Judge — June 1933 — page 22: what you’re looking at

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

Good Cards Make Good Players? By Millard P. Kaiser “Forget Aces and Kings you held or the lack of them. Ask yourself this question: ‘Did I make the most out of the cards dealt me?’” S there anything more exasperating than to play an entire afternoon with one bust hand after another, and then read a paragraph such as the above from “Money Contract”? I was burnt up! However, a few days later, I was playing in a St. Louis Club, with the same crowd with which I’ve played for the past ten years. Since 1930, I’ve taken up the game professionally and this crowd has dubbed me “Professor”: [ fear through sarcasm. On this par- ticular afternoon I was holding the deck, all finesses right—dummy always com- ing down with the key card—all guesses perfect—a real field day! There came a time in the afternoon when on three or four hands in close succession I bid my luck and not actual card values. On these hands it was obvious that I should be set, but solely on account of the de- moralized defense the contracts were made. About this time the wailing began. One disconcerted opponent came out with this—“Professor, if you'll teach me DOUBLED! Amount of Mouth-wash you get for 35¢ Millions are paying too much for mouth-wash! So we thought it was high-time for a real quality antiseptic at HALF the usual price! You get a big 10-ounce bottle of Vicks Voratone Antiseptic ...a 75¢ value... for only 35¢. to hold cards like that, I'll take some lessons.” Realizing the advantage of having the opponents (particularly old-timers) in a ruffled condition, I thought I would maintain this position by casually re- marking, “Well, I can’t teach you to hold cards but I can teach you to defeat some of these contracts that you're al- lowing me to make.” The explosion was terrific! Even the ten or twelve kibitzers aired their views on the im- possibility of contending against the deck. For ten minutes the “Quiet” law of the card room was forgotten. The wind-up was an attempt to prove that my 9500 plus points on the score should have been, with tenacious defense, about 5000 points. I had stated that on almost every hand remarkable differ- ences were possible. To crystallize this, I offered to bet that should we deal out a hand at our table, play it both sides vulnerable, then take the cards intact to the nine other tables playing in the same room at the time, there would be a swing of 600 points between the vari- ous tables. Everyone thought I was wrong, but there were no takers because it involved some slight inconvenience, which is al- ways taboo in a card room. HINKING it over afterwards I was curious to know if my bet were sound. I started to investigate the score: of duplicate tournaments. The first one I checked was in the finals of the Miami- Biltmore tournament in St. Louis. Twenty-four pairs reached the finals, surviving both a qualifying and a semi- final round; they may, therefore, be con- sidered players above average. The contest was a 12 table Howell move- ment, 23 boards. On each of 9 boards there was a swing of over 1200 points. On each of 8 boards there was a swing between 500 and 1200 points. On each of 6 boards there was a swing of between 200 and 500 points. An average maximum swing on these 23 deals of 907 points per deal. With the same cards! Feeling this result might be excep- tional, I examined the complete scores of 42 sections of 22 deals each, 3 sec- tions of 23 deals, and one section of 25 deals, totaling 1,018 deals. Each deal having been played at least 11 times, the average swing was 987 points per deal. : This would mean that each afternoon you play rubber bridge, assuming 12 deals per hour, 3% hours, or 42 deals, 20 there is, theoretically, a possibility of g difference of 43,600 points in your score regardless of the cards you hold! Sounds like the present National dety Many may want this result reduced so that the “theoretically” can t eliminated, and instead some deduction given which is within the range of probability. But why? Isn’t it enough to te startled by these figures? We mus keep in mind that practically every hand we pick up, if played by several differ. ent players, will produce vast differences in results. Each hand, therefore, mus: be a more complicated problem than ap. pears on the surface. Something to Remem-. ber about Play By P. Hal Sims N future issues you will read much about the Sims system of Contraa bidding; but I would like to point ow to you in this number some advantages that are gained by placing the declara. tion in the right hand. It is a well known fact that to attack a suit which is not solid will probably cost you a trick; but if your oppo nents attack it, you will generally gain a trick. Consequently, if the declara- tion has been placed in the proper hand, it usually means that you can put your RE-DOUBLED Assurance that your breath is pleasant In “close-ups”, you can trust Vicks Mouth-wash . . . for it is actually stronger than the accepted standard . . . and what's more, it’s made by the makers of VapoRub! Money back if not delighted. VICKS voraTONE ANTISEPTIC comicbooks.com Se ea” ee em ie at ee as ae a ee ae 5h Lays Le ee ee eae Ped