Judge — October 1933 — page 23: what you’re looking at

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

e leit pene use [ 5 true cards, imself uch a tricks redid. mons 10 ste? ve you a few yu phar lon't. Judge Sims Theory of Opening No ST month I explained why the partner of anotrump bidder should bid two no trumps when he holds high cards reasonably certain to provide two entries into his hand. Our discussion was then confined to responding hands which contained no biddable suit, so that the only alternatives were to pass or to bid two no trumps. In this issue I will discuss the procedure of responding hands which contain one or more good four card suits. When your partner has opened the bidding with one no trump and your hand lacks any five card suit but does contain what are usually considered bi dable four card holdings in either dia- monds or clubs or in both, you do not have to worry over the choice of bids. Your choice is solely between passing and bidding two no trumps. In the Sims system four card minor suits are never bid in immediate response to a no trump. The sole exception is in match-point scoring when you have 100 honors. It is then sometimes worth the very real tisk involved in bidding the hand irreg- ularly to make an attempt to bring in the honors; but in rubber play honors have no importance in comparison with the necessity of selecting the right contract for game. . You have probably been told with monotonous insistence that you must try to escape from no trumps into suits if you possibly can; that it is bad enough if your unfortunate partner has to bid no trumps for lack of a suit, so that if you have even the flimsiest excuse for rescuing him, you should do so. The Sims theory is exactly the oppo- site of this. So far from desiring to es- cape from no trumps, we relax on hear- ing those blessed words; we feel no im- pulse to assist our opponents by the sub- sequent bidding of suits which will prove as effective in no trump play as they would if they were trumps. Sims open- ing no trump bidders do not need any saving; they need guidance, not rescue. If the hand is to be played eventually in aminor suit, it is because a slam in that suit appears more certain than in no trumps. We get in these four card suit bids above the game level as part of a slam try but do not include them in a game try. The high cards which make a four card suit biddable at all are no trump factors.. For game purposes their Tramp Bids By Derrick J. Wernher immediate function is to enable declarer to take nine tricks, not eleven. If you hold the following hand: Spades x Hearts x xX xX x Diamonds K Q x x Clubs Q 10 x x you need have no fear of your singleton when your partner has bid no trumps. The fact that he lacks both the king and queen of diamonds and the queen of clubs, surely places strong spade pro- tection in his hand. Probably a spade lead will swing right into a tenace, and not only save him a guess but also pre- serve the timing of the hand for him. Bid a hand of this kind entirely by your high cards; you are reasonably sure that your hand provides two entries in no trumps, are you not? So bid two no trumps; and make no distinction what- ever, from the game point of view, be- tween the hand just given and: Spades x x x Hearts x x x Diamonds K Q x Clubs Q 10x x The way to game is through no trumps and not through a minor suit. The way to safety (not that you need it with these values) is certainly not through a four card suit. Do not seek excuses to make exceptions to this rule, because if you do bid two in a minor suit over one no trump, your partner has the right to count on you for a five card suit. NLESS you have a singleton in your hand, do not consider the bidding of a four card major suit. The high cards which make a four card suit biddable will function in no trumps and there is no point in your endeavoring to steer your partner away from a game contract requiring the winning of nine tricks into one requiring the winning of ten. However, with a singleton, it may well be that the hand will play more safely for ten tricks in a suit than for nine in no trumps. . You should bid a four card major suit even as weak as K J x x when you have 4-4-4-1 distribution and your hand con- tains two reasonably sure entries for no trump play. The probability is that you will end up in no trumps, and you have no right to respond at all unless your partner can get into your hand twice. 19 You cannot rebid a four card suit un- less your partner raises it immediately. Consequently, your bid of the suit must be based on no trump values plus suit distribution. Having both major suits biddable and 4-4-4-1 distribution, bid spades first. The rebid will almost surely be two no trumps; now bid three hearts. If the opening bidder now bids three no trumps, pass; if he bids three spades, bid three no trumps, thus making it clear that you have been bidding four card suits and leaving it to your partner whether to pass or bid four in one of the major suits. Actually, bidding of this kind seldom leads to a game contract in a suit; the strength of the no trump hand generally makes it as easy to make four or five no trumps as to make the same number of tricks in the suit. How- ever, occasional hands come where the play in a major suit is smoother, and there is no difficulty ending up in suit. HEN, in a later article, I deal with slam bidding arising from original no trump bids, you will see that the four card suit angle is beautifully taken care of for slam purposes. Others bid short suits and end up in no trumps (having usually told their opponents just what suit to attack) ; we generally get to three no trumps without mention- ing such suits, giving the leader every chance to guess wrong. When we go beyond game into the realm of slam tries, we re-enlist a merry company of four card suits in order that they may serve us on those hands where six no trumps depends on a finesse, but six in a major or minor suit divided 4-4 is made without a finesse because a ruff can be substituted for the finesse. 2 RESUME N responding to a Sims no trump opening bid, do not bid four card minor suits at all in the process of reaching a game contract. Bid four card major suits only when the hand includes a singleton. In this case you can shade down to K J x x, but always remember that when you have no five card suit you must pass, unless your hand contains high cards which will give your partner two entries if the declara- tion ends up in no trumps. Next month we will consider the far wider field of five card suit responses. comicbooks.com