Judge — July 1933 — page 18: what you’re looking at

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

Judge Ss s Theory of Opening No Trump Bid By Derrick J. Wernher SIMS has asked me to preset to the readers of DEAL in a ries of articles to appear in several sive issues his treatment of no trump bidding. I consider that this department of Mr. Sims’ bidding is the most logical and distinctive of all; it is, therefore, a grand subject to write about. In my experience I have formed the opinion that no trump bidding is the weakest department of average player's game. Yet the correct handling of this mighty bid is the most impor- tant of all branches of Contract bidding To for the purpose of piling up g: win in rubber play, the most di m ily tor is the consistent bidding of games whenever there is a reasonable play to make them. The dominating importance of no trumps for the producing of games is graphically illustrated by the following to me from and. Captain John C. Craigie and Gordon Reeve examined 100,000 hands dealt at random. Though I be- eve that analysis is useless for evolv- a bidding system, their figures k for themselves as to the actual me producing power of no trumps as compared with suit bids. Out of each group of 100 hands, it was possible to make a game in 70. In these 70 hands, game could be made in 140 different ways, made up as follows: statistics which have com Ey No Trumps 56 Spades 28 Hearts 28 Diamonds 14 Clubs 14 This table only shows that yielded the same number of games as the two major suits together. In other words, since no trumps would yield a game 56 times in 70 game-producing hands, that left only 14 hands where games could be made only in a suit or suits. A further analysis yielded the striking result that, taking separately those hands with which game could be made in only one declaration, the count was twenty for no trumps, four each for the major suits and one each for the minor suits. These figures confirm the conclusions of practically all experienced card players: that no trumps is the supreme winning declaration. It cannot be right to treat it as a poor relation which is to be included in the party only when the suit bids do not show up; it is the fam- ily’s bread winner; it deserves all our deference. I have been playing bridge with Mr, Sims for ten years, and he has always insisted on the supremacy of the no trump bid properly used. In Auc- tion, and later in Contract, his no trump. bidding and no trump play have been a corner stone of his phenomenal success. Some writers have said that Mr. Sims has a special gift for playing no trump hands for their utmost maximum d that he bids no trumps freely } use he plays them so well. The in- rence given is that others do not play them so well and that, therefore, they must bid on different lines. With the latter conclusion [ di gree. My con- viction is that Mr. Sims plays no trump hands so successfully partly because he has already bid them so well. When the no trump declaration has been care- fully and deliberately steered » the it hand, the play has to a large ex- tent been consummated by the In lition, when one has reached a contract of 3 no trumps without having found it necessary to tell opponen' actly where one bidding. sex: weak or strong, a tactical advantage has been gained, which will mean the difference between success and failure on a very high pro- portion of otherwise doubtful contracts. In this connection Mr. Sims’ bidding policy generally secures for the declar- er, before the first card is played, an advantage in the play equivalent to one or more additional high cards in the partnership hand [am not detracting from Mr. Sims’ no trump play; I believe he is our great- est player. My point is that the bidding advantages of the Sims no trump theory set the stage for successful no trump play. My readers need not despair be- cause they are too modest to rank them- selves with Mr. Sims as card players; they will find that the results of their no trump play will be amazingly im- proved if the bidding which leads to their no trump contracts has been han- dled on the lines which Mr. Sims has devised for himself and for them. This applies when the opening bid is one no trump no less t when it is one in a suit. Good bidding makes better players. It will be my endeavor in these articles to make these points as clear to you as he has made them to me. 16 Ss and Finesses By Zero-doceus RITING 7 Here is one that belongs on page five. Ina handed cut throat’ bridge bo th Ame Bob Geddes of Erie, Pa, made a nega- tive double of an original two no trump bid. In looking over the line-up a tournaments we are led to believe tl ge players are not greatly influen y their wives,—or are they John Law says that after a tough and Vint Boland of Cleveland putfs and inflates. Inflation period well ur way—explosion expected any da: Every bridge player has three rat- ings: first, the expe self to be: second, the dub which ¢ think him; and third, the palooks usually is. A paloo ner’s m t he believes him- hers a he a keeps track of all his part- akes; an expert, of his own. BROOKLYN BOY MAKES GooD AYMOND BAL coming into his own, as he recently defeated two aspiring young Contract players in six straight match games. We used to hear of arriving immi- nts cheering the Statue of Liber Nowadays returning tour prosperity is of recent origin sometimes offer a grateful toast to the Statue of Limitations. s whe c LOUD SPEAKER R. C: “Jo, darlink, what can I do now to keep the public playing Auction while thinking that they are playing Contract?” Mrs. C: “You had better get up a game with some innocent English team that you feel sure of beating and call it an International Match with the Davis Cup flavor.” Mr. C: “I have worked that racket before.” Mrs. C: “If you could get some well meaning amateur to donate a cup and get yourself appointed to choose the team, the rank and file would never know the difference.” Mr. C: “T have just the man in mind and T’'ll arrange it immediately.” Mrs. C: “Be sure to compare it with international tennis in the ballyhoo; the newspapers might take the bait in” Mr. C (thirty minutes later) : “That's a good idea! I'm glad [ invented it.” comicbooks.com