most charming nation on earth. To hell with business, down with in- stalment payment and away with standard models. Let’s conduct the government in a brownstone house on West 53rd Street and let money take care of itself. A Ford in every ga- rage, a set of stone seidels full of foam on every table at night and no financial sections in the newspapers. Unimportant Items I you ever had any desire, or any cause, to kick a New York cop in the pants, now's the time to do it. They'll eat out of your hands these days, they're that skeered of the Sea- bury proceedings. Painters were gilding the outside frame of the Bank of the United States, Fifth Avenue at 44th Street, when I passed by the other day. Jesus College, at Oxford, calls it “Jaggers College” for cheering pur- poses. Yeah, they cheer over there, refined-like. They slap hips. S. N. Smith, aged 19, whose ad- dress is P. O. Box 239, Port Eliza- beth, South Africa, would like to cor- respond with some lad of his own age in America. It would answer, he feels, a much-veldt need in his life. He’s not selling anything: there are no treks to his request. They have abolished about the only touch of the Left Bank that remained in New York. I am speaking of that custom of sitting on the steps of the Public Library in the sunshine and chatting about Love, Life and the Pursuit of that baby in brown who sat next to you in the reading room. Fifth Avenoo’s humble apology for the Dome Café maybe, but it was a step in the right direction, and now | suppose the budding young intelli- gentsias will have to find a better ‘ole. ’S too bad! According to Frank Hanley, there are no more basement, first floor or second-floor apartments in those old two-story Greenwich Village houses. They have all become speakeasy, gar- den apartment and penthouse. —Jupor, Jr. comicbooks.com