Qass Book GViz&z 7Z5r XX FOSTER'S AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL FOSTER'S AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL R. F. FOSTER Author of "Foster's Complete Hoyle," etc. INCLUDING THE OFFICIAL LAWS OF AUCTION BRIDGE ADOPTED BY THE WHIST CLUB OF NEW YORK, AS IN EFFECT SEPTEMBER, I92O Corrected to 1920 NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS Copyright, igi6, by Frederick A. Stokes Company All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages CONTENTS PART I — THE BIDS CHAPTER page I Description of the Game . . . i II First Principles of Bidding 15 III Original Bids 17 IV What Are Sure Tricks? . 20 V Major and Minor Suits . 23 VI Minor Suits .... 25 VII The Major Suits . . . 27 VIII Compensating Tricks . 29 IX What Are No-trumpers? 33 X The Equals of Aces . . . 36 XI Bidding Equal Suits . 40 XII Winning or Saving Game . 42 XIII Partner's Warning Bids . 46 XIV Major Suit Take-outs 51 XV Playing with Poor Partners 59 XVI Two-trick Bids and Shut-outs 62 XVII Assisting Bids 65 XVIII The Partner's Silence . 68 XIX Postponed Bids . ... 72 XX Rebidding the Hand . 75 XXI Shifting the Bid . 78 XXII Doubling 85 XXIII Bidding Against No-trumpers 88 XXIV The Nullo Declaration . 93 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XXV Scoring at Nullos 96 XXVI The Bidding at Nullos .... 99 XXVII Playing a Nullo Hand . . . .107 REVERSE BIDS IO9 PART II — THE PLAY XXVIII Playing the Hands . . . . . no XXIX Selection of the Suit . 116 XXX The Card to Lead . 120 XXXI The Partner's Play . . . . . 125 XXXII The Eleven Rule .... . 138 xxxni The Theory of the Finesse . . 143 XXXIV Second Round of the Suit . . 150 XXXV Third Hand, Second Round . • 153 XXXVI The Discards . . . . . • 155 XXXVII Second Hand Play . 158 XXXVIII Return Leads . 166 XXXIX Playing the Declaration . . 169 XL Playing Trump Declarations . 173 XLI Playing No-trump Declaration 3 . 178 XLII Finessing by the Declarer . . . 182 XLIII The Declarer's Reentries . . . 189 The Laws of Auction . . . . 192 INTRODUCTION A wide experience and correspondence with card players of all sorts has led the author to the con- clusion that any text book which addresses itself to any particular class, ranking them according to experience or skill, must fail of its appeal to others of a different class. The scientific treatise that is eagerly perused by the expert is a disappointment to the members of the family that want to learn the leads. The book that is labelled for the beginner is tossed aside by the average player, who thinks he knows it all, and does not even attract a passing glance from the expert. In the following pages the author has endeavored to place the tactics of this fascinating game in such a light that they shall prove attractive to all classes of players. The beginner can find in it the funda- mentals, the conventions, of the game. The average player will probably discover many little refinements that he has overlooked or forgotten, while the ex- pert will be given ample opportunity to study some absolutely new theories, which he may have heard of, but which have never been presented to his at- tention in their proper relation to the rest of the game. PART I. THE BIDS DESCRIPTION OF THE GAME There seems to be something in the development of the race, in the condition of society, or in the state of public morals, which induces a nation to take up certain games at various periods of its his- tory. Before and after the Civil War, when people had not very much confidence in one another and life was a game of big risks and bluff, poker was the favorite. During the era of credit that followed, in which individuals started to do big business with small capital, and every one tried to get the best of his rivals, euchre very properly expressed the popular idea of the game of life, in which the best bower was held by the man with some advantage in the way of freight rates or patent rights. After that we come to the period of partnerships, in which men began to consolidate their interests, to form large companies and reduce operating ex- penses, business being conducted upon scientific principles, by combining the best elements in con- 2 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL cerns that had previously been opposed, and so we reach the great partnership game of whist. We are now in the era of trusts, of combinations of such strength that they can absolutely dictate terms to their competitors. If these combinations are unsound, they are expensive errors ; but if they are founded on good judgment they overwhelm everything, a condition of affairs that is exactly represented in the game of bridge. There is probably no game which so fittingly mir- rors the present attitude of the American mind in the conduct of business affairs as Auction. A man looks over the material in his hand and concludes that if he can make certain combinations they will bring him large returns. He opens his books to his partners without reserve, and says : " Here are my resources, combine them with yours and let us get all there is in it." His competitors, seeing what is on foot, imme- diately start in to study up some combination strong enough to beat the trust, or lie low and skin it. One side may make it too expensive for the other to continue business, or may deliberately take a loss to prevent the other from becoming too strong a factor. There has never been a time when there was such a premium on good judgment in business affairs, sound combinations of resources and taking advan- tage of the mistakes made by competitors ; and there has never been a game in which exactly the same AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 3 qualities were so fully rewarded as they are in auction bridge. Auction is a game of cards, played by four per- sons, two of whom are in partnership against the other two. These partnerships are opposed pre- cisely as two business firms would be in competing for the trade in a certain territory, or in securing a profitable contract. In this respect the game offers a wide range for the exercise of personal judgment as opposed to dumb luck, and holds ample reward for the first attribute of a good player in any game — courage. In auction, no one but the highest bidder can go game, because the highest bidder gets the dummy. But in order to get the play, one must be willing to risk as much as any other player at the table, or more. He must be willing to put up his last dollar to succeed, or to husband all his resources to avoid disaster. The bids are called declarations, and they are practically a sort of talking over matters between the partners, so as to arrive at the best possible use to make of their resources; to play the hand on a scheme of their own, or to defeat the plans of their opponents. The bidding settled, the next thing is to win as many tricks as possible, with or without a trump suit, according to the winning declaration. Auction is played with two full packs of fifty-two cards, preferably of different colors. The pack not in plav is called the still pack and is shuffled by the 4 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL dealer's partner and placed at the left of the next dealer. The cards rank from the ace, king, queen, down to the deuce in play ; but in cutting the ace is always the lowest card. If cards of the same denomination are cut, the spade is the lowest, then hearts, dia- monds, and clubs in that order. The game is played by four persons, pairing two against two as partners, the partners sitting opposite each other. If there are more than four candidates for play, those who play the first rubber are decided by cutting. The pack is spread to draw for partners, and the two lowest pair against the two highest, the lowest of the four having the choice of seats and cards and dealing the first hand. The deal passes in rotation to the left, its position being marked by the still pack. The dealer presents the pack to the player on the right to be cut, and at least four cards must be left in each packet. The cards are then distributed one at a time in rotation, face down, beginning on the dealer's left, so that each player shall receive thirteen. No card is turned up for the trump. All irregularities in the manner of cutting, deal- ing, or exposing cards during and after the deal, will be found fully dealt with in the laws of the game. No matter what happens, the dealer never loses his deal. The game is 30 points, made by trick scores alone, AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 5 and the partners who first win two games win the rubber, so that the third is sometimes not played. No matter how much more than 30 may be made on the deal that wins a game ; it is all scored, but it is only one game. The partners might be 20 up and make 60. That is only one game. The winners of the two games add 250 bonus. The object is to win tricks that score toward game according to the value of the declaration that gets the play. Each player in turn, beginning with the dealer, bids for the privilege of playing the dummy with a named suit for trumps, or at no trumps. The highest bid, when passed by three players in turn, is called the winning declaration, and the partners who made it play the hand, the partner who first named that declaration being the Declarer, no matter what bids have intervened, while the other is the dummy. The dealer must undertake to make at least the odd trick in any suit he names, or at no trump ; or he may pass without a bid. If he passes, the player to his left may pass or bid, but as soon as a bid is made the player to the left must overcall it, double it, or pass. A bid of two is an undertaking to win two odd tricks, or eight out of the thirteen. The suits outrank one another in the bidding, the order being clubs, which are the lowest, then dia- monds, hearts, spades, and no trumps, so that a bid of one heart is better than a bid of one diamond or club ; but a bid of two in anything outranks a bid 6 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL of one in anything. Four clubs is better than three no-trumps, for instance. The usual form of conversation is something like this, beginning with the dealer : " One club. One heart. I pass. No bid." This ends the first round, the forms, I pass, or no bid being used about equally. On the second round, if the dealer goes on : " Two clubs. Pass. Pass. Two hearts." On the next round the dealer says : " I double two hearts. Pass. Pass. Pass.'* This ends it, as three players have passed the last declaration, the dealer's double. Now, although the highest bid was made by the player on the dealer's right, two hearts, it was the player on his left who first named hearts, so he is the declarer, and the dealer's partner leads for the first trick. Then dummy's hand goes down, and the declarer plays his own hand and dummy's in combination, without any suggestions or help from his partner. No player can double his partner's bid, but he may redouble if his partner is doubled, or the one who is doubled may redouble, when it comes round to him. Only one redouble is allowed. Players must be careful not to bid out of turn, or their op- ponents may demand a new deal. (See Laws of the Game.) If a player makes a bid that is insufficient to over- call the previous bid, such as three hearts over three spades, he may correct it at once, before the next AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 7 player speaks; but if his opponents call attention to it, they may either demand that it be made sufficient, or they may pass it, double it, or declare something else, accepting the insufficient bid as regular. If the opponents ask for the bid to be made sufficient and then pass, the partner of the player in error is barred from bidding, and unless the player on his left declares or doubles, the bidding is closed. The player to the left of the declarer having led a card, the declarer plays from the dummy, then the third hand and finally the declarer. The winner of the trick leads for the next trick, and so on, until the last card falls. The declarer always gathers the tricks for his side, and the first six are always his " book," which means, '' the tricks that do not count." They are usually bunched, and all over the book go toward fulfilling the declaration, which is called the contract. Either of his opponents may gather for their side, and their book is the difference between the contract and seven. If the contract is three hearts, for in- stance, the opponents' book is four tricks, as those would not count for them. Every trick they get over their book " sets " the contract. If the declarer fulfils his contract, he counts all tricks over the book at their regular value and scores them toward game. Each trick in clubs is worth 6, diamonds 7, hearts 8, spades 9, and no- trumps 10. If the declaration is doubled, these 8 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL values are doubled, hearts being worth i6 a trick. If redoubled, hearts would be worth 32. Only the declarer can score toward game. If the declaration fails, the opponents count all over their book at 50 each, no matter what the dec- laration was, clubs, hearts or no-trumps, all are worth 50 when the contract is set. If doubled, their tricks are worth 100, and 200 if redoubled. These do not score toward game, but go in the honor column. If either side wins twelve tricks out of the thir- teen, it is worth 50 points for little slam. If they win all thirteen, it is worth 100 for grand slam, but neither of these count toward game. They go in the honor column, sometimes called, " above the line." If there is a trump suit, the five highest cards in that suit are honors, and are scored as held, in the honor column; never toward game. Three honors are called " simple " and worth the same as two tricks, so that simple honors in spades would be worth 18. Four honors between partners are worth four tricks, and five are worth five tricks. If there are four or five in one hand, they are worth double, so that four honors in spades in one hand would be worth eight tricks, or 72. Four in one hand, fifth in the partner's are worth nine tricks. In spades this would be 81. When there is no trump, only the aces are honors. AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 9 Three are worth 30 points, four aces between part- ners, 40, but four in one hand are worth 100. When aces are divided, neither side scores them. This is called " aces easy." The side first winning two games adds 250 points for winning the rubber, which is always two games out of three, and the scores of each side are then added up, the difference between the totals being the amount won or lost. It is often found that the partners who have won the rubber are still losers on points, owing to the adverse scores in the honor column. Some persons find a slight difficulty in scoring when a revoke is claimed and proved in play. The penalty against the declarer is invariable, 100 points in the honor column, and the forfeiture of all other scores made on the deal except honors as actually held, they not being affected by revokes. When the opponents of the declarer revoke, he has the choice of penalties, to take 100 points in honors or three actual tricks. If he takes the tricks, they are added to his own and their value scored just as if he had won them in play, but they do not carry any bonus in case the contract was doubled. Suppose the bid is three hearts, and the declarer makes two only, but gets a revoke penalty. It will usually be to his advantage to take the tricks, be- cause they not only fulfil his contract but win the game, perhaps the rubber. He is then entitled to 10 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL score five odd at 8 a trick. If he was doubled, at i6 a trick. But if he made four odd in play, the 100 points is better than three tricks at 8 each, because he is already game, without the assistance of any more tricks. The difficulty is to adjust the score when the con- tract is doubled and fails, but the declarer gets a revoke. If the bid is four spades, doubled, and he makes four odd, he gets i8 a trick below the line, and 50 in honors for fulfilling a doubled contract, together with 100 for the revoke. But if he got two odd only, he would have to take the tricks as revoke penalty, so as to fulfil his con- tract. This would give him five odd at 18 a trick and game; but there would be no 50 for a fulfilled contract and 50 for a trick over, because the con- tract was not fulfilled in actual play. When the tricks taken would not put him game, it is better to take the points. Suppose the bid is one heart, and the contract is set for one trick. A revoke penalty would make the declarer 24 up only, so it is better to stay at nothing and take the 100. The revoking side cannot score anything but honors as actually held, even if they have doubled and set the contract for four or five tricks. If the declarer bids seven and takes six only, he is set, but he can still score the little slam, as he won twelve tricks. If the opponents win twelve or thir- teen tricks, they score the slam in addition to any other penalties they are entitled to. A-B Y-Z 250 50 50 56 200 32 30 16 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 11 The example in the margin will show the usual method of scoring a rubber, these being the plays recorded : A-B made two no-trumps and held three aces. 20 below the line and 30 above. Y-Z bid three hearts, doubled, and made the odd only, with simple honors. =: = Nothing scored below the line, as the 20 40 contract failed; but Y-Z get 16 for — simple honors, and A-B get 200 for . . 42 defeating a doubled contract by two • — tricks. 300 486 Y-Z then bid hearts, made five odd . . 300 and held four honors; 40 below and 32 above. Draw a line under it to 186 show a game won. Y-Z got the contract on the next deal at three no trumps, but made two odd only, aces easy. This gave their opponents, A-B, 50 penalty, as the con- tract failed by one trick. On the last hand, Y-Z bid up to four diamonds and made a little slam, with four honors in one hand. This is 42 below the line, game and rubber, 56 in honors and 50 for little slam, to which is added the 250 for winning the rubber. Adding both scores, the difference is 186 points in favor of Y-Z. It is usual to throw off the smaller figures and to score some agreed minimum. If the stakes are for a cent a point or less, the nearer 25 12 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL is the unit. This rubber would be scored as worth 1-75. At half-a-cent, the nearer 50 is taken, and this rubber would be scored as 200. This is put down as 20. The scores are usually carried on a " washbook," or " flogger/' after this manner, at penny points, these are dimes. Rubber values: 15 45 55 60 Jones +15 +60 +60 +120 Green +15 +15 — 40 —100 White —15 +30 +30 — 30 Brown —15 —15 +40 +100 Black -^5+10 +10 Smith —45 —100 —100 The first rubber, 15, was won by Jones and Green, against White and Brown. Then Black and Smith cut in against Jones and White, losing 45. This left Green and Brown's score as it stood, but advanced Jones to 60 plus and put White on the winning side. The third rubber Jones and White sat out, while Brown and Black beat Green and Smith. In the last rubber, Jones won again, with Brown for a partner, while Black and Smith sat out. It will be seen that the totals balance at the end of every rub- ber scored, so that they can always be checked up. These rubbers were played with six at the table, two going out and two coming in each time. When there are four at a table, many persons like to pivot, instead of cutting for partners. In this method, one AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 13 player sits still and the three others walk round him, like the hands of a clock, the one on his right pass- ing behind him and taking the place on his left, while the two others move one place to the left. In three rubbers this brings each to play once with each for a partner. In social games where there are two tables, it is often made a rule that four deals only shall be played before changing partners. For a game won, 125 points are added, but there are no rubbers. After the fourth deal, all the players except the pivot move according to a schedule which requires that each shall take the place of the one who has just vacated that place. This is the plan : 5 4 8* A 1 2 B 6 7 3 No. 8, with the star, is the pivot, and never moves. The player sitting at No. i, table A, always takes the place of the player who moves from No. 2 at table B to No. 3, and so on, 7 going to i. After the first move, every player knows who to follow until seven rounds have been played, 28 deals. It will then be found that every player has had every other for a partner once and as an adversary twice. In progressive games, it is usual to play four deals, adding 125 for every game won, and for the higher score to progress. If partners are to stay together, all winners go one way. If individuals. 14 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL one goes one way the other partner going in the opposite direction. Sometimes partners go the same way, but separate at the next table. This too often leads to their coming together again, and is not as sociable as the opposite direction plan. II FIRST PRINCIPLES OF BIDDING The changes in the official laws of auction, eliminating all double suit values, with all the am- biguous bids, takeouts, and doubling that followed in their train, has made it possible to formulate a natural and uniform system of play, which places the fundamentals of the game within easy reach of any person of ordinary intelligence. This system it is the object of the following chap- ters to explain, dividing it into two parts, the bid- ding and the play. There is no longer any excuse for a person v/ho can remember four simple rules to make any bids which are not absolutely sound in principle and safe in practice. With these four rules known well by heart, all that is necessary for the beginner is to follow them unflinchingly in order to become not only a most desirable partner, but a most dangerous opponent. Auction is not whist, nor bridge, and the less one knows of those games the better. Auction, as its name implies, is a bidding game. In fact the whole game is in the bidding, because that is the founda- tion upon which everything else rests. IS i6 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL The whist player turned up the trump, and its selection was therefore matter of pure chance. At bridge, the dealer's side named the trump and from their decision there was no appeal. In auction, no one player makes the trump. Each player in turn bids for the privilege or offers some suggestions to his partner as to the best declaration. No one of the four knows who will eventually get it, because the winning declaration is so often based upon a consideration of all the previous ones. The first thing for the beginner to impress upon his mind, therefore, is that on the first round of bids he never " makes it " hearts, or clubs, or no trumps. He simply " declares " one or other of them. His bid is not final, and its very nature may induce his partner to change it, or may drive the opponents to declarations they would not otherwise have made. Ill ORIGINAL BIDS An original bid is one that is made freely, as by the dealer, or by the second or third hand when the others have passed. It must not be confused with what are called forced bids, which are made with a view to putting up some sort of defense against an opponent's declaration. If the dealer passes and the second hand makes a bid, that bid should be as strictly conventional as if it were made by the dealer. But if the dealer starts off with some such bid as two hearts, the second hand must bid anything he has that offers the slightest hope of defense, without any regard to whether it would have been a sound original bid or not. An original bid is purely conventional and leads up to the fight for the final declaration among the four players. But when the fight has started and a dangerous declaration has been made, the players must jump into the scrap without much regard to conventions. As auction is peculiarly a partnership game and the object of all good players is to arrive at a com- 17 i8 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL plete understanding between partners, so that the best possible line of attack or defense for the com- bined hands may be selected. All bids must be made with a view to securing the partner's coopera- tion. In order to accomplish this, there must be no am- biguity about original declarations. The moment you make a bid that may have two meanings, all con- fidence between partners is at an end. If you bid a suit when it is good for nothing unless it is the trump, and bid it at another time when it would be equally good to assist or defeat a no-trumper, you involve your partner in a perpetual guess game. What is the consequence? At one time he will depend on you for certain tricks, only to find that you cannot win them, because the suit you named is not the final declaration. At another time he will refuse to trust you, when you have the very cards he wants, and he could have won the game. One frequently hears the remark, " I bid hearts because I had six trumps and a singleton," or, " I had four honors in one hand when they bid no trump, and they are worthy sixty-four." But hearts ar-e not trumps when the player bids hearts, and may never be trumps. There are three other players at the table, and they will settle what the final declara- tion shall be. They may have entirely different views as to the proper suit for the trump on that deal. If you bid hearts with six to the jack, and a sin- AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 19 gleton, and the final declaration is a heart, thanks to the opponents' having nothing better to declare, your hand is probably good for four or five tricks. But if a heart is not the final declaration, hearts are not trumps, and your hand is nothing but a lot of trash, without a possible trick in it. There is only one thing that is always good for tricks, no matter what the final declaration may be, and that is aces and kings. Therefore, not knowing what the trump suit will be, or whether there will be any trump suit at all, the only indication you can give your partner, on your original or " free " bids, without any possibility of misleading him, is to name the suit in which you can win tricks, whether that suit becomes the trump or not. The minimum for original bids is two sure tricks. This brings us to the first principle of sound bid- ding. All original or free bids must be on tricks; not on trumps. It will be time enough to bid the suits that are good for nothing but trumps on the second round, if the situation then seems favorable. If it does not, you may be thankful that you did not name the suit, and retained your partner's confi- dence at the same time. IV WHAT ARE SURE TRICKS? It is an excellent practice for the beginner to take from a pack of those little toy cards, made for play- ing patience, the following combinations, pasting them upon a card which can be laid upon the table for constant reference. Ace and King. Ace Queen and Jack. King Queen and Jack. If these three combinations are examined it will be evident that each of them contains at least two sure tricks. The acid test for all suits that are sup- posed to be headed by two sure tricks is that they shall be good for those tricks no matter who leads the suit. Any one will admit that both ace and king are good for two tricks, regardless of the position of the lead, and that the ace, queen, jack must win two tricks, even if the queen or jack is lost to the king. In the same way, one of the sequence, king, queen, jack, may be lost to the ace, but the remaining two are good, no matter who leads. Now let us look at some combinations that are 20 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 21 popularly supposed to be good for two tricks, but which will not stand the test of the position of the lead. These are: Ace and Queen. King and Queen. King Jack and Ten. There are not two sure tricks in any of these. In the first one there is only one trick sure, because if the player is not fourth hand the king may kill the queen. In the second one, unless some one is kind enough to lead the ace, one of the two high cards must be used to get that card out of the way, and only the other is good for a trick. There is nothing in the third combination, unless the partner can lead the suit three times, because both ace and queen may be on the left and it will take two high cards to get them out of the way. The same is true if the queen lies to the left and the ace to the right. If the partner cannot afford to lead the suit three times, it is good for nothing as a trick winner, and is one of the most deceptive com- binations in the game. Bids on such combinations as king and jack are often excused on the ground that the partner prob- ably has the ace or queen. But that is bidding on your partner's cards; not on your own, and it is guessing at something you know nothing about. It would be just as sensible to bid hearts when you have none, on the theory that your partner must have that suit. 22 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL Of course, if the opponents are good enough to lead out all their high cards, or to walk blindly up to guarded kings and major tenaces, almost anything may be good for two tricks. Four to a jack might be good for two tricks if one of the opponents led out ace and king and killed his partner's queen. I have seen a suit of five to the eight win three tricks at no trump, thanks to the player with ace, king and deuce leading his high cards first, but that does not furnish any argument for declaring such a suit, eight high, as good for sure tricks. Strange to say, it is almost impossible to find players who will stick to this rule and refuse to make a free bid in any suit that is not headed by two sure tricks, or with a hand that has not enough outside to make up for what the named suit lacks, which we shall come to presently. Every time a player makes a bid that his cards do not justify, one of three things may happen, and a fourth always happens. He fails to go game. He gets set. Or, his partner had such a hand that it did not matter what he bid. The fourth thing, that always happens, is that the partner loses confi- dence in all future bids made by that player. Take a pack of cards, deal yourself out a number of hands, and see in how many of them you have a suit headed by two sure tricks. This will get your eye accustomed to the three principal combinations: A K, A Q J, and K Q J, MAJOR AND MINOR SUITS Good players divide the four suits into two classes. Spades and hearts are called major, or winning, suits, because the majority of hands are played with one or other of them for the trump and they fre- quently win the game on the deal. Clubs and diamonds are called minor, or losing, suits, because theirs is the minor office of support- ing better declarations, and it has been found that if the hand is played with a minor suit for the trump, an opportunity is frequently lost for winning the game in a better declaration, whereas the minor suit could not quite reach the eleven tricks necessary to go game, each trick being worth only 6 or 7. Statistics show that about 54 per cent, of the major suit declarations go game on the hand. In the minor suit declarations, even when bid up to four or five, only about 25 per cent, go game. It has also be'eri shown that a much larger percentage of minor suit declarations fail to make good the contract than major suits. Any player will take a chance of going game with a major suit, as the odds are in his favor; but not 23 24 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL with a minor suit, in which it is three to one against him. It is upon this that the modern system of bidding separates these suits, and lays down the following axiom: The player who bids a minor suit originally never wants it to be the trump. He may finally be compelled to play it, or the sub- sequent bidding may show that it is the best thing for the combined hands, either as an attack or a defense, but as an original proposition he never wants to work for eleven tricks, while there is any chance that his partner can go game with nine or ten by making a better declaration. VI MINOR SUITS Minor suits should be declared for two purposes only ; to encourage the partner to a better declaration, or to indicate where some tricks may be won against a game going declaration of the opponents. That is why minor suits should never be declared with- out two sure tricks at the top, unless the score is so advanced that game is in sight. Such exceptional cases are matter of judgment, and it is better to leave the beginner with the hard and fast rule. In the majority of cases any declaration show- ing two or more sure tricks in a minor suit will en- courage the partner to bid hearts, or spades, or no trumps, if the two tricks shown will fill out his hand, and he will make many such bids that would have been impossible had the tricks in the minor suit not been shown, or were they not to be abso- lutely depended on. Taking into consideration these principles, it is obvious that if the person who declares a minor suit never wants it to be the final declaration, or trump suit, but simply offers the tricks as a help to his partner, length in the suit is of no consequence, and 25 26 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL one may bid a diamond with ace king alone just as freely as with five of the suit to ace queen jack. Refusing to bid a minor suit with two sure tricks in it because it is not long enough to be useful as a trump suit is an evidence of weakness and of ig- norance of the true theory of bidding. Many valu- able opportunities are lost by players who refuse to bid clubs or diamonds because the suit is short. Original bids in the minor suits show sure tricks, and nothing else. VII THE MAJOR SUITS These are declared on very different principles. As they are winning suits, with strong chances in favor of their going game on the hand, they are always bid with the idea that they may be the final declaration or trump, therefore they must be long enough to give reasonable expectation of outlast- ing the opponent's trumps. High cards, two sure tricks, are just as necessary in the major suits as in the minor suits, in case the suit named does not prove to be the winning declaration; but length is essential to outlast or to exhaust the remainder of the suit, which would be equally valuable to the opponents if it were the trump, no matter how small their cards. Another point is that as the declarer will probably be left to play the hand, with or without his part- ner's assisting bids, he must have something more than the trumps. Five hearts, even with two sure tricks at the top of the suit, is not a safe bid with nothing out- side. The minimum number on which a spade or a heart should be bid is five cards, or four cards with three top honors, or four honors of any kind. 27 28 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL In either case there should be at least one sure and one probable trick outside, or an extra trump. That is to say, five hearts to the ace queen jack, and an ace queen suit outside, is a good heart bid. Six spades to the ace king is a good spade bid, even without a trick outside, except a probable queen or guarded king. Original bids in major suits show a willingness to play that suit as the trump, and ask the partner to support it, not to change to anything else. If the partner does change, he is weak in the suit first declared. The beginner should fix these two important prin- ciples in mind. All minor-suit bids should en- courage the partner to take them out with something better. All major-suit bids ask the partner to sup- port them for the trump. VIII COMPENSATING TRICKS It Is one of the cardinal principles of teaching that the beginner should be told only one thing at a time and that all rules should be given in the first instance without any mention of exceptions. There are two classes of rules that apply to the bidding at auction. One is general and covers the situation in its broadest aspect. This is for the beginner. The other is specific and applies to par- ticular situations. This is for the experienced player. But when the beginner has got hold of a general principle, and has mastered it so that he cannot for- get it, he should be ready to extend its application. In his attempts to apply the rule that there must be two sure tricks at the head of any suit he de- clares as a free bid, for instance, he will soon find that there are many hands which do not measure up to that standard, but which would be of valuable assistance to the partner, if he has a winning dec- laration. Suppose he finds himself with a hand that shows two sure tricks, but each in different suits. Why 29 30 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL should he not show this strength to his partner just as readily as if the tricks were both in the same suit? The answer is that he should. If a suit is headed by two honors that do not " touch," only one being a sure winner, such as ace and queen, or ace, jack, ten, or something of that kind, we say that the suit has a hole in it. The hole in the ace-queen suit is the missing king. In the ace- jack- ten suit it is the king and queen. The idea is that if the high cards are not in sequence, if the top honors do not touch in such a manner as to come under the class of two sure tricks, there is an opening for the adversaries. They may prevent your winning more than one trick in that suit. Now we come to a very important principle. If there is enough elsewhere to fill up the hole in the suit, it is still a legitimate original or free bid, be- cause there are two sure tricks in the hand, even if they are not both in the suit named. Convention requires at least one sure and one probable trick outside the suit named to justify bidding a suit with only one sure trick in it. If it is a major suit, cautious players demand two sure tricks outside when there is only one sure in the major suit that is declared. Suppose you hold ace-jack- ten of diamonds. You have not two sure tricks, because the suit has a hole in it. But if you have the ace and queen of hearts or spades outside, it is a good diamond bid. You AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 31 cannot bid the heart unless you have five in suit. If you had five hearts, it would be a good heart bid, because you have one sure and one probable trick outside, in diamonds. As major suits are often long enough to be de- sirable for trumps, but too weak to be declared on their sure tricks, they must be supported by tricks enough outside to fill all the holes. This is broadly expressed by some players in saying that if there are no sure tricks at the top of the major suit, the rest of the hand should be a no-trumper. We have not come to no-trumpers yet, but the be- ginner should readily appreciate such a hand as this : Five spades to the queen jack; four clubs to the queen ten; ace jack small in diamonds ; ace alone in hearts. This is a perfectly legitimate spade bid. There are two holes in the spade suit, both ace and king missing ; but there are two aces to fill them up, and two probable tricks besides, in clubs and diamonds. The partner's inferences from these bids of suits with holes in them are often both interesting and valuable. Suppose he holds king jack of clubs when you bid a club. He knows you have not two sure tricks in clubs, therefore you must have at least one sure trick elsewhere, and from the bidding against you he may be able to tell exactly where that trick is. Many games have been saved and won on this inference. Before leaving the suit declarations, there is one 32 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL vital point to which the beginner's attention must be directed. Nothing you can say afterward will eradicate the impression given by your first bid. If you start as dealer with a bid of one heart on seven or eight of them, queen high, without a trick outside, nothing you can bid afterward will head off your partner, or correct his impression that you can be trusted for two sure tricks, if not in hearts, elsewhere. If the original free bid is false, no amount of truthful bidding afterward will set it right. When you have no legitimate bid for the first round, wait for the second. Now we come to one of the most interesting bids in the game. IX WHAT ARE NO-TRUMPERS? If it is good policy to show two sure tricks in a minor suit by bidding it, or one sure in that suit and one or two outside in a major suit that is too short to declare, what are we going to do with hands that are stronger than that, hands that are good for a sure trick in three different suits ? The dealer finds himself with the ace of hearts and ace of spades, neither suit long enough to jus- tify declaring it, but he also has five clubs to the ace jack. To declare the club conveys to the partner no idea of the real strength of the hand. The proper bid on all such hands is no trump. Broadly speaking, this bid means: " I can take care of three suits." It is astonishing how few players have any definite idea of what constitutes a no- trumper. They seem unable to get over the notion that any one who bids no trump must have some- thing very little short of a hundred aces and four kings. No-trumpers may be divided into two classes. One is a hand that is protected in three suits, and is generally spoken of as being above average, hav- ing more than its share of winning cards. The 33 34 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL other is the '* sporty " no-trumper ; one big solid suit of clubs or diamonds and an outside ace; noth- ing in two suits. Unless the partner is weak in both the other suits, these are big winners, and often go game the moment they get the lead. Before attempting to master the characteristics of a no-trumper, so that he may recognize one at a glance, by rule and not by guesswork, the be- ginner should clearly understand the object in mak- ing such a bid at all as an original declaration. Bids based on previous bids are another matter, to be spoken of presently. When a player names a suit, he shows sure tricks in the suit named, but nothing else. If it is a minor suit, he offers those tricks to his partner; if it is a major suit, he wants to win the tricks himself. When he bids no trump, he shows he can win at least one trick in each of three different suits, but gives no hint as to what those suits are. Every no-trumper has a hole in it somewhere. If It were safe from attack in all the suits, as with four aces, the bid would be two no trumps ; not one. The object in bidding a suit is to show the exact spot at which help may be relied on, either for attack or defense, in case the opponents get the declaration. The object in bidding no trump is to show the partner that the hand has all round help for any- thing he may have to declare that is safer than no trumps. This brings us to one of the most impor- tant rules in auction. AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 35 If a good player bids one no trump he does not want to play the hand. This will probably be met with the immediate retort that every one likes to play no-trumpers, therefore the statement that no good player wants to play the hand on that declara- tion cannot be true. Nevertheless it is true in principle, because the best players .continually bid no trumps — bid them more freely than they ever did — but always in the hope that the partner will be found with a safer declaration in a major suit. " Safety first " is the motto of the modern player. He bids no trumps to show support for a suit that would not be declared by his partner unless that support were promised. If the suit named does not fit the no-trumper, he can go back to no trumps, or call his best suit. We shall come to that on the second round of bids. Many players will not bid no trumps unless they are prepared to support either of the major suits as a trump. Now let us see what constitutes a no-trumper; what are the hands upon which a player would bid no trumps, not with the idea of playing it, but to show his all-round strength to his partner. THE EQUALS OF ACES An excellent idea for the beginner is to start on the theory that three aces is always a no-trumper if he has not five cards in spades or hearts. These are three sure tricks, each in a different suit. Never wait for the fourth suit. If you have three out of four you can take a chance on the other. If you wait for protection in all four suits, you will miss many a game and rubber. No player can afford to con- ceal three sure tricks because he has not the fourth suit stopped. If three aces is a no-trumper, the next thing is to see what combinations of cards are just as good as an ace. If you have no high card but the ace, it is obvious that you can stop that suit only once, and win only one trick in it. It should be equally obvious that if you have not the ace, but hold both king and queen of a suit, you can stop that suit and win one trick in it just as effectually as if you had the ace. The same is true of queen jack ten. All three of these combinations are sure stoppers, as they are sure to win a trick if the suit is persisted in, there- 36 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 37 fore any of them is as good as an ace. The king jack ten might be included, and also such holdings as queen jack nine eight. Many others will reveal themselves to the student who observes hands closely. But at least one of the three suits should actually contain an ace, as otherwise the opponents may score honors against the declaration if it is left in. A no- trumper without an ace is a gamble, and seldom comes up to expectations, no matter who plays the hand. Now let us look at two hands, one of which is the acknowledged no-trumper, containing three aces, and the other is simply its equivalent. A B H. A 3 2 H. K Q 3 C 4 2 C. 4 2 D. A 10 6 2 D. A 10 6 2 S. A 5 4 3 S. Q JIO 3 Hand " A " is the standard, three aces. Hand " B " is its equal in the matter of stopping suits and winning tricks. In fact, most players would prefer hand "B," because of the possibility of winning more than one trick in hearts or spades, while hand " A " holds out no hope of anything but aces. In order to become thoroughly familiar with these no-trump hands, the beginner should deal out a number of hands for himself and consider all those in which he has three suits surely stopped, regard- less of the position of the lead. 38 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL The next thing is to pick out the honors and lay them out in a row. If we do this with hand " B *' we find the honors are: A K Q Q J 10, of different suits. As there are four of each honor in the pack, one of each is the average share of each of the four play- ers at the table. Hand " B " has a queen more than its share, and is said to be a queen above average. Now compare two hands like the following: c D H. A 6 4 2 H. K Q 4 2 C. KJ83 C. KJ83 D. A 10 4 D. A 10 4 S. 5 2 S. 5 2 , All that has been done is to turn the ace of hearts in hand " C " into the king and queen in hand " D." The object is to get different honors, so that they may be laid out thus : A K K Q J lo, of different suits. This analysis, getting at the equivalents of the aces, shows that both hands are a king above aver- age, and therefore either of them is a better no- trumper than either " A " or '' B." It is true that the club tricks are not sure, as ace and queen on the left would kill both king and jack, but it is a fair risk that this combination will " stop " the suit. It is seldom right for any player, and never for the beginner, to bid no trumps on a hand that con- tains five cards in a major suit. The following are examples of bad no-trumpers: AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 39 E F H. A K 10 6 5 H. A C. 7 4 C. Q10 4 2 D. A J 10 D. A J 6 S. AQ 3 S. Q J7S3 Against hand '* E " the opponents made the queen of hearts, king of diamonds and five clubs. It is a game hand in hearts. Against hand " F," they made four hearts, three clubs and a diamond. It was a game hand at spades. XI BIDDING EQUAL SUITS It frequently happens that a player finds himself with two suits which are almost equal when looked at as possible declarations, whether on the first round of bids or in overcalling previous bids. The old idea was to bid the suit of lower value first, so that if the player was doubled he could pull himself out without increasing the contract. This was before the distinction between major and minor suits was so marked as it is now, and doubling one- trick bids has long been out of fashion except in special cases, which none but the expert can handle. The modern theory of bidding equal suits is that the partner may have to deny the one first declared, if he has nothing in it, whether there is an interven- ing bid or not. What the modern bidder wants in such cases is not a place to jump to for safety, but one where his partner can help him to stand up and fight. The theory of modern bidding is to select the higher value suit first, when the two are about equal. No one calls a club if he has a sound heart declara- tion. Suppose the choice lies between the two minor 40 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 41 suits, clubs and diamonds. The diamond should be declared first. If that is overcalled by an opponent, the next bid is two clubs. Now, if the partner likes the clubs better, he lets the bid alone. If he likes diamonds better, he can go back to them by bidding two, which does not in- crease the contract. But if the clubs had been bid first, then the diamonds, and the partner preferred the clubs, he would have to increase the contract to three tricks. Precisely the same principle applies to hearts and spades, no matter under what circumstances the bid is made. The partner must be given a chance to say which he likes the better without having to increase the contract to show his preference. When this system of bidding is thoroughly un- derstood and faithfully followed it carries with it the possibilities of very accurate estimates of the value of the hand by the partner. A player who starts with a minor suit cannot have a game going declaration in his hand, and if he afterwards bids the other minor suit, he cannot have anything re- sembling a trick in hearts or spades, or he would bid no trump in the first place. XII WINNING OR SAVING GAME Before taking up bids that overcall or take out previous bids, attention must be directed to the ob- ject of such bids in general. All bids are aimed at securing the declaration, but remember this: No one wants the declaration unless it will win the game. This proposition will stump nine-tenths of the players to whom it is explained for the first time. There are only two possible reasons for wanting to play a hand that cannot possibly go game; to pre- vent the other side from going game, or to get the benefit of a big honor score, such as four in one hand. If the opponents cannot go game on their declara- tion, and you cannot go game on yours, let them play it. That is the law and the gospel of modern bidding. The old style was to look over the cards and see if they were good for the contract or not. If they were, with average assistance from the partner, the bid was made. The modern player makes a bid on cards that are not good for the contract only when 42 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 43 he does not want to play the hand on that contract. This is what leads him to declare clubs or dia- monds with only two tricks in the suit in his hand. He never wants either of those suits for the trump. When the opponents have made a declaration that is in the game-going class, hearts, spades, or no trumps, the modem idea is to count up the tricks that can probably be made against that declaration. If it seems likely that they will go game, you must bid your hand to its full value, or even beyond it, whether you can go game or not, as long as you think you can make your contract. If they cannot go game, but you may, you must bid. Probably the hardest thing for the beginner to learn is to let the other side play the hand when neither can go game. This is especially true of no trumpers declared against you when you have the lead. If you slip up on the play you may drop ten points more. If they slip up, they drop 50. You are playing with odds of about 6 to i in your favor all the time. What more do you want? The moment you make a bid when you should not do so you offer the opponents the privilege of select- ing the more advantageous of two positions which you have just abandoned. The instant the masked battery is exposed, they can either get out of range or demolish it. If the game is obviously impossible for them and doubtful for you, let them play for the impossible, or they may leave that task to you. But if the game 44 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL is in danger, you must try for the improbable, or even the impossible, in order to save it. If they can bid high enough to get the declaration and win the game in spite of your efforts, you have lost nothing by putting up a good fight. One of the most striking characteristics of the modern player of the best class is his contempt for anything short of game. The beginner attaches too much importance to scoring a few points toward game, and will play to make i8 or 24 when he could have set his opponents for 50 or 100. Many statistics have been compiled to prove the worthlessness of what is called a previous score. Milton Work says the result of an examination of 500 rubbers went to show that only once in twenty- five times was a previous score of any help in win- ning the game. Dr. MacKay, of Philadelphia, and his assistants picked up three different lots of score slips, re- cording actual games played at the club at various times, and audited them. In the first set, 306 of 348 games played were won in a single deal. In the second lot, 346 out of 395. In the third, 367 out of 414. Take this situation. The dealer, on your right, bids one spade. You hold four spades to the king ten nine; ace small in diamonds; two small clubs and the ace jack to five hearts. This hand is a perfectly sound original heart bid, but not against the spade. It is almost certain to win four tricks AtrCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 45 against the spade contract. Can you win ten tricks with hearts for trumps? Count up the losers and you will see it is almost hopeless. Then let the spade contract alone. Play to save the game. Do not waste your time playing to win 16 points, at the risk of losing 50 to 200. On the other hand, you have only three small spades and three small clubs. Then you must bid the hearts, because the opponents may go game in spades and you must make the best defense you can, asking for your partner's help. It is quite possible, althought improbable, that you can win the game in hearts ; but the chief point is the danger of losing it at spades, which danger did not exist in the hand first given. Another situation, the player on your right bids no trump. You hold six hearts to four honors and the ace of diamonds. Sit still and make your seven tricks, setting the no-trumper for 50 at least, with- out a trick from your partner. The player who actually held this hand bid two hearts, because, as he explained, he had four honors, worth 64. The dealer at once bid five clubs and made it. Where were the four honors, worth 64? XIII PARTNER'S WARNING BIDS One of the most important elements in the bid- ding is to warn the partner that he is in wrong ; that the suit he names may be all right, judged from his own hand and general principles, but that he will find little or none of it in his prospective dummy. The average declaration is on five in suit. If the partner has only one or two, there are six or seven out against the declarer, five of which may be in one hand. If the dealer starts with a heart, second hand passing, and third hand bids anything at all, it means one of two things : he has nothing in hearts, or, the suit he bids is much stronger than any aver- age heart declaration. These bids are called take- outs, and are always a warning against persisting with the suit that is overcalled. If the original bid is one trick only, the partner has no reason to assume that it is anything more than an average declaration, conventionally made. If he has a declaration that is much better than average he should not hesitate to make it. Suppose the dealer bids a spade, second hand 46 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 47 passes and third hand finds himself with six hearts to four honors. He should bid two hearts, even if he has three or four spades in his hand, because his hearts are far above the average spade declara- tion. This may meet with an objection about which we shall have a good deal more to say presently. How is the original declarer to know whether his partner is taking him out with two hearts to deny the spade suit, or to show that he has a very power- ful heart suit? The answer is always the same, through every phase of these take-out bids. What does it mat- ter which it is? If it is a warning that he has no spades, the original bidder should be glad to accept it. If it is from greater strength in hearts, he should be glad to let his partner play the hand. There are cases, of course, in which the original bidder has undercalled his own suit, and bid one only when he should have bid two. If that is the case, and he has none of the take-out suit, he can rebid his own suit. The correct bidding when he has nothing in the take-out suit, and does not know whether it is a warning or not, we shall come to when we get to the chapter on '' Shifting the Bid." Suppose the original bid is a heart, and third hand goes to no trumps, he has all the other suits stopped and is trusting you for the conventional winners in the suit you bid, but is too short to let you play that suit for a trump. Here again, if you 48 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL are strong enough to play the hand with hearts for trumps, even if he has none, you can go back to the suit. If the original bid is a minor suit, say one club, and your partner bids a major suit, or no trumps, he is not denying your suit, but accepting it as helpful to his own hand. But if he bids the other minor suit, diamonds, he is warning you that he has nothing in clubs, and is indicating a lead in case the fourth hand gets the winning declaration. Such a take-out should be made only with length in the suit and no possibility of any other declaration. It will often give the original club bidder a chance to try a no-trumper. When the original bid is a major suit and the third hand overcalls it with a minor suit, it is almost invariably a warning, because with any support for the major suit and a few sure tricks in clubs or diamonds, the partner should be only too glad to have you play the hand. If he is so strong in clubs or diamonds that he has a chance to go game, he should " shout," bidding three, instead of two, so that you may know it is not a warning, but a desire to play the hand. A very important rule for the third hand is al- ways to warn his partner against persisting with a no-trumper, when the dummy will have to lay down an absolutely trickless hand. Third hand warns his partner against a suit bid which he cannot as- sist, because it is the suit that is to be depended on AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 49 to win tricks by ruffing. On the same principle, as it is the high cards that are depended on to win the tricks at no trump, the third hand should warn his partner that he has none of them. With a trickless hand, the partner bidding no trump and second hand passing, third hand should name any five-card suit, simply as a warning. If the no-trumper is strong enough to disregard the warning, well and good, as the hand must have been a two-trick bid at the start, and no harm is done. If not, it should let the take-out bid alone if there are three or more cards of that suit in the hand. Five trumps, however small, may make two or three tricks by ruffing, but a Yarborough is ab- solutely worthless as part of a no-trumper. With no five-card suit, you must abandon the no-trumper to its fate. If the third hand happens to have two suits of five cards each, the one of higher value should al- ways be the bid. With five diamonds and five spades, in a trickless hand, bid the spades. The third hand should never take his partner out of a no-trumper with a minor suit of only five cards, except from weakness, or with four honors and strong probability of game. Without a trick in the hand, and no five-card major suit, bid on five diamonds or clubs, simply as a warning. But to declare a short minor suit in which there are two or three tricks, is folly, as that is probably the very suit your partner wants to fill out his no- 50 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL trumper. Suppose you hold four or five clubs to the ace king jack. To declare such a suit may frighten him into dropping the no-trumper and leaving you to make eleven tricks to win the game, when he could have won it with nine. Takeouts in minor suits should be reserved for trickless hands, or hands that will go game. It takes four odd to win with a major suit. If five odd is probable with a minor suit, bid it. There are many cases in which a minor suit will have just as good a chance for game as a major suit would have, the test being usually two extra tricks. Seven clubs to the ace and king, for in- stance, would indicate that the no-trumper had been declared on protection in the other suits and a game in clubs is quite likely. Experience and observation will soon show when such bids are ad- visable. In view of the fact that so many players regard an original no trump bid as an invitation to the partner to declare a major suit, the beginner should be reminded that it is poor policy to bid no trumps on hands which are so short in the major suits that such a takeout would have to be denied. The lone ace of hearts, five clubs to ace and king, five dia- monds to king and queen and two little spades, is a poor no-trumper. Bid the diamond and see who has the major suits. XIV MAJOR SUIT TAKE-OUTS The reasons for the no-trump declaration have already been stated. It is the only way in which a player can indicate that he has three or four sure tricks in his hand, but that they are either scattered, or in the major suits, which are too short to be de- clared as the trump. A dealer who finds himself with the ace king and one small heart, three spades to the ace queen, and five clubs to the king jack has no other bid. To declare the clubs without a sure trick in the suit would destroy his partner's confidence and give him no adequate idea of the real strength of his hand. To declare either of the other suits would be to run the risk of finding most of the trumps in the hands of the adversaries. There is no choice but to bid no trump. But no-trumpers are called on very light hands nowadays, usually on nothing but three suits safely stopped. They are seldom good for more than four or five tricks. If they were, they should bid two no trumps at the start, especially if it is desirable to shut out an adverse suit bid. SI 52 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL There is always a hole in a no-trumper that can- not bid more than one trick, and if the adversaries happen to hit it they may shoot the contract full of holes. It is therefore most important for the third hand to warn the declarer that he is in danger of being set, or to take him out with a contract less fraught with pitfalls. We have already discussed the warning with trickless hands. We come now to the other part of it, the shift to a safer contract. One invariable rule for the third hand is never to leave the partner in with a bid of one no-trump, second hand passing, when you have five or more hearts or spades. It does not matter what these five cards are, whether only nine high or with four honors, and the rest of the hand has nothing to do with it. There are absolutely no exceptions to this rule, and the same principle should be applied to six or seven clubs or diamonds. Even good players frequently object that they cannot tell whether these take-outs in the major suits are from strength or weakness. The reply is that it does not matter which it is. If from strength, it ought to go game with a no-trumper for the dummy. If from weakness, the no-trumper is warned of its danger and advised as to the only suit in which the partner can promise a trick or two, and then only on condition that he is allowed to play the hand. AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 53 The third hand, when he makes the take-out bid, is in precisely the same box as the original declarer. He does not know whether the no-trumper is bid on strength in any particular suit, or is simply what might be called a sketchy one, good for three or four tricks at the most. He hopes to find the no-trumper with three or four cards of his suit, just as the no- trumper hoped to find the third hand with three or four probable tricks in something or other, kings and queens. Many persons object to the modem system of taking the partner out of a no-trumper with five hearts or spades, on the ground that the no-trumper might have gone game, or could at least have made its contract, while the take-out suit can do neither. It is the old argument of the greater difficulty of getting four odd when three odd would have done. If such cases are impartially investigated it will invariably be found that the fault lies with the no- trumper for letting his partner play the hand with a trump suit which the no-trumper is short of. The losses on all such hands are due to the error of leaving the partner to play a suit in which you can give him no assistance, which is just as bad as it would be to leave you to play a no-trumper when dummy has not a card in his hand above a ten. Beginners must expect to meet with many who have the reputation of being very good players who do not believe in these take-out bids, but the reasons for their objections will invariably be found to be 54 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL based on a misunderstanding of the theory upon which they rest. They will probably tell you they have seen " hundreds of hands " in which the no- trumper would have made more if left alone than the take-out makes. Ask them to show you a dozen such hands and they cannot produce a single one in which they can give you the four complete hands, showing all fifty-two cards. The hands they refer to are those in which the no-trumper was not much more than average, and left the partner to play the hand, although the no- trumper had only one or two indifferent cards of his suit, or they are only fragments of hands, which will not stand examination for better bids. I have on file 10,000 recorded deals of 52 cards, which were made by a large number of correspond- ents of the New York Sun some years ago. I have lately examined 2,000 of these and picked out all the no-trumpers that would be taken out with five cards of a major suit, and have found only one in which three odd was the limit at hearts or at no trumps. I find that the probable gain in points by the take- out is worth an average of no points a deal, count- ing the saving of all " set " contracts at 50 a trick, and scoring the tricks won on the contract at their normal value. A common objection is that if the third hand holds high cards, which should be valuable as an assistance to a no-trumper, it is better to play for AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL S5 three odd than four. The answer to this is that the stronger the hand, with a no-trumper for the dummy, the safer the contract with a trump suit. Another objection is that side cards may be such that it is obvious the no-trumper holds the high cards in the suit which the rule requires to be named as a take-out. The answer to this is that the more high trumps there are in the dummy, with five in the declarer's hand, the stronger the declaration. The most conclusive answer to all these objec- tions is that no one but the original declarer knows what he bid no trumps on, and that if he does not like the take-out he can go back to no-trumper (if he really has a no-trumper), without increasing the contract. This increase of the contract is the bugaboo of the loose thinker. Let us suppose the no-trump hand is good for five tricks, but has only two small spades. Dummy has not a trick in his hand, but has five spades to the jack. If this hand is played at no trump, it goes down for two tricks. If it is played at two spades, two of the spades in dummy win tricks, added to the five in other suits, it goes down for one only. This is a saving of 50 points. Any hand that has five trumps should be good for two tricks, even if there is not a face card any- where. At no trumps it is good for nothing at all unless the partner has the high cards of the five- card suit. Any person of average intelligence should be able 56 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL to see that a hand which is good for nothing as part of a no-trumper but which can be converted into a hand that is good for two or three tricks with a trump, cannot lose anything by increasing the con- tract one trick, when it adds two or three to the combined trick-taking powers of the two hands by so doing. A very large number of hands have been pub- lished, showing the value of these take-out bids in important duplicate matches. Take this situation. The dealer bids no trumps on the ace king queen deuce of spades; the king queen jack ten of dia- monds; the queen ten six of clubs and the king nine of hearts. His partner refuses to take him out with five spades to the jack, and the only trick the no-trumper makes is the king of diamonds, losing a little slam. This is from actual play. It was a game hand in spades, dummy having five diamonds and three hearts, no clubs. This shows a loss of 330 points at no trumps, against a gain of 206 in spades, counting the game at 125. This is 536 in favor of the take-out. An error which players should be careful to avoid is persisting with the no-trumper on the chance that dummy can win some tricks in the suit he bids as a take-out. Another common mistake is going back to no trumps because there are high cards in the suit the partner bids. This is usually done on the theory that they have the whole suit between them and can take every AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 57 trick in it, and that these tricks might as well be worth ten points apiece as eight or nine, and that the game can be won with one trick less at no trumps. While this is true it overlooks a very important point. Even if there are five tricks to be made in that suit, trump or no trump, at no trump the cards in the two hands cannot be separated. Five tricks is the limit if there are only five in one hand. The remaining four tricks in other suits must be sure to get the game. But eight or nine cards of a suit between two hands, even with only five in one hand, may account for six or seven tricks if they are trumps. One constantly sees dummy ruffing off one or two little trumps, while the five in the declarer's hand remain intact. At no trumps, this separation of the trick winning powers of a suit is impossible. Another point, which the beginner should never forget : Anything may happen to a no-trumper. Here are a couple of examples : The dealer held ace king small in hearts; ace queen of clubs; king queen of spades, and ace of diamonds. He bid no trump, and when his partner took him out with two hearts, he went back to no trumps. Dummy laid down five hearts to three honors, four to the jack in each black suit and no diamonds. The dealer was quite right in supposing that he would make five tricks in the heart suit at ten apiece instead of eight ; but the adversaries made four diamonds, which 58 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL dummy's hearts would have stopped had they been trumps, king of clubs and ace of spades, setting the contract. ^ One more. Third hand took the dealer out of a no-trumper with six diamonds to the nine. The dealer went back to no trumps, because he had four honors in diamonds, ace king jack ten, the ace king queen of clubs, queen and other hearts, king and one spade. He made the three clubs and two diamonds, but was set 150. The hand is worth five odd in diamonds, although there are three to the queen in one hand. XV PLAYING WITH POOR PARTNERS In society one is called upon to play with all sorts of partners and to make up rubbers that one would never think of cutting into at the club. Of course it is largely a guess game, with little or none of the pleasure to be derived from inference, and things have a way of turning up that are undreamed of, some of the plays being beyond the imagination to account for. Among the endless excuses made by the partner one of the most common is that the players he or she has been accustomed to " do not play that way," or that they " do not know anything about the fine points," and consequently no trouble has ever been taken to pay any attention to the cards as they fall or to attach any special meaning to the bids. But this is assuming that if your partner knows nothing of the sound principles of play the less you know about them the better, and that if both of you pay no attention to the bids or the leads you will be better off than if one of you knew something. To say the least, this is 'curious logic. It is quite true that the inferences from the bids 59 6o AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL and the distinction between major and minor suits are quite lost upon the poor player, but that does not make your bidding unsound. If you never bid a suit originally without the tops, for instance, it does not matter whether your partner attaches suf- ficient importance to that fact or not; neither does it matter whether your partner makes the proper answer to your bids or not, because he or she would not make the proper answer to anything. If it is the good player that has to answer the bids made by a partner that does not know or care any- thing about the conventionalities, the technical knowledge possessed by the good player and his abil- ity to draw correct inferences from sound bidding is of course worthless for the time being. But that is only half of it. He is no worse off than any others at the table in this respect, who know no more about the bidding than he does. It will be found a useful rule when cutting in with those who play " only for amusement," as they ex- press it, to draw no inferences from any declara- tions except that the bidder would like the named suit for the trump, and that if the bid is no trumps it is probably protected in all four suits and about twice as strong as you would bid no trumps on your- self. In answer to the suit declarations of a poor part- ner it is unwise to bid upon anything but sure tricks in your own hand. This conservatism will lead to the loss of many opportunities, of course, through AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 61 your failure to take your partner's bids at their face value; but these losses will be compensated for many times over by the penalties you save through not supporting weak bids and also by the penalties you score against your opponents when you let them play the hand on their ridiculous declarations. It is impossible to lose anything in the long run by sound bidding or good play. The thing that loses when the good player has a poor partner is the good player's failure to make allowance for the fact that the partner's bids are not to be depended on, and this failure on his part must be classed as bad play because he is basing his declaration on facts that do not exist, except in his imagination. XVI TWO-TRICK BIDS AND SHUT-OUTS There are two reasons for bidding two or three tricks right at the start. The first is to show un- usual strength, and the other is to shut out opposing bids. Shut-out bids are for the expert who can judge the full value of a hand. The beginner should not attempt them except when he has seven or eight sure tricks in his own cards. Then he can bid three, trusting his partner for a couple of tricks somewhere. It is useless to make a shut-out bid when you are not afraid of either of the major suits. The time to try a shut-out in spades is when you have no hearts. Two-trick bids show unusual strength. Some players take them as a command to let the declara- tion alone if they cannot support it, but this applies only to the major suits. Two tricks at no trumps usually shows four aces, or a hand that is good for six or seven tricks, no matter what is led against it This should be let alone, unless the third hand has unusual length in a major suit and can ruff one or two suits early. 62 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 63 Even 100 aces may not compensate for the loss of a chance to go game with a suit for the trump. If you hold a hand on which you are willing to bid up to two or three, even without your partner's assistance, and have a reasonable certainty of mak- ing one or two odd on your own cards, bid the full strength of your hand at once if you have any fear of the opponents starting and building up a bid against you in another suit, on which they might go game. In the minor suits, a two-trick bid should mean only one thing, a solid suit, good for five or six tricks, or a suit that one lead will establish, accom- panied by a sure re-entry, the ace of another suit. Six clubs to the king, queen, jack, ten, and an out- side ace is a two club bid at the start. Six dia- monds to the four top honors, without a trick any- where else, is a two diamond bid. These bids practically ask the partner to go no trumps, as they deny any high cards in the major suits. They are technically known as " shouts." If th^ dealer bids a club and the second hand one diamond, that shows nothing unusual, but indicates the best suit to lead in case the dealer's partner gets the winning declaration. If the second hand bids " two " diamonds, however, over the one club, that is a shout. Any trick more than necessary to de- clare the suit is a shout. If the dealer bids a heart and the second player a spade, that does not indicate the strength on which 64 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL the dealer would bid a spade, but shows a spade is the best defense the second bidder has to offer, weak as it may be. If he bids two spades over one heart, that is a shout. If the first bid is a major suit and the second hand bids a minor suit, it is not necessary for him to shout, because good players take all such bids as asking the partner to go no trumps if he can stop the major suit. Suppose the dealer bids a spade and second hand holds five diamonds to the ace king queen, with the ace queen jack of clubs, and four hearts to the king. There is little danger of losing the game in spades, but if the fourth hand can stop the spades, it is a no-trumper. XVII ASSISTING BIDS The general theory of bidding is to start on the assumption that there is no reason why one hand should be any stronger than another, therefore your partner has just as good a chance to hold something as either of your opponents. This refers to a partner who has yet to speak. When you bid one trick in anything, you under- take to win seven out of the thirteen. You have not seven tricks in your own hand by any means, but you trust your partner to win his share of the six you do not bid. That is two. Aces and kings are the only sure winners at auction. Queens unaccompanied by kings or aces do not count. There are eight aces and kings in the pack. Your partner should have his share. That is two tricks. If the dealer starts with a bid of one spade, and the second player overcalls him with two hearts, or diamonds, or clubs, the third hand should not in- crease the spade contract unless he has more than two probable tricks. The third hand should never assist on trumps 6b 66 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL alone, unless he has a singleton, or can ruff the op- ponents' declared suit. His partner does not want trumps. He has them. What he wants is stoppers in the adverse suit and outside tricks. If the dealer starts with a minor suit, say one club, and is overcalled with a major suit, say one heart, it is useless to assist the clubs unless very strong in them, or as a pusher, when the game seems to be in danger, or when the contract is too easy for the opponents. Sit tight, lead the club and try to save the game. That is better than risking being set on a hopeless contract. It sometimes happens that your partner will start with the declaration that you would have made your- self, or one that fits your hand better than anything else, or in which you have much more help than he has any right to expect. These positions are usually favorable for an im- mediate assist, or for a shut-out. Suppose your partner bids no trump, and you have an ace king queen suit and ace queen of another suit. You should make it two no trumps at once, or even three, because if you pass and the fourth hand asks for a lead, your doubling that suit, or even bidding two no trumps, will not have the same meaning at all as if you had bid it when it was a free bid. In the same way, if your partner starts with one heart, and you find you have four small hearts, a singleton ace, and an ace jack ten suit. You AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 67 should bid two or three hearts at once. This tells your partner that he has hit the combination the first time, and urges him to stick to it. The general rule for assisting bids is not to help an original declaration of one trick only, overcalled by second hand, unless you have more than two probable tricks. Do not count trumps unless you can ruff a suit on the second round, especially the opponent's suit. If the original bid is two, or your partner rebids his hand without waiting for you, or in spite of your having passed once without assisting him, then you can assist him with only one sure trick in your hand, especially a high honor in trumps. He should be willing to take a sting if he cannot go game. XVIII THE PARTNER'S SILENCE There are two situations in which the partner may have nothing to say, and there are two principal reasons for his not saying anything in either of them. He may have nothing to say as an original declar- ation, when his partner has yet to speak. That is the first situation. He may have nothing to say when it comes to his turn after his partner has made a declaration of some kind which has been over- called. That is the second situation. He may have nothing worth declaring in his hand in either situation. That is the first reason for si- lence. He may be very well satisfied with the declaration made by his opponents. That is the second reason. It would be hard to say which is the more difficult situation to handle, or the one in which the most mistakes are made ; the original silence or the silence that comes as an answer. The rule adopted by the best players seems to be to credit the original silence with not more than two scattered tricks, and to accept an answering silence as a warning. 68 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 69 This leads to a very useful convention that gov- erns the situation when the silence is original. The third hand should then be at least one sure trick, and one probable trick stronger than it would be for an original declaration, with a partner who is yet to speak. Any good player will bid a heart with five to the ace king and one sure trick, such as the ace of clubs, outside, if his partner has yet to speak. But if the dealer starts with no bid and the second hand passes, the third hand should have not only the five hearts to the ace king, but at least ace king jack of clubs ; or a sure trick in spades or diamonds in addition to the ace of clubs. On the same principle any good playei will bid no trumps on his own deal with three suits stopped and a queen above average; but if the dealer and the second hand pass, the third hand should be good for six tricks in his own cards to bid no trump. The theory underlying this caution is that if the dealer has nothing, an average no-trumper, such as would be legitimate for the dealer himself, would be set, but it should be strong enough to save the game against any adverse declaration. Even if the dealer has a couple of scattered tricks they are not enough to go game if the third hand has only four or five himself, but they are just so much additional strength for the defense if the fourth hand declares anything. In spite of this obvious advantage, countless in- 70 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL stances may be noted in the course of an evening's play in which the third hand will make bids which are no stronger than the usual declarations by the dealer, and will even venture on no-trumpers after the second hand has declared a suit. Here is a typical case, which shows the want of attaching sufficient importance to the dealer's silence. When he passed without a bid, the second player de- clared a diamond. The third hand held four hearts to the ace queen ten; four clubs to the ace and king; four diamonds to the queen jack ten and the lone ace of spades, on which he bid no trump. This is bad bidding. There is not the slightest danger of losing the game in diamonds, but there is no hope of winning it at no trump unless the partner, who has passed without a bid, can win three or four tricks. In the actual game the hand was set, as there were six spades against him in one hand, and the dealer had nothing in hearts. But there are many cases in which the third hand must anticipate the fourth hand, when both dealer and second hand pass. The dealer must be told what to lead, even if he has not a bid that he could make on the second round that he would not make on the first. With five diamonds to the ace jack ten, and an outside trick anywhere, for instance, third hand should bid a diamond if the second hand passes. Such bids are not made with any idea of playing the hand nor of showing the partner where tricks AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 71 can be won to help his declaration, so much as to direct his play in case the opponents get the declara- tion. They are often useful in reopening the bid- ding. The point is that when both dealer and second hand pass, the third hand should declare something definite, some suit, instead of making such an am- biguous bid as no trumps. XIX POSTPONED BIDS One of the most common faults with the begin- ner at auction is that he is in too great a hurry to say something. He seems to be afraid that some one will get ahead of him, or of being left at the post. This undue haste in putting in a bid betrays his ignorance or disregard of two important principles. The first is that if any player gets in a bid ahead of him that reopens the bidding and gives any other player who has passed without a bid on the first round another chance to say what he wanted to say at first. The second principle is that bids which are made after hearing from the other players are much safer than original bids. Another thing that the beginner should be con- stantly reminded of is that you can never contradict the information given by your first bid. You may add to it but you cannot take it back. A player who starts the bidding by naming a suit in which he has no sure tricks cannot deny those tricks by bid- ding the suit again. The more he bids the more tricks the suit is supposed to have in it. 72 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 73 It is this tendency to haste in the bidding, based on the fear that they will never get another chance, that leads so many persons to make original declara- tions, as dealer or second hand, which are unsound. If the distribution of the cards is such that no one else at the table can make a bid of any kind, you are fortunate not to be left in to play an unsound dec- laration. If any other player does make a bid, it may be of such a character that you will be glad you kept quiet. If the dealer begins with a pass and afterward bids one or two hearts he did not have a legitimate original heart declaration. That is, he did not hold two sure tricks in hearts, but he had enough strength in hearts to justify him in making a heart bid, per- haps in order to keep his opponents from getting the contract too cheaply ; perhaps to take his partner out of a less promising contract. The meaning of these postponed bids is not suf- ficiently studied by the general run of players. Suppose the dealer passes and his partner bids some- thing overcalled by the fourth bidder. If the dealer now bids a suit he is simply long in it and is prob- ably denying the suit named by the third hand, if it was a major suit. It frequently happens that both dealer and partner pass the first round. Then the dealer bids a suit over the opponents. He may be credited for having a legitimate bid, if only a defensive one, but his partner should remember that he cannot have two 74 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL sure tricks in the suit, or he would have bid it on the first round. All he has is length. If he sup- ports a bid after passing, his tricks must be in the major suits, which were too short to declare orig- inally. This often happens. XX REBIDDING THE HAND It is matter of common remark that the average player has neither method nor rule for what are called " rebid hands." That is, hands which are bid the second time. Some players get into the habit of increasing their own bids when they have already bid the full value of the hand the first time. This is particu- larly noticeable when the partner has had an oppor- tunity to assist and has refused to do so. There are three distinct classes of rebid hands and any person with any pretensions to being well up in the tactics of the game should be thoroughly fa- miliar with them. 1. A rebid of the same suit shows greater strength than was indicated by the original bid. 2. A rebid that shifts to a minor suit shows more sure tricks in that suit than in the suit first named. 3. A rebid that shifts to a major suit shows fewer sure tricks in that suit than in the one first named. These should be clearly distinguished from suits that are bid on the second round, when no suit has been bid on the first. The dealer or second hand 75 76 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL may pass, for instance, but on the bid coming up to him again may declare two or more tricks in a suit. This is not rebidding the hand. It is simply the conventional way to show length without the tops. Good players usually prefer to bid the full strength of a hand right off, especially when it is desirable to forestall the opponents, who might start a suit if they could bid it cheaply and then gather courage enough to carry it up to a point that would be dangerous to overcall. There are many who do not possess the courage to bid a hand for all it is worth at the start. They either hope to get the contract at an easy figure, or do not appreciate the danger of allowing the op- ponents to get started on another suit. It is important for the beginner to distinguish be- tween rebidding the same suit, and rebidding the hand by shifting to another suit. Here is an ex- ample of rebidding. The dealer declared a heart, second player a spade. The third hand could not support the hearts, but was not afraid of spades going game, as he had four to the jack ten, and a sure trick in clubs, so he passed. When the fourth player passed, the dealer bid two hearts over the spade, and the sec- ond hand at once went two spades. This shows us both forms of the rebid hand. The dealer has rebid his suit after his partner has refused to assist him, The second player rebids AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 77 his hand without waiting to see whether his partner can assist him or not. The conventional meaning of such bids is the same. The player should hold at least six sure tricks, with a probable seventh, in his own hand. It is either a confession that the hand was not bid to its full strength on the first round, or that he is willing to take a " sting " to save the game. The beginner should note the difference between the two bids in the foregoing example in one par- ticular. For all the dealer knows, his partner may have the spade bid sewed up, as he had. His si- lence might have hinted that possibility. The sec- ond player, on the other hand, does not care, appar- ently, whether his partner can beat the heart con- tract or not. When your partner rebids his hand in this man- ner, after you have refused to assist him, or before you have had a chance to do so, if he is overcalled, you should assist him on a single sure trick any- where, even a high honor in trumps. If he can afford to rebid his hand with those cards against him, he can afford to go one trick further with th^i declaration. XXI SHIFTING THE BID An important variation of the rebid hand is the shift on the second round, abandoning the original declaration on account of interference from the opponents or want of support from the partner. It is a very important part of the game, and but little understood, the tendency of most beginners being to give up too soon. Suppose the dealer starts with one no trump, sec- ond and third hands passing, but the fourth hand bidding two clubs. If the dealer bids two no trumps without waiting for his partner, he must have a possible game in hand, in spite of the club suit. But if he cannot stop the clubs, or is too weak to go game in spite of them, he must either pass, and wait for his partner to say something, or he must bid his best suit if it is worth it. Suppose his no-trumper was three small clubs, five diamonds to the ace king jack; ace queen of spades and three hearts to the king queen. He should rebid his hand, without waiting his partner, by declaring two diamonds. This gives his partner a photograph of his hand. Length and strength in 78 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 79 diamonds, both the major suits stopped, but nothing in clubs. Another common case: The dealer starts with one heart, holding five to the ace king ten; four clubs to the ace queen jack; three small diamonds and one little spade. His partner takes him out with one spade, which denies any support for the heart suit. It is a common error in such situations for the dealer to deny the spades by going no trump, on the theory that his partner has the spades. If the dealer's strength were scattered, this would be quite right, and the only way to do it; but with such hands as this the correct way to deny the spades is to bid the supporting suit, clubs. The theory of this shift is that the dealer does not know whether his partner's take-out is from weak- ness or strength, but the partner knows that the dealer has the top hearts. If the spades are trick winners, the partner will go to no trumps, or he will go ahead with the spades if he thinks he has enough to outlast his opponents. Otherwise he will let the club bid stand, or deny it by bidding dia- monds. He must have something. When the second hand overcalls the dealer's major suit with the other major suit, and the third hand can neither assist the first nor stop the second, he should declare anything in which he has sure tricks, so as to give his partner a line on the situa- tion, otherwise his partner may think, from his si- lence, that he has the opponent's suit bottled up. 8o AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL No-trumpers are frequently declared on a long solid minor suit and an outside ace. If the bid is overcalled by either of the opponents, and their suit is not the one in which the dealer holds the ace, he should show his long suit at once, without waiting for his partner, even if his partner has yet to speak, as when the fourth hand bids the suit. This sug- gests to the partner that one sure stopper in the adverse suit will justify him in going on with the no-trumper. All take-out bids are practically shifts to another suit, but they do necessarily imply that it should be the trump. The partner may use the infor- mation to increase his own bid, or he may shift again. Double takeouts are often advisable. A takeout should be denied just as readily as an original bid. Here are some examples from actual play. The dealer and second hand passed. Third hand bid a club, having ace and king to four and five hearts to the king, nothing else. The club bid prompted the dealer to call a spade with five to the king ten, ace queen of hearts to three, and only two small clubs, worthless diamonds. He was left with it and set for three tricks, his dummy having only two little spades. The third hand should have de- nied the spades and bid the hearts, because the dealer's original pass shows he never had a legiti- mate spade bid. There must be some suit in which the two hands AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 81 are able to support each other. The thing is to find it. Another case. The dealer bids no trump, a sporty one on six diamonds to the four top honors and the ace to three clubs, two small hearts and spades. Third hand bid two spades. To deny the spades, the dealer went back to the no-trumper. Then third hand bid three hearts, as he held five to the ace seven in each suit. Instead of continuing his denial of the major suits, and trusting his partner to protect them, bid- ding three no trumps, or four diamonds, the dealer quit in disgust at the repetition of the takeouts, and the heart contract was set for three tricks, with four honors in one hand against it. It was an abso- lutely sure game hand at three no trumps. The difference was 409 points, the game being dupli- cate. Always deny a one trick bid in a suit in which you have only two cards, unless they are both high honors. One of the more common opportunities for the shift is when the original bid is no trump, and the second and third hand both bid suits. The reader has already been advised that if the second hand passes and the third hand bids a suit that the no- trumper is short of, it is safer for him to declare his strongest suit than to go back to no trumps, un- less he is well protected against attack in all three of the other suits. 82 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL Overcalling a no-trumper with a suit in a hand which has Httle or no chance to win the game, but should be able to save it, is a very common error, so common that every player should be prepared to take advantage of it. These second hand bids usually result in driving the no-trumper and his partner into safer declarations. They either warn the no-trumper of his danger or lay themselves open to a double and severe penalties. When the second hand overcalls a no-trumper with a suit, and the third hand has two sure stoppers in that suit, with a probable trick or two outside, he should double, and leave it to his partner to say whether to pursue the no-trumper or play for pen- alties. When the third hand cannot stop the suit at all, or not more than once, such as ace and two small, or when his stoppers are doubtful, such as three to the king jack, he should bid any suit in which he is long or strong; otherwise he should pass. It then becomes the duty of the original no-trump bidder to support his partner or shift, or else to let the op- ponents play it and try to save the game. Here is an interesting hand from actual play. The dealer bids no trump on six clubs to the ace king jack, the ace queen small in diamonds, king nine small in spades, with one small heart. The second hand bid two spades and third hand three hearts, fourth hand passing. The dealer now made the mistake of going back AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 83 to no trumps, expecting the spade lead up to the king, but the leader inferred that he had the spades stopped, and was weak in hearts, so he led the heart and set the contract for one trick. The correct bid was four clubs, the shift being made with a view to seeing whether the third hand was strong or weak in hearts. This bid was made at only one table among the nineteen at which the hand was played, the game being duplicate. When the second hand passed, the third hand denied the clubs by shifting to four diamonds, and went game. His hand was six hearts to the queen, five diamonds to the king, a small club and the queen of spades. Here we have an example of three shifts; from no trumps to hearts, from hearts to clubs and from clubs to diamonds. The king of hearts was led, and then a spade. The declarer won the next trick and dummy led three rounds of clubs, the declarer dis- carding a heart and then trumping. Three rounds of trumps, king first, left dummy in to make three more clubs and give the declarer three more heart discards. Here is another case of repeated shifts. Dealer bids a diamond, second hand holds five hearts to the ace ten; ace king to four spades; ace jack to four clubs, no diamonds, and bids a heart. Third hand goes no trump, fourth hand passes, dealer two dia- monds. Second hand three clubs, still fishing for his partner's support. Third hand three diamonds, fourth hand still passing. Now second hand bids 84 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL three spades, gets it and goes game. His partner had four diamonds to the queen jack, four spades to the jack ten, queen and two small clubs, king and one small heart. Two rounds of trumps and then dummy ruffed out the hearts. There were four hearts and three small trumps on the left. XXII DOUBLING There are three classes of doubles : Sure doubles, when the opponents' contract is impossible; free doubles, when they will go game on the contract if they make it without a double ; and doubles that ask the partner to go ahead with his own bid. The first two are obvious and need no explana- tion, though the beginner should be careful about free doubles and refuse to make them unless it is highly probable, from the bidding, that the contract will fail. Otherwise he is simply making the op- ponents a present of some extra points for nothing. There is one double which the beginner may use all the time with perfect safety, and that is when he holds two sure stoppers in the suit that the second hand calls over his partner's no-trumper, and has a trick or two outside. There are players who will persist in bidding suits against no-trumpers, when they have the lead, and there are others who will persist in assisting their partner's no-trump bid when they have that suit stopped twice, or even once. This is one of the very worst bids in the game. 85 86 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL No one but your partner knows what he bid no trumps on, and the decision as to whether to go on with the no-trumper or play to get penalties from the opponents, should be left to him. If the second player bids a suit over the no- trumper, and you can stop that suit twice, with a trick anywhere else, double the suit bid. Never go two no trumps. Your partner can do that if he wants to, without increasing the contract. Endless chances for heavy penalties are lost by forgetting this simple rule. This is about the only double that can be safely trusted in the hands of any beginner. There are two others that he may watch opportunities for and experiment with occasionally. They are valuable chiefly with good partners. If the player on your right bids no trump, and you have a very good no-trumper yourself, two courses are open to you. You can bid two no trumps and chance it, or you can double. In many cases the safer plan is to bid two, as you cannot lose the game if you play the hand. Your partner will take you out with any five card suit in either case, unless the suit is a minor one and he has good cards in it, in which case he will go two no trumps if you have doubled, or let you alone if you have bid the two. The other case is when the dealer bids a suit, and you have nothing in it, but have a no-trumper in the three other suits. Some players double the suit AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 87 bid. This commands the partner to go no trumps if he can stop that suit in case it is led up to him. If he cannot do this, he may call a suit of his own, or leave the double alone, according to his judgment of the possibilities of his own cards. As an example of such a double, the dealer bid one diamond. Second hand had ten and deuce only, but he held ace queen deuce of hearts ; ace king ten small in clubs; ace queen jack in spades. His part- ner bid spades on four to the ten, as he could not stop the diamonds, and they went game. This is a dangerous double in any but experienced hands and is more likely to do harm than good. It is much safer to bid a suit, or to sit tight and save the game. XXIII BIDDING AGAINST NO-TRUMPERS When the player on your right starts the bidding with one no trump he gives no indication of strength or weakness in any particular suit. He is often taking a chance, and if he is left alone he may be oadly set ; but the moment any one takes him out of it he either subsides or shifts to a safer bid. The second bidder should never forget that every no-trumper has a hole in it; one weak spot in the armor, and that if this spot can be found the oppo- nents will not only save the game but may score heavy penalties. A very good player bid no trumps on ace king queen small in spades, king queen jack ten in diamonds, queen ten and small in clubs, and the king and nine of hearts. The second player said nothing, but led a small club, and the king of dia- monds was the only trick the declarer made. Had the second hand bid clubs, third hand would have bid spades and gone game, as he had no clubs. There are two things for the second hand to re- member when a no-trumper is declared on his right. The first is that he will have the lead, so there is no AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 89 need to show the partner a suit by bidding it. Leading it will do that most effectually. The sec- ond is that the third hand may take out the no- trumper with a suit. In that case the no-trumper will be laid on the table, and its weak spots exposed. This brings us to one of the most important rules in the game for the beginner, perhaps the most im- portant of all that apply to the first round of bids. If beginners and many of those who are not begin- ners would paste it on the edge of the table in front of them it would save them several hundred points every time they play. The rule is this : If the player on your right bids no trump, let him play it, no matter what you hold. The expert knows there are several exceptions to this rule, but the perception of the exceptional situ- ation is based on ripe judgment, which the beginner does not possess. The state of the score, for instance, may show that if the dealer is left in with his no-trumper he may go game with only the odd trick, or the second player's hand may be such that there is a fair chance or even a certainty of winning the game against a no-trumper, or he may see that he has a perfectly safe bid for two or three tricks, which will at least force the no-trumper just a trick beyond what it can make. Many a hand that can make two odd and go game cannot make three. But all such matters require the exercise of nice judgment and a certain ability to calculate the value 90 AUCTION BRIDGE lOR ALL of hands. For the beginner, the safe rule is always to pass, because one of three things must be the case if the second bidder has not a game hand, without any assistance from his partnen 1. If the declarer can aJfford to go on with his no- trumper in spite of the opposing suit call the second bidder is simply wasting his breath. 2. If the declarer cannot afford to go on and say two no trumps all that has been accomplished by overcalling him is to warn him of his danger and either drive him to a safer bid than no trumps, or allow him to use his strength to defeat the opposing trump declaration. A hand was played not long ago in which a no-trumper was overcalled by two hearts, and the no-trump bidder at once said five clubs and made them against any possible distribu- tion of the cards. 3. If the second hand is strong enough to make his contract, but not the game, against the no- trumper, he is wasting his time in playing from six to nine points a trick, instead of for fifty. It is practically impossible for a no-trumper to go game if the second player is strong enough to win eight or nine tricks against it with a declared trump. Even the best players sometimes make the mistake of overcalling a no-trumper second hand when cooler judgment should tell them that there is a much better chance for penalties than for game, it being a recognized principle that nothing short of game is worth playing for. AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 91 But when we come to the fourth hand the circum- stances are entirely changed. He has not the lead and his partner has no idea where his strength lies, nor what suit promises the best defense against the no-trumper. It frequently happens that the fourth hand has a suit of five or six cards, not solid, but headed by two or three honors and supported by a reentry, which would be just about enough to save the game against a no-trumper if he could get the suit led and estab- lished before he lost his reentry. If he is left with his declaration, the no-trumper is probably weak in that suit, and although 50 or 100 points may be lost, a game has been saved that might easily have been lost if the partner opened the wrong suit. Such hands are usually those which contain a suit that will be cleared if the partner has any honor to lead, or which have possible reentries enough to stand the loss of two tricks to clear the suit. Sup- pose fourth hand holds five diamonds to the ace jack ten; king jack and small in spades and ace of hearts. If his partner has either king or queen of diamonds the suit is cleared at once, no matter who has the other honor. If the partner has neither, one will be forced out the first round and the player can still get in once, force out the other honor and still have a reentry. If he makes only three diamonds, they are enough to save the same if he makes both his reentry cards. Such bids are always made with a view to saving 92 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL the game, if it can be saved, not with any idea of going game against a no-trumper, and they are al- ways sacrifice hits, quite wilHng to take a sting if left with the contract. The other side can never win the rubber if they do not play the hand. It is almost impossible for the bid to do any harm. If the second hand had a suit that would set the no- trumper, that cannot be the suit his partner holds, and the two things could hardly be held together, a second hand that would beat a no-trumper and a hand strong enough to ask for a lead. If they were, they should go game if the bidding is properly followed up. XXIV THE NULLO DECLARATION Although the official laws of the game refuse to recognize the nullo, and it is nowhere played in the clubs that do not play cards for fun, there are still many who like this addition to the game, and in order to give those who are interested in it some idea of its tactics, the following brief description is ap- pended. The nullo is a contract to lose tricks, and the player bidding it undertakes to win not more than six out of the thirteen, the declaration being always at no trumps. If he bids one nullo, he means that his opponents will get one trick over the book at no trump in spite of their efforts to present him with as many tricks as they can. Instead of bidding upon what he will make himself, as in the regular game of auction, in nullos he bids on what his adversaries will make; not by their own good play, but by his compelling them to take the tricks. It will not require more than an hour's experience with the new declarations, provided there is at least one person at the table who knows something of the 93 94 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL bidding tactics and play, to convince any person that there is more fun in the nullos than in any other declaration in the game. While those who have played skat or solo whist or boston have an advantage in their knowledge of the way dangerous suits should be managed, the tactics and the conventions he has learned in those games apply to the single player against two or three opponents. The exposed dummy and the necessity of getting rid of dangerous cards in two hands, which must be played in combination, opens up a new field, which has interests of its own. The chief difficulty in playing nullos lies in the bidding. It is the uncertainty attached to this part of the game that has led those who play auction for a stake to be so prejudiced against it. Owing to the fact that the nullo is usually bid by the hand that is safe against attack, it is the dangerous cards in the partner's hand that are exposed in the dummy. This has led to the very general practice of exchang- ing the hands of declarer and dummy, as soon as the last bid is made. It is not as easy to lose tricks as it looks, especially when the other side is trying to give them to you. The taking powers of a five spot are some- times remarkable in playing nullos, and the way aces and kings can be discarded is rather astonishing to the novice at the game. But there are a number of fine points in connec- tion with the tactics of playing nullo which are to- AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 95 tally foreign to anything the average bridge player is familiar with. It will no longer be a game of aces and kings, but of deuces and treys. Some writers condemn the nuUo as an individual speculation, and suggest that it is not a partnership game, and presents no opportunities for subtility of inference. That such opinions are based more on imagination and prejudice than on experience must be evident to any one who has played boston, or skat, or solo whist, or nada, or cayenne. In the first place, there is no declaration which is based so clearly upon the partner's initiative as the nullo. No better evidence of this can be offered than the fact that it is seldom or never necesssiry to take the partner out of a nullo bid. XXV SCORING AT NULLOS The present rank of the suits in bidding at auc- tion is clubs 6, diamonds 7, hearts 8, spades 9, nullos 10, and no trumps 10. While the last two are of the same value, the no-trumper will outbid the nullo, no matter which bid is made first. This is a point on which some persons appear to get confused. If A bids a nullo one no-trump will overcall it, although the nullo was bid first and is worth 10. If the no- trump is bid first it will take two nullos to overcall. The nullo may be doubled and redoubled once, just like any other declaration, and 50 or 100 may be scored for little or grand slam, but there are no honors to be scored by either side. The player bidding a nullo names the number of tricks over the book that he will compel his op- ponents to take, not the number of tricks he will take himself. Some persons have an idea that a nullo player names the actual tricks he will win regardless of any book, so that if he bids four nullos he under- takes to win only four actual tricks. This is a mis- take. If that is what he means he should bid three nullos, which is a contract to make the opponents 96 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 97 take three tricks over the book, leaving the declarer with four tricks. The score is always counted by the number of tricks taken by the opponents of the declaration. If the bid is three nullos by Y and Z and it found that A and B have won three by cards, then Y-Z have made good on their contract. If A-B have won four or five by cards then Y-Z are so much over their contract and score for the extra tricks, just as they would for tricks won over the contract in a positive declaration. The penalties are counted in the same way. Sup- pose Y-Z are the declarers, to make three nullos, and at the end of the hand A and B have won only two by cards. The nullo contract is set by one trick, losing 50 points penalty in the honor column ; 100 if doubled, 200 is redoubled. In case of a revoke the tricks are given to the re- voking side, instead of being taken from it. Sup- pose the contract is four nullos by Y-Z and at the end of the hand A-B have won only two by cards, but have revoked. As the hand stands the nullo contract has failed by two tricks, but if the side not in error gives three tricks to A-B they will have won five by cards, and the nullo contract has not only been fulfilled but has a trick over, and scores five by cards, or 50 toward game. If the declarer of the nullo revokes he scores nothing at all, and the other side takes 100 penalty in honors for the revoke, in addition to any penal- 98 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL ties for a failed contract, but no tricks are given in this case, as the opponents of the declaration never take tricks in penalty, only points. Suppose Y-Z have bid four nullos and revoke while A-B win only three by cards. The contract has failed for a trick. That is 50 points. The revoke is 100 more. This is 150. XXVI THE BIDDING AT NULLOS Time and experience will show just by what scale to measure hands up for nullos and will undoubt- edly suggest certain conventions such as are now thoroughly well understood in straight auction. These will gradually become as intelligible a lan- guage to the partner as anything we now have in the game. One thing seems already to be pretty well estab- lished, and that is the risk that a dealer quite need- lessly runs in bidding nullos originally, and that a nullo player need never expect to get the contract for less than three tricks, although he may hold it for two if the hands are pretty well split up. If it is true that few nullo contracts can be ob- tained for less than three tricks there can be no harm in inducing the partner to bid one or two nullos as a starter. The reason that the dealer should avoid original nullo bids is that they are non-inf ormatory as to the length and distribution of the suits. An original pass shows a hand below average in high cards. If the cards are still high enough to be unsuitable 99 100 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL for a nullo, such as eights, nines, and tens, the dealer can show it by refusing to support his part- ner's nullo declarations. If they are deuces and treys, he should support the nullo, just as he would support a no-trumper with aces and kings. It is now conventional to bid two tricks on either of the losing suits, clubs or diamonds, when they offer unusual support for a no-trumper, such as A K Q and three others ; but to bid two tricks on the winning suits, hearts and royals, only when a no- trumper is not wanted. But if the nullo declaration is to be part of the game all two-trick bids in minor suits should indi- cate a hand suitable for either no trumps or nullos. The high cards must be good for no trumps; the small cards for nullos. This is one of the difficul- ties of the nullo bids. The A K Q 5 3 2 would be an excellent nullo suit; but the A K Q 9 8 7 would not. The inter- mediate cards," the seven to the jack, are very bad nullo combinations when without smaller cards, so that the dealer should not bid two tricks unless he is safe in the suit, having the deuce, and one or two others below the seven. No long suit is safe without the deuce. As a general rule, any original bid of two tricks in a minor suit should convey to the partner an opportunity to choose between two declarations. Under the present system a two-trick bid in hearts or spades means " Let me alone, no matter what you AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL loi have. I want this suit for the trump." With nullos added to the game two tricks bid in a minor suit should mean, " if this suit is no use to you as the trump, or part of a no-trumper, perhaps you can shift to a nullo with advantage to both of us.'* The dealer's partner, in considering a nullo bid, must calculate to win some tricks. If he waits until he has nothing but deuces and treys and some assurance that there will be nothing but fours and fives in the dummy, he will be like the timid persons who never bid no trumps unless they have sure tricks in all four suits. When third hand is en- couraged to start a nullo by the dealer's show of weakness, he must be prepared to drop it if the dealer does not support it. But if the dealer sup- ports the nullo bid, after having started with a pass or a two-trick bid, the third hand should feel pretty safe in pursuing the declaration, even if he has several high or intermediate cards in his hand. Singletons and even two-card suits are very use- ful in nullos, as they allow discards in other suits, but they are more valuable in the concealed hand than in the dummy, as that is the hand that will profit most by getting discards which the adversaries might otherwise prevent. If a nullo is declared by one partner and the other has the low cards in two suits, but holds in- termediates in a third, he may be pretty well as- sured that his partner has the smaller cards in that suit and the opponents will not have small cards 102 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL enough to force more than one trick in it, if that even. One partner will often take a chance on one suit, with low cards in the others, and if the other has very low cards in any suit, that will usually be found to be the suit his partner has taken the chance on. Just as in a no-trump bid by the dealer, if the third hand finds he has all the winners in one suit, that is usually the suit the dealer took a chance on finding against him. The great difference between the nullo or negative bids and the positive bids is that the nullo depends so much on the partner. Seven top hearts are good for seven tricks, no matter what partner has, but seven small hearts are not sure losers at nullos. We base all no trump bids on averages. The rule is a queen above average and three suits stopped. Of course, it does not always win out, and seldom gets the contract without further bidding, but any good player will take the chance time after time, night after night, and find it pays in the long run. The same principle that wins out on the average with the high cards, queen above average, can be applied to the small cards at nullos. In no trumps you bid on the presence of the high cards ; in nullos on their absence. Z deals and announces this absence of the high cards by passing. Y looks over his cards and finds he has not more than two tricks himself. Then the adversaries must have about nine. What can the third hand lose by challenging them to bid up their AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 103 hands? If the dealer does not support the nullo, it can be dropped. Take this case. H. J 10 C. Q J 8 4 3 2 D. 10 8 S. K Q 2 H. 7 43 Y H. AK 86 C. K 9 6 A B C. D. J 9 D. A K Q 6 5 3 S. A J 9 7 4 z DEALER H. Q 9 5 2 C. A 10 7 5 D. 7 42 S. 8 3 S. 10 6 5 Z passes. A might bid spades or pass. Which- ever he does, Y would bid clubs in the ordinary- game to suggest a lead if B should bid, and B would say two diamonds, and with his partner's support could go game by trumping the first round of clubs if Z led the ace, as all the tricks left for Y and Z would be two spades. But with nullos in the game Y is not restricted to the club suit. He can bid a nullo. He has seven honors in his hand, it is true, and his partner may have three or four more. What of it? What does Y risk by bidding a nullo? Some persons would think such a bid was mad- ness with nothing smaller than eight in one suit, ten 104 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL in another, and only one small card to the king and queen in a third. But if his partner has no bid to start with, where are all the high cards ? B overcalls the nuUo with three diamonds, a " shout." Z supports his partner with three nullos, showing that he has unusually small cards. A bids four diamonds. Now Y and Z have got them go- ing, and Y says four nullos, which takes five dia- monds to overcall. At this B balked, having five losing cards, so he thought he would see if A wanted to go any further, but A did not. Now let us see what happens to the ten honors that the Y and Z hands hold between them. They are half the honors in the pack, but they are below the average. That is the point. Three tens, two jacks, three queens, a king and an ace, with no suit in either hand shorter than two cards, there- fore no opportunity to discard until the third round. B led the interior spade six and Z played the eight, A the seven and Y the king. Y then led the jack of hearts, underplayed it with dummy*s nine so as to win the ten of hearts with the queen and discard the spade queen on the five of hearts, dummy keep- ing the deuce. There is no escape from this for A and B. If B wins either first or second heart and leads another spade, Y wins it and leads the low spade after the hearts are gone. The nullo player does not guarantee to lose thir- teen tricks, and his game is not to make all his high cards take tricks separately, as it is in a no-trumper. AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 105 The auction player strives to make three tricks with the ace, queen, jack, and thinks it a misfortune if he makes two only. The nullo player aims to make one only with those three cards, or none at all, and where the auction player strives to separate his win- ning trumps the nullo player tries to bunch all the high cards in a suit. It is remarkable how the big cards can be bunched together on the tricks that must be won, and suits that would be good for four or five tricks at no trumps can often be got rid of for one or two at nuUos if they are managed well. It is a fallacy to suppose that nuUos must be all deuces and treys and that high cards are fatal to success. If the other side have enough high cards they must bid them up to get the play. There is frequently a doubt as to whether it is better to play the hand as a nullo or with a suit declaration, although there is never any doubt as between a nullo and a no-trumper. Some players have an exaggerated idea of the value of a trump suit, and while such a suit may be strong enough to carry out a contract it may not be the best dec- laration for the combined hands by any means. Probably one of the first things to attract the at- tention of the beginner will be the necessity of warning the partner that the nullo bid will come to grief if persisted in. Some players seem to be unnecessarily anxious about the matter and to imagine that unless they io6 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL have a hand full of deuces and treys their partner will have to win every trick. They forget that the partner who bids the nullo must have those deuces and treys, and if they have the sixes and sevens, there is nothing left for the opponents but high cards. XXVII PLAYING A NULLO HAND One of the principal errors into which the begin- ner is likely to fall is leading out the smallest cards too early in the hand, and giving the other side an opportunity to get rid of their high cards at once in bunches. Interior leads are very important in play- ing nullos. Another important thing in playing nullos is the control of the lead. While it is true that taking the lead means winning a trick, it is also true that winning a trick early in the hand may save three or four later on. It is the old plan of ducking the first round of a long suit so as to catch all the high cards later, but just reversed. Every beginner at the game will naturally proceed to get rid of all his high cards at every opportunity to do so when he does not have to win a trick with them. If the adversaries play an ace, why not shed the king of that suit? After having successfully skinned his hand down to spot cards in this manner without taking in a trick he will imagine that he has been pretty lucky, but there will be occasions in which he will find that he has simply rendered 107 io8 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL himself powerless for purposes of defense at the end. It is an axiom in all nuUo games that it is dan- gerous to be without the lowest card of your long suit, because the adversary that holds the lowest card may lead the suit until only you and he have any of it left. After taking out of your hand all the cards with which you could get rid of the lead he puts you in with your long suit and you take the rest of the tricks. The situation is often brought about without the suit being led more than once, the partner of the holder of the small card giving his partner discards of the higher cards in that suit. The defense to this attack is to get the lead and take out that small card before you get skinned down to that one suit. In order to do this you must keep some of your high cards instead of throwing them under higher ones or you cannot control the lead. In playing against a nullo, there are several points to be studied. The most important thing is to give the partner discards, and to secure them the player usually starts with his shortest suit, or leads an in- terior card from three or more. The next thing is to keep the smallest cards of suits which the de- clarer may be obliged to win at the end of the hand. It is astonishing how badly a nullo may be de- feated if the adversaries can give each other dis- cards. The trick of getting the player with a long suit AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 109 out of all the other suits so that he cannot get rid of the lead at the end, when he particularly wants to do so, is a part of the game that requires skilful management. Reverse Bids A number of players who have realized the diffi- culties attending the declaration of the nuUo, and uncertainty of the outcome, owing to the interfer- ence of the partner's hand, have adopted a substi- tute which is known as reversed bids, the idea being to make the smallest cards of each suit win tricks, instead of the highest. The rank is therefore from the deuce trey four down to the queen king ace. In bidding and scoring, the reverse bids have the same numerical value as in the regular game, but a straight bid outranks a reverse bid, so that it would take three clubs reversed to overcall two clubs. Two hearts, whether reversed or not, still overcall two diamonds or clubs. There are no honors, and when one suit is re- versed, all are reversed. The difference between the reverse and the nullo lies in the fact that the declarer is still playing to win tricks ; not to lose them, so that if he holds the six smallest spades in the pack, and can get the declaration on " reversed spades " he is still certain of six trump tricks, no matter what his partner has. Any suit can be reversed, or the bidder can declare a reversed no-trumper. PART 11. THE PLAY XXVIII PLAYING THE HANDS There are some who will tell you that the bidding- is everything in auction, and that the play of the cards does not amount to a hill of beans. One might as well say that the bidding on the new sub- ways was everything, and that the carrying out of the contracts in the actual construction was of little or no importance. In a club declaration, the winning or losing of a single trick may make or break the contract and make a difference of 56 points. The same trick, lost or won by precisely the same play, might make a difference of 670 if the contract were three no trumps doubled, and it was the rubber game. There are certain recognized principles of play, usually spoken of as " conventions," in all games of cards, and it is the social duty that every one owes to others to learn these conventions before sitting down to play in company. To undertake to make up a rubber at Auction Bridge without knowing any- thing of its principles, is as bad as offering to dance with a partner without knowing any of the steps. no AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL in While a great deal must be left to be gained from experience at the card table, reverses of fortune usually ripening the judgment, there are many things which can be learnt from the text-book, and there are others of which the text-book can give hints which are sufficient to enable a player to rec- ognize the general situation in actual play. All examples in a text-book should be gone over with the actual cards, and if the reader will take the trouble to study the following tactics with the cards before him, the principles enunciated should be mas- tered without much difficulty, and the result should be a certain confidence in one's ability to play cor- rectly. The tactics of the play fall naturally into two distinct parts; that of the partners opposed to the winning declaration, who are invariably on the de- fensive, and that of the declarer, who is continually striving for his contract and the game. The difference between these two lies in the in- completeness of the partners' knowledge of each other's hands, as opposed to the declarer's advantage of having his partner's entire hand exposed, while his own is concealed. If either or both partners have made a bid, some, clue is given as to the general character of the hand, but the details must be filled out by careful play. One of them has bid a club, and it is his lead. What has he in clubs? Are there any holes in his sequence of high cards or not ? Again ; one partner 112 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL has bid a heart, and his partner has assisted him once. It is the partner's lead. Upon what did he assist? Some high hearts, or winners in other suits? All these things must be developed in the play. " What difference does it make," says the un- taught player, " whether I lead the ace or the king, when either of them will win the trick ? " To which the partner echoes, " What does it matter whether I put on the king or the queen third hand if a small card is led, when nothing but the ace will win the trick?" The answer is, no difference, if the winning of the trick is the only object in view and the partner does not care what you have. When the declarer is playing a suit, he can do what he likes. He can- not deceive his dummy, neither can dummy mislead him. But with the partners opposed to the de- clarer the case is quite otherwise. Information is their only salvation. The moment dummy's cards are laid down the declarer can see exactly what high cards are against him in each suit. This advantage is roughly esti- mated as being worth at least a trick on every hand the declarer plays. Unless the adversaries can reach some knowledge of the distribution of the cards, approaching, if not equalling that of the declarer, they are bound to lose a trick a hand, perhaps two or three, some of which AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 113 might have been saved, " had they only known," as they express it, after the debacle. This fact being clearly recognized by all good players, they follow certain standard conventions, which are known all over the world and which have been found to produce the best average results, re- gardless of individual lapses. The most important of these conventions of play, those which every beginner should know, may be grouped in some such manner as this : 1. Leads, that show what high cards are against the player and are therefore in the hand of the de- clarer if they are not in the dummy. 2. Echoes, which show how many cards of the suit are in the hand of the partner, and, sometimes, what those cards are. The return of the leader's suit is practically a completed echo. 3. Discards, indicating protection in suits that have not been led, or the command of suits that the partner may be doubtful about. As the first play in every hand is made by the partners opposed to the declaration the beginner should study that part of the game first, leaving the declarer's play until later. There is a marked difference in leading against a trump declaration and against no-trumpers, and they must be separately considered, because they are al- most entirely different games. In playing against trump declarations the object is to get home all the 114 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL tricks you can before the declarer draws your little trumps and brings in his long suit, because on this long suit in one hand he will discard the losing cards he holds in another suit, in which you prob- ably hold the high cards. But in playing against no-trumpers, there is no suit in which the deuce will be better than your ace of another suit. Each of the four suits has an equal chance, and in playing against a no-trump declara- tion your object should be to make the small cards of your longest suit good for tricks, keeping the high cards in other suits for reentry. With two such suits as ace king jack alone in one, and ace with four small ones in the other, against a trump you would make your aces and kings at once. Against a no-trumper, you would lead a small card from five to the ace. There is no trump suit to kill your high cards in the shorter suit. There are two golden rules for the beginner in playing against a trump declaration: Get a look at dummy's cards before losing the lead if you can ; and, Don't carry home any aces. The declarer having picked out the trump to suit himself may be expected to put it to one of two uses. To pull your trumps and make his long suit ; or, if he has no good plain suit, to make his trumps separately by ruffing. The cards he is going to ruff are your winning cards. It is your business, as his adversary, to divine his object as quickly as pos- AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 115 sible and take steps to defeat it. Let us look at a few general principles of leading against either dec- laration. XXIX SELECTION OF THE SUIT Against a trump declaration : If you have any suit headed by both ace and king, which is not the trump, lead the king, regard- less of what the bidding has been. This gets the essential look at dummy's cards while you still hold the lead. For the second trick, if your partner has declared a suit, lead him the best card you hold in it. Then he knows you still have the ace of the suit you led first and can put you back into the lead at any time. If you have no ace-king suit, lead the best card of the suit your partner has declared. If he has not declared anything, lead any suit headed by two touching honors, such as king queen, or queen jack, and always lead the higher honor of the two when neither of them is the ace. Length in suit is unimportant; high cards are everything. Leads from ace-king suits are the best of all ; leads from three honors in sequence come next; leads from two in sequence come next. Leads from suits headed by a single honor that is not the ace are the worst of all openings. ii6 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 117 Avoid, if possible, all suits headed by honors that are not in sequence; such as ace and queen; king and jack, or queen and ten. If all your plain suits are of that nature, lead the trump and wait for the plain suits to be led up to you. Trumps should not be led originally unless all the plain suits are worse leads than the trump suit. We shall come to the small-card leads presently, which are from suits headed by honors not in se- quence. With four trumps, it is usually bad policy to select a short suit, hoping for a ruff, if you have any good long suit. You may get an early force on the five-trump hand, and then you have just as many trumps as the declarer and just as good a chance to make your suit as he has to make his. It is also bad policy to select a singleton suit for your opening unless you can stop the trump lead at once, so as to try your partner on some other suit, if he cannot win the suit first led. A very important thing to remember is that if you have declared a suit, and your partner has not, he may be depending on you to lead that suit, and there is only one excuse for refusing to lead the suit you have declared or the suit your partner has made a bid on, and that is a singleton, in a suit which you can ruflF. Against no-trump declarations. Unless you have three honors in sequence, it is useless to lead high cards at once, except in your ii8 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL partner's suit, if he has declared one. There is no need to look at dummy, so that the selection of an ace-king suit for that purpose is a waste of good material. Those high cards might kill the declar- er's queen and jack if you keep them. In a no-trumper, the declarer is usually strong or well protected in three suits, and your only chance is to pick out his weak spot, or to break down some of his protection before he gets his long suit es- tablished. A suit is said to be established when the player can take every trick in it, no matter by whom it is led. The lead is a great advantage at no-trump and the eldest hand should be careful not to throw it away. The first lead gives you the first move toward get- ting a suit established, which is very important. For this reason it is folly to waste the lead by open- ing a suit in which you can accomplish nothing. Having no suit of your own, headed by both ace and king, always lead the suit your partner has de- clared, and always begin with the best card of it. But if you have an ace-king suit, lead the king be- fore you lead your partner's suit, so that he may know what to do when his suit runs out. If he has not made a bid, there is no object in leading your ace-king suit unless it is the longest you have. Against a trump declaration, high cards are every- thing, as we have seen, and length is nothing unless jovi h^ye length in trumps with it. Against a no- AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 119 trumper, length is everything, and high cards should be held back. Suppose the winning declaration is no trumps and you hold five hearts to the ace; ace king small in clubs; one diamond, and four spades to the king. If you begin with the singleton, you accomplish nothing except to deceive your partner. If you be- gin with the clubs, you will probably find you have established the suit in the hands of the declarer. If you lead a spade, you are probably walking right up to his ace and queen. But if you select the heart suit, leading a small card you get four of that suit out of your way, per- haps some of the high ones. On getting in with your black suits you can very likely establish three of your hearts and win tricks with them. If you do, the game is saved, even if your partner never takes a trick in anything. XXX THE CARD TO LEAD The selection of the suit secures your partner's cooperation in its development. The selection of the card led from that suit shows him its possibili- ties as a trick winner, if it is your suit; or what is against him in his. The object of selecting certain cards when others are equally sure of winning the trick is to affirm or to deny the possession of certain other cards. To the partnership opposed to the declaration this is vital. Sometimes the lead affirms only; sometimes it denies only; at times it does both. There are three simple rules that govern all the opening leads of high cards when the suit is not led because the partner has asked for it by his dec- laration. 1. A king led shows that the ace or the queen, or both those cards, are behind the king. 2. An ace led denies the king, or shows seven or more in suit when led against a no-trumper. It is also led from A Q J. 3. A queen or a jack led denies any higher cafd in the suit, but a jack is sometimes led from A J 10 at no trumps. 120 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 121 From all combinations of cards that are not headed by two or more honors in sequence, and which are not your partner's declared suit, lead your fourth-best, counting from the top. From K 9 8 7 2, for instance, lead the seven. Never lead a two-card suit, unless it is the trump. If you have to avoid certain suits, headed by honors not in sequence, lead the top of three indifferent cards, none as good as a queen. Two-card suits are impossible for partner to read. These rules are all that are necessary for the beginner for the opening leads. Do not bother yourself with exceptions; they would only confuse you now. Secondary leads we shall come to pres- ently. It is quite true that in many cases it does not mat- ter whether the combination of cards held is cor- rectly led from or not, but correct leading is vital with a good partner, and every now and then there comes up a hand in which a lead that deceives the partner may cost several tricks, or even the game and rubber. If it makes no difference, why not do the correct thing? Every one likes to have a player of recognized skill for a partner, but such players avoid unreliable partners as they would the plague. The whole game of the skilful player rests upon his inferences as to the location of certain cards, and if he has a partner that deceives him all the time, how can he hope to bring his skill into play? He is practi- 122 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL cally opposed by his own partner as much as by the declarer. Nothing is more instructive than laying out the actual cards and playing over a hand, following the play step by step, noting the inferences upon which the critical plays are based. Take this deal, which is from actual play. A is a poor, player, quite elated at having such a good player as B for a partner. The hand is typical of situations that are con- tinually cropping up in some form or other at the card table and illustrates the consequences that may at any time flow from such a simple initial error as an incorrect opening lead. H. 10 3 2 C. none D. 8 6 5 3 2 S. AQ J 7 6 Y H. 7 5 H. 8 6 4 C. AKJ73 A B C. Q642 D. K 9 7 D. J 10 4 S. 10 84 z S.K9S DEALER H. A KQ J 9 C. 10 9 8 5 D. AQ S. 3 2 Z bid two hearts, having four honors in one hand. Every one passed and A led the ace of clubs. This lead is a direct violation of convention and AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 123 deceives no one but the partner. A should have led the king of clubs, which shoves either ace or queen behind it. As B has the queen himself he would know A had the ace. But the ace denies the king, and by this denial marks that card as in the hand of the declarer. Now let us see what consequences flow from this initial error. Dummy trumps- and the declarer takes out three rounds of trumps, remaining with the lead in Z's hand. It is now clear to the declarer that if he can make a successful finesse in spades by playing the jack from dummy third hand he can put himself in again with the ace of diamonds and make at least two more spades, giving himself a club discard. Then, even if the spades do not all drop, all he can lose is two clubs and a diamond, leaving him with four odd and the game. The spade finesse did not hold, and the game at once became impossible, as dummy cannot trump the clubs, in which suit Z knows that the king queen jack are all against him. B wins the spade jack with the king. Now look at his idea of the situation. His partner has denied the king of clubs by leading the ace, so that card must be with Z. If B leads a club, Z regains the lead at once, and if he has another spade, all the spades must drop in two leads, as A cannot have more than three if Z has another. From B's point of view the only chance to save 124 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL the game is to lead a diamond. Had Z been foolish enough to play the queen, this would have worked out all right ; but Z put the ace right on, led another spade and discarded all his clubs, losing a diamond trick at the end, but winning five by cards and scoring nine honors. If A opens his suit correctly, Z must play the hand in the same way, as ruffing one more club will not win the game, because if Z finesses the diamond, A will lead the trump. When B wins the spade trick he will lead the queen of clubs (as he knows his partner has the ace) and the three club tricks save the game. Particular attention is called to this error of lead- ing the ace when holding both ace and king, because it is very common. The only excuse for it, apart from ignorance of the conventions, is the fear that the partner might trump the king if he had none of the suit. XXXI THE PARTNER'S PLAY Before going to the second round of the suit, it is essential for the player to master the conventions peculiar to the third hand in his answer or " echo " to his partner's initial leads of winning cards, be- cause his play may largely affect his partner's con- tinuation. This is the most delicate part of the game, and many otherwise good players are sadly deficient in it, although three simple rules cover the entire sit- uation. 1. When there is a trump suit, show whether or not you can ruff the third round of your partner's suit. 2. When there are no trumps, show how many high cards you have in your partner's suit, inci- dentally indicating number. 3. Never make a play that has a double meaning. These three rules apply only to cases in which the third hand makes no attempt to win the trick, his duty being confined entirely to following suit. When there is a trump declaration against you, there are two things to be kept constantly in view. 125 126 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL First, to make your winning cards, aces and kings especially, before the declarer discards his losing cards in those suits and gets ready to trump. Sec- ond, to make tricks with your small trumps before the declarer gets into the lead and pulls them. Following out these two principles, your partner leads out his winning cards at once, and in such a manner as to show you what he can do. Your play is to show whether or not you can trump his small cards when his high ones are gone. The rule for the play of the third hand is called the down-and-out echo, and is very easily remem- bered. If you have only two small cards of the suit, play the higher first. When the lower card falls, your partner will recognize that you are " down and out," and willing to trump. But with three or more, always play the lowest, no matter what they are. Let us suppose hearts are trumps and your partner leads the king of clubs, showing he has either the ace or the queen, or both back of it. No matter which it is, he must win the second round of the suit then or later. Suppose you hold two clubs only, six and three. Your play is the higher card, the six. His king wins and he continues with the ace, upon which you drop the three. If he knows the declarer still holds a club and that you will not be overtrumped, he will lead a third club, and you make a little trump. If you do not want to be forced or have no trumps, of course you do not make the echo. When AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 127 one of your two cards is as high as the jack the echo is quite unnecessary and is never used. Take the same situation, your partner leading king and ace when you hold jack and six. You play the six to the first trick, and when your jack falls on the second round he knows you have the queen, which would win the third round, or have no more and can trump. But if you played the jack first he would lead a small club instead of the ace, imagining you had the queen or no more. Some players use this echo to show they can win the third round with a high card. Holding queen six three, for instance, they will play the six and then the three on their partner's lead of king and ace to *' encourage " him to keep on with that suit. In other words, they play down and out with a double meaning. Sometimes because they want to trump ; sometimes because they have a queen. This is a direct violation of one of the cardinal principles of partnership play, and an infraction of our third rule. All ambiguous plays are fatal to success. Here is an illustration of what it sometimes leads to in actual play when the partner is put to a guess as to the exact meaning of an echo. The reader is again reminded that all the illus- trative hands should be laid out with the actual cards on the table, and the play gone over trick by trick. If the reader has any theories of his own as to how the hand should be played, he should try them out. 128 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL H. J 8 6 2 C. J 75 D. AQ 9 S. 6 5 4 Y H. 9 7 H. 5 43 C. AK9 42 A B C. Q ez D. K 8 D. 5 42 S. AQ 72 H. C. D. S. z DEALER AKQIO 10 8 J 10 7 6 3 J 10 S. K 9 8 3 Z bid two hearts, probably because he had 64 in honors to score. A led the king of clubs and B played the six. The ace of clubs followed, and B played the three, completing an echo. In this case the echo was entirely unnecessary, as A could count the hands if B plays up. As it is A is put to a guess. If the echo means that B has no more clubs, and can trump Z's queen, the game is saved, as B is certain to lead up to dummy's weakness in spades, so A leads another club. Instead of B, it is the declarer that trumps, and draws three rounds of trumps, remaining with the lead, while dummy still has a trump left. The finesse in diamonds catches A's king and dummy gets two spade discards, so that only one spade makes for A and B. If B plays the clubs up, as he should, reserving the down and out echo exclusively for cases in AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 129 which he has only two of the suit, A will switch to the spade suit as the only chance, as he knows his king of diamonds is gone. We come now to the second rule for the third hand, which is very important. When there are no trumps, and your partner leads winning cards, or dummy prevents your making any attempt to win the trick, you must show your partner what you have, especially in the way of high cards. If the principles that guide the leader in opening against a no-trumper have been carefully studied, it will be seen that his object is to make tricks with the smaller cards of his long suit by getting the higher cards out of his way. Now, it does not matter who has those cards, partner or opponents. The point is that they ob- struct a number of smaller cards in the leader's hand which will never be good for anything until the higher ones are gone. If the declarer holds these cards, they must be forced out or caught. If the leader's partner holds them, they should be given up, willingly and at once. The play of the declarer, as we shall see when we come to his part of the game, is to block these long suits as long as possible ; to hold on to the com- mand of them and play his own suits, so as to force out, if possible, the reentry cards that would bring in the opponent's suit. If the partner holds up the command of the lead- er's suit he is playing the declarer's game. If he 130 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL declines to go on with the suit, the one to which he shifts does exactly what the declarer wants ; takes out the reentries for the suit first opened. The third hand must never obstruct a suit in which the leader is longer. If one has five or six cards and the other only three, the three should be so played that the five or six shall have a clear field. This consideration leads us to the formation of one of the most important rules in playing against no- trumpers, a rule which even the best players are too apt to forget. When the third hand makes no attempt to win the trick, he should always play his second-best card of the suit, regardless of number or value. This is generally called the Foster echo, as it was first explained and advocated by him, like the eleven rule, which we shall come to presently. This method of playing the second-best has a double advantage. It makes sure of unblocking the partner's suit by keeping the smallest card, so as to get out of his way, and it frequently exposes false cards played by the declarer. Suppose the original lead is a queen, and dummy lays down small cards only. Third hand holds the king nine and deuce. His play is the nine, as it is not necessary for him to make any attempt to win the trick. Now, if the lead is from queen jack ten and others, the declarer is marked with the ace, and third hand with the king. If the third hand held the ace he would put it on, AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 131 so as not to let the king win the first round. The third hand cannot possibly hold both ace and king, or the nine would not be his second-best, therefore he has only one card higher than the nine, and it is not the ace. It sometimes happens that dummy plays a card which prevents the third hand from making any attempt to win the trick, although a small card is led. The rule must be followed precisely as if the partner had led the card that shuts out the third hand. Suppose the lead is a small club. Dummy puts on the ace, and third hand holds king jack three. His play is the jack, not the three, marking him with one higher honor (or no more of the suit). If the smallest card is played, the partner may be afraid to lead the suit again. Here is a hand which illustrates how this echo sometimes works out in practice. H. Q J74 C. A D. Q 8 7 6 4 3 2 S. K Y H. 10 9 3 H. 8 6 5 2 C. J 10 9 7 3 2 A B C. KQ 4 D. D. A 9 S. 'j's 42" H. C. D. S. Z DEALER AK 8 6 5 K JIO 5 AQ76 S. 10 9 8 3 132 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL Z bid no trump, and A led his fourth-best club, the seven. When dummy put on the ace, B care- lessly played the small club and the declarer went game. If B follows the rule and gives up the queen, Z may manage the hand in several different ways, but the moment he has to lead a diamond, B is in with the ace, and five more clubs make, saving the game. The situation is an interesting study in getting out of the way in three suits. Play it over. Y should have taken his partner out with two diamonds. If a player will take out a no-trumper with only five cards in a major suit, which requires four odd to go game, why should he not take him out with six or seven in a minor suit, which takes only one trick more? So far we have looked at the two leading rules for the third hand only in the light of those occa- sions in which he makes no attempt to win the trick himself. Before troubling the student with any details of unblocking high cards with high cards, attention must be directed to a very important point in the play of the third hand when he either wins or attempts to win the trick. When a small card is led and dummy plays small, the play of the third hand is the same whether the declaration is a trump or no trump, and the rule governing it is always the same: Never pay a dollar for a trick that you can get for fifty cents. AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 133 Many bridge players have inherited or borrowed the old whist maxim, " Second hand low ; third hand high," which is one of the most misleading attempts to abbreviate a rule that was ever grafted upon a game. The terms high and low in this maxim refer to the distinction between high cards and low cards; not to the top and bottom cards of the suit. Un- fortunately, those who are in the habit of guiding their play by such maxims as this take it for granted that " third hand high " means the highest card they hold. If the leader starts with a small card and dummy plays small, third hand holding ace six deuce, his play is the ace, which is a high card, as distinguished from the six and deuce, which are low cards. But if the third hand holds ace king deuce, his play is the king, not the ace. He is still playing third hand high, but he is not paying a dollar for a trick that he can get for fifty cents. A much more comprehensive rule for the third hand is to win the trick as cheaply as possible, esti- mating the cost by the value of the card required. If a player wins the first round of a suit with a nine, he naturally remarks, " That was a cheap trick," but if he has to put up an ace to beat a seven he considers it expensive. If we say aces are worth a dollar and kings fifty cents, queens only a quarter, we get a working idea of values to start with. So far as winning the 134 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL trick is concerned, it does not make the slightest difference whether you take it with the ace or the king when you hold both; but if you pay a dollar for a trick that you could have had for fifty cents you deceive your partner as to the value of your hand. He underestimates it. He thinks you have exhausted your capital in that suit, when he should have been told that you still had a dollar left. From any combination of high cards that are in sequence, or " touch," play the lowest of the se- quence third hand. If you hold queen jack ten, play the ten. From king queen jack, play the jack; from king queen, the queen. The card played de- nies the card next in sequence below it. If dummy holds the intermediate card this rule is often important. Suppose you hold king and jack, dummy having the queen, but playing small. The jack is practically in sequence with the king, as nothing but the ace will beat it. If you play the king you deny the jack when the queen is in dummy. The violation of this rule frequently frightens the partner out of continuing his suit, especially if he is a good player and watches the fall of the cards carefully. The denial of certain cards in his suit in the play is quite as important as the denial of the suit itself in the bids. Suppose he leads a small card from five to the king. Dummy has nothing. Third hand plays the queen and the declarer the ace. This marks the AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 13^ jack with the declarer. If the third hand played the jack, won by the ace, he is marked with the queen, because the declarer would not pay a dollar for a trick that he could get for a quarter. If he could win the jack with the queen, he would never give up the ace and make the king good. Some players insist that it does not matter whether they win the trick with the ace or the king if they come right back with the other winning card. But it does matter, because winning a trick with the ace and returning the king is a con- ventional way of playing down and out, to show no more of the suit and a willingness to trump the third round. Here is an example of the trouble this improper play of the third hand may lead to. H. A 3 C. 10 7 S D. Q J 9 8 7 2 S. K 6 Y H. K 9 2 H. Q Jio 8 C. J 9 8 64 A B C. KQ 3 D. K 5 D. 10 6 S. Q J7 H. C. D. S. z DEALER 7 6 5 4 A 2 A 4 3 A 10 9 5 S. 8 432 136 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL Z bid no trump, which every one passed. A led a small club, the six, dummy playing the seven and B the king, which Z won with the ace. A at once infers that B had to play the king in his attempt to win the trick, therefore he cannot hold the queen, which must be with Z. The de- clarer led the ace of diamonds, hoping to catch the king, and followed with another, putting A in. Now if A leads a heart, dummy gets right in to make four more diamonds. If A leads the club, Z gets in, and puts dummy in with another diamond or a heart, and again those diamonds all make. The only chance seems to be the spade, so A leads the queen through dummy's king, hoping B has the ace. [The student should observe that if Z has the queen of clubs, both ten and queen make if A leads a club.] Dummy won the spade, and made his four dia- monds, upon which B discarded the small club, the eight of hearts and two spades, while Z shed two hearts and then a club. A had to unguard some- thing, and was afraid to unguard the clubs while dummy had ten and another and the ace of hearts to get in with, so he let go a spade, keeping two clubs and two hearts. This allowed Z to make three spade tricks, on the second of which A dis- carded the nine of hearts, expecting dummy to blank the ace and make the club ten, so that when Z led the heart, the ace dropped both king and AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 137 queen, and Z made the last trick with the seven of hearts, little slam. If B plays correctly on the first trick, A will lead another club, and four clubs, with the king of dia- monds, save the game. XXXII THE ELEVEN RULE By their selection of certain high cards to lead, good players indicate to the partner that certain other high cards remain in their hand or are against them. The player who leads a king, for instance, shows that either the ace or queen, or both those cards, are behind the king. The player who starts with a queen or an ace denies the king and marks that card as out against him. Exceptional leads at no trumps are noted else- where. But when the player has no such combination of high cards from which to lead, he cannot indicate the possession of single honors, or of two that are not in sequence. There is no system of leading that will show the partner the king and ten at the head of a suit, or that ace and queen are out against him. Although the leader cannot tell his partner ex- actly what the high cards are, he can do the next best thing, and tell him how many there are which are higher than the card he leads. This is accom- plished by selecting from among the small cards 138 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 139 what is called the fourth-best, counting from the top, or " the card of uniformity." Let us take an example and follow it up. The leader's best suit is the K 10 8 7 3 of clubs. The fourth-best, counting from the top, is the seven, and that is the correct card to lead. Some persons do not believe in this lead against a trump declara- tion, and use it only against no trumpers ; but there can be no harm in using it upon all occasions. One never knows when it may be helpful. The original idea of this lead was simply to show length. If a smaller card than the one led was missing, discarded, or played, such as the trey in the example given, the leader was marked with five in suit. If he started with the smallest he could hold, such as the deuce, he had four only. The writer discovered, about thirty years ago, that this card of uniformity was capable of giving much more valuable information than the number of cards in the suit, and that the higher the card led the more positive the information became. A careful examination of every possible com- bination of cards that would beat the card led, re- vealed the interesting fact that when a card of a given denomination was led, the number of higher cards that would beat it was always the same. This led to the formulation of what is known as the eleven rule, first published in 1890, and stated thus: If the spots on the card led are deducted from 140 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL eleven, the difference is the number of cards, higher than the one led, that are out against the leader of that suit. In our example, leading the 7 from K 10 8 7 3, the partner would deduct 7 from 11 and get 4. Some of these four may be in dummy ; he may hold some. The remainder are in the hand of the de- clarer. Suppose dummy puts down the Q 9 4, and third hand holds A J 5. The four cards higher than the seven are all in sight, Dummy has two of them, Q and 9; third hand has the others, A and J. If dummy plays the 4, the 7 will hold the trick. If dummy puts on the 9, the J is enough to win it. The beginner should take a pack of cards and sat- isfy himself that this rule is invariable, provided the small card led is always the fourth-best of the lead- er's suit. The expert player, by combining this rule with his inferences from the bidding, can put it to uses that the beginner is not quick enough to see, but every player should accustom himself to counting the number of cards out against his part- ner, higher than the one led, and should try to in- fer what they are when some are in the hand of the declarer. Here is an interesting example of the way a good player will take advantage of the information gained from the eleven rule. The play depends on proper attention being paid to the preliminary bids. AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 141 ' H. 10 8 4 2 C. Q 8 4 D. 7 6 4 S. A J 9 Y H. 9 5 H. AK 6 3 C. J 6 3 A B C. A 5 2 D. Q J952 D. AK S. K 6 5 H. C. D. S. Z DEALER Q J7 KIO 9 7 10 8 3 Q 72 S. 10 8 4 3 All passed up to B, who bid no trump. Z led the seven of clubs, his fourth-best, dummy played small, and Y at once read that the lead showed only four clubs higher than the seven out against his partner. Of these, three are in sight; he had queen eight himself; dummy had the jack. Therefore the de- clarer had only one club that would beat the seven. Y inferred that the declarer's card must be ace or king, and could not be the ten, because if Z had held both ace and king he would have bid a club. Confident that he was correct in this inference, Y played the four, not the queen, and B had to put on the ace to win the trick. Now B cannot possibly make more than six tricks, because there is no way to get dummy into the lead to make the three established diamonds after the ace and king are out of his way. Had Y care- lessly played the queen of clubs on the first trick 142 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL without stopping to apply the eleven rule, dummy's jack of clubs would not only have been good for a trick on the second or third round of clubs, but would have brought in those three diamonds, win- ning the game. In addition to the regular third hand plays, down and out echos, unblocking, and the eleven rule, there are one or two exceptional cases which may as well be mentioned here in connection with the first round of the suit. When a good player opens with an ace against a no-trumper he is trying to catch something. If the lead is from A Q J, he hopes to drop the king. It is therefore the duty of the third hand, if he holds king and only one other card, to give up the king at once, so as to be out of the way of his partner's queen and jack. If the leader has seven cards of a suit to the ace king, he will start with the ace, which conveys to the partner the same invi- tation to give up the queen if he has two only, as the lead cannot be from A Q J. With no reentry, playing against a no-trumper, good players lead the queen from A Q J, so as to get the king out of the way at once. Third hand should always give up the king on a queen led, holding only two cards of the suit, king and small. XXXIII THE THEORY OF THE FINESSE Two broad principles govern the finesse in auc- tion bridge, and it would be worth some points in any player's game to paste them in his hat for ref- erence until he has them firmly fixed in his mind. The first is that the principal source of gain for the declarer is through judicious finessing. The second is that the opponents of the declaration should never finesse under any circumstances. A finesse is an attempt to win a trick with a card which is not the best you hold in that suit nor in sequence with it. It is quite distinct from ducking, in which there is no attempt to win the trick. If you hold the ace and queen of an unplayed suit, and try to win the first round with the queen, sec- ond or third hand you are finessing. If you have six to the ace and king in one hand, only two small in the other and play small from both hands, you are ducking. The object of the finesse is to win a trick with an inferior card, and the only hope of success is when the superior card lies to your right. If it is on your left the finesse fails. If your partner has 143 144 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL it there is no finesse, as it does not matter which card you play. In order to make this clear to the beginner, let us take a typical case. The declarer holds ace queen and one small club. Dummy has two small only. If dummy leads and the second hand plays small, the declarer plays the queen, as that is the only way to make two tricks in clubs. Every player is supposed to learn this simple finesse when first he takes up the game, but very few understand exactly what they are doing when we come to study the other hands. Suppose dummy holds the king of clubs, there is no finesse, as either ace or queen will win the trick and they are therefore equal cards. Suppose again that dummy has not the king and that the second player does not follow suit. Here again there is no finesse, as you know the king is on your left and must make. If you play the queen you simply throw it away. Now let us shift the position of the ace and queen to the hand of one of the adversaries, whose part- ner leads a small club. If dummy is on the left of the ace and queen and has not the king there is no finesse. It is a certainty. If dummy has the king, to play the queen is to throw it away. Shift the position and suppose dummy on the right of the player with ace and queen. If the king is in the dummy but a small card is played second hand, the queen is a certainty. AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 145 Now we come to the position of which so few be- ginners grasp the importance. Suppose dummy is on the right of the ace and queen but has not the king, so that a small card is played from dummy second hand. It should be obvious that if the king is with the declarer, to play the queen would be to throw it away. If the king is with your partner, who led the suit, your ace and queen are equal cards and it does not matter which you play. From the consideration of these various positions good players have evolved the rule that the third hand should never finesse, because the finesse is against the partner and cannot gain anything. You finesse against an adversary, hoping to make a trick by it. What is the use of taking a trick that your partner could have won just as easily as you could? The beginner cannot be too often impressed with the importance of the fact that if he finesses against his partner and the finesse fails his partner will never credit him with the higher card that he should have played. When the declarer finesses an ace queen suit he is always finessing against one of his adversaries. When one of his adversaries makes a finesse, no matter what the position, he is always finessing against his own partner. Strange to say, this is one of the most common faults in the beginner's game. He is continually trying to win tricks with cards that are not the best he holds in the suit, on the chance that his partner 146 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL has the card finessed against. If the declarer can make a couple of successful finesses in a suit he may succeed in catching a doubly guarded king with his ace. That is a clear gain of a trick. If one of his opponents succeeds in catching his own partner's king by such finesses it is usually a clear trick lost. When the finesse is a gamble pure and simple, there being no reason for it, the error is usually due to ignorance of conventional play ; but if the finesse is excusable by some object other than catching the card finessed against, or making an extra trick with an inferior card, that is another matter. It may be vitally important for a player to hold the best of a suit for reentry purposes, and he may make a finesse for the purpose of holding that card. Then again, a player may hold up the best of a suit with a view to catching some card that is ex- posed in the dummy. In this case he is not finessing at all, because the card finessed against is not in the dummy. He is ducking, hoping to catch dummy's card at some future time. If it is vital to catch that inferior card, or if there is a strong probability that something important may be gained by it beyond the trick itself, the finesse against the partner may be excused, but the beginner has not the ripe judgment necessary for such situations and should let them alone. All such plays come under the head of finesses against the partner, and unless there is some de- cided gain in view which will more than compensate AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 147 for the loss of the immediate and certain trick they are losing plays and are at times very costly. Here is an example of this faulty finessing, the play being made by a person who enjoyed considerable reputa- tion as an expert at the game. H. 8 6 C. Q 9 2 D. K 9 5 3 S. AQ64 Y H. Q J 7 H. 10 9 5 3 C. 10 8 7 4 3 A B C. A J 6 5 D. J 7 2 Du QIO S. 7 2 H. C. D. S. Z DEALER AK 4 2 K A 8 6 4 J 10 9 3 S. K 8 5 Z bid no trump, which every one passed. A led his fourth-best club, the four, dummy played small and B finessed the jack, his idea being that if his partner had the king they could catch dummy's queen between them. But if the finesse fails the king makes, which is just as bad as if the queen made, and which has the additional disadvantage that the declarer gets his suit going before the adversaries clear up theirs. There is no important or further gain in view ; noth- ing but the trick that would otherwise be won by the queen. 148 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL B's play is based on the chance that his partner holds the king, and the finesse is therefore against A, just as the declarer's finesse with an ace jack suit, dummy having the king, would be based on the hope that an opponent on the right of the ace and jack held the queen. In this case the declarer would know his partner held the king. In the hand under consideration B is taking a chance on it. Now look at the result. Z wins with the single- ton king, and dummy still stops the suit if A can be kept out of the lead. This makes it perfectly safe for Z to finesse against A as deeply as he pleases. Neither A nor B can catch that queen of clubs as long as A is not in the lead, no matter which of them has the ace. Z leads the spade jack, and when A plays small dummy lets it go. B wins it with the king. This finesse lost, but it also gained. B tried to get his partner in by leading up to the weakness in hearts. Z played the ace and made three spade tricks, win- ning the last round with the ten. Then he led the eight of diamonds, and as A did not cover it dummy ducked and B was in the lead again. The beginner should observe that this is not a finesse, because Z has no idea of winning the trick with the eight of diamonds. He is simply placing the lead. B tried once more to get his partner in with a heart, Z put on the king and made three dia- mond tricks, winning the game on the hand. Look at the difference if B refuses to finesse AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 149 against his partner on the first trick. The ace of clubs drops Z's king, the jack is returned and the queen forced out, while B still holds the spade king for reentry and a fourth club to lead to A. Z must try the spade finesse, as he cannot win the game without the spade tricks, and whether he puts himself in with a diamond or a heart the result is the same, the spade king and the two established clubs save the game, as there is a trick already at home with the club ace. XXXIV SECOND ROUND OF THE SUIT The first card led marks the class of hand; the next lead should identify it. There are six combinations from which a king is led against a trump declaration. These are: A K Q J, A K Q, A K J, A K, K Q J, K Q, with small cards of various values. The second lead should show the partner which one of these six the leader held. These secondary leads are governed by the gen- eral principle that it is useless to tell your partner anything that he already knows if you can tell him something he does not know. If your king wins, he knows you have the ace. From the first combination given, follow with the jack. This tells him that there is no necessity for you to give up a dollar to win the next trick, when a quarter is enough. From the second combination, follow with the queen, which denies the jack. From the third, most players prefer to go right along if there is any chance that the partner can ruff, but if dummy has three of the suit, none of them the queen, they will shift, hoping to make both ace and jack if they can get a lead through the declarer. ISO AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 151 To follow the king with the ace denies the queen. Do not forget that. Whether the king wins or not, when it is led from K Q J, lead the jack next time. Your partner knows you have the queen; tell him something he does not know. If you lead the king from K Q and small cards, and the king wins you naturally assume that your partner has the ace. Follow with your original fourth-best. This denies the jack. Against no-trumpers, a small card, the fourth- best, would be led originally from two of these combinations, A K and others, K Q and others. The cards that fall to the first trick must be the guide as to what to lead next, when you get in. If your partner leads, win as cheaply as you can, as you are then third hand. Many players refuse to lead a suit headed by the ace alone. If such a suit is opened, always lead the ace, or you may lose it, if there is a trump suit against you. If you have led the ace from A Q J, follow with the queen. If from A J 10, follow with the jack. If you have led the queen from Q J 10, follow with the ten if you get in to lead the suit again. To lead the jack on the second round denies the ten. Many good players lead the queen from Q J 9, even against no-trumpers. The queen is a good short-suit lead if the jack is behind it, not other- wise. The ten is sometimes led from K J 10. This is 152 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL a very bad suit to open, and should be avoided if possible. But if it is your long suit in a no-trumper, your second lead must be guided by the cards that fell on the first trick. If the original lead is a fourth best, and you find yourself on the second round with any two cards that are the second and third best, lead one, so as to clear the suit. If you have the best, lead it, espe- cially when there is a trump suit against you. Fail- ing such high cards, follow with your remaining fourth best if you had five or more. Having led the 7 from the K 9 8 7 2, the queen winning the trick, lead the deuce if you get in again, showing your partner five in suit originally. From J 8 7 6 4 3, after leading the 6, lead the 4. XXXV THIRD HAND, SECOND ROUND When the third hand makes no attempt to win the first round, and his partner leads again, he must either complete a down and out echo, if he has started one, or go on with the Foster echo ; if it is a no-trumper. Against a trump, if he has played his smallest card to the first lead, he plays his next smallest to the next lead, unless he tries to win the trick, which he would then do as cheaply as possible. Against a no-trumper, having played his second- best to the first trick, as he made no attempt to win it, he must be careful to keep the smallest card until the very last. If he had only two in the first place, this smaller card fell the first round, of course. If he had three originally, say 863, and his partner leads ace and then queen, the third hand must play the 6 to the first trick, the 8 to the next, keeping the 3 to the last. With four of the suit, say 8632, his play to the second round, after dropping the 6 on the first, would be the 3, keeping the 2. This marks him with still one higher card than the 6, and one below 153 154 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL the 3. Suppose he holds K 8 6 3, partner leading A and then Q. The echo, 8 and then 6, not only marks him with the king, but with a card smaller than the 6. This enables his partner to locate the whole suit. If the third hand tries to win the second round of his partner's suit, the principle is the same as on the first round. Win it as cheaply as possible and never finesse against your own partner. XXXVI THE DISCARDS Probably no part of the game has given rise to more acrimonious discussion than the discards. Good players have now about settled down to one general rule for all cases: Discard from the suit you are not afraid of. Beginners often ask their partners what they dis- card, and on being told at once remark, " Then that is the suit you want me to lead." This is not by any means always the case. A player may be com- pelled to discard from one suit to protect another; but as a rule, if the discard is any card higher than a six, the discarder should be willing to have that suit led. This is called the " encouraging discard." Many players echo or *^ reverse " in their dis- cards. If they throw away an eight and then a four, especially at no trump, they show a sure trick or two in that suit. But if they do not complete the echo, discarding one card only, it is for the partner to judge whether to lead the suit or not. If they discard a four and then an eight, they have nothing in that suit. The natural discard is up ; the " re- verse discard " is down. 155 156 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL The discard is often of value in preventing the partners from both keeping the same suit. If one shows protection in spades by his discard, the other can let all his spades go, if it is necessary to aban- don something to protect another suit. But if he has nothing, he should keep a spade to lead. It is very bad play to unguard a suit of three, or even two cards, headed by jack or queen, when playing against a no-trumper. It is also bad play to betray your partner's hand by getting entirely void of suit. The only argument against discarding from the suit in which you are strong is that you may be throwing away a possible trick. You are much more likely to throw away three or four tricks by discarding your weak suit. If you have A K and others in one suit, J lo and small in another, it is certainly not your A K suit that the declarer is going to attack next, but your J lo suit. That you must guard. There are many cases, of course, in which the cards in the dummy will show what to keep. If dummy has the queen and others and you have the king and others, for instance, it is clear that you will have to put the king on the queen if it is led, so you do not need more than two of the suit. So also, if dummy holds ace queen and others, you may often blank the king, on the chance that dummy will finesse and let your lone king win. .Discarding is more matter of judgment and mem- AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 157 ory than anything else. If you cannot keep count of the cards, you may discard a winner, if only a seven or eight, and keep a card that is a thirteener. There are occasions upon which you can afford to discard the best of a suit, to show your partner you have still the best of it left. Discarding the second-best emphatically denies the best. XXXVII SECOND HAND PLAY There are still many persons who will remind you of the old saw : " Second hand low ; third hand high," as if they were quoting some authority on the game. You may search through the eighty-odd standard works on the whist family of games with- out fear of finding any such maxim. It is simply a tradition, born of the brain of some bumblepuppy expert, and of as much value as its companion in error. " If you have neither ace, face nor trump, you are entitled to a new deal." One very simple rule governs the play of the sec- ond hand, and it applies to all forms of whist, bridge, or auction; having been first given to the world in my " Whist Manual " in 1890. This is it : " When a small card is led through you, and you hold any combination of high cards from which you would lead a high card, play one of your high cards second hand." This rule will be found to apply to almost every situation in auction. The player with dummy on his left needs no rule, because he can see what is behind him if he is led through; but the one with 158 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 159 dummy on his right must understand second hand play in order to protect himself. There are two mistakes that are continually made by the beginner and the self-taught player in second hand tactics, both of which errors are likely to prove expensive upon occasion, and either of which would be avoided if he kept before him the simple funda- mental rule for second hand play already quoted. The first mistake, and probably the more common, is the failure to distinguish between suits of three cards and those of four, when they are headed by two honors in sequence. Take, for example, queen and jack. If there is only one small card one of the honors must fall to the ace or king, so it should be put on or both may be lost. With two small cards this does not follow, as the ace and king may leave the queen and jack both good for tricks. Test this combination by the rule. If you had only three cards, queen jack and small, and were to lead that suit you would begin with a high card. Then play a high card second hand on a small card led through you. If you lead from four of the suit without the ten or nine, you do not lead the queen or jack, but the fourth best. Therefore play the small card second hand. The beginner is contin- ually covering second hand just because he has two honors in sequence, regardless of the number of the small cards with the queen and jack. " Cover an honor with an honor " is a maxim that one may hear quoted as frequently as any other at i6o AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL the card table. " What is the object? " asks the be- ginner, and the answer is usually about the same thing. " To make your opponents play two honors to win one trick." Under the impression that he has learned some- thing new and valuable in the line of second hand play the beginner forthwith proceeds to put aces on jacks, kings on tens and queens on both without any regard to the probable object of the lead or the possibilities of his partner's hand. The only thing that gives him pause is the cards in the dummy, and as a rule they are the very things that should not deter him from covering an honor with an honor. In auction very definite rules can be laid down for the second hand in the matter of covering honors led. These rules apply especially to the person who sits on the right of the declarer when dummy leads through him and also to the play of the declarer and his dummy when those hands are led through. The player with the dummy on his left should have a much easier task, as he knows exactly what is be- hind him, although he cannot tell what the dealer is leading from. In spite of this fact it is in this very position that most of the bad second hand play occurs, chiefly because the cards in the dummy frighten the beginner. An excellent rule in auction for the second hand is to cover an honor with an honor only when your honor is lost in any case and the play may make an inferior card good in your partner's hand. As a AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 161 rule, good players do not give their opponents an opportunity to force the sacrifice of two honors to win one trick if they can help it, but occasionally the declarer is driven to lead suits that he would rather let alone, and if the second hand play is not sound, he may slip in a trick or two that he is not entitled to. It is well known to good players, for example, that it is useless to lead a queen to an ace- jack suit without the ten, because the queen is simply thrown away if it is led against good players. If the king is second hand it will cover the queen to make the ten good. If it is fourth hand it will win the queen. The proper play is to lead to the queen instead of to the ace. But the declarer cannot always arrange the lead to suit himself and he may be compelled to lead to the ace, in which case he must either lead the queen or block himself by leading a small card from queen and one. When such a lead is made the second hand must put the king on the queen, if he holds it, even if he sees from dummy's cards that his king is lost. Failure to cover in such cases is one of the common- est and most expensive errors in the game, and the importance of covering second hand in such cases is worth impressing upon the beginner at some length. Take this case : Z is the dealer. He bid no trumps, A said two diamonds and Y passed. i62 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL H. C. D. S. 6 5 2 A J 8 7 6 5 4 Q 8 4 Y H. C. D. S. K 74 K 5 4 K J 9 8 7 2 2 H. C. D. S. A B Z DEALER A J 83 Q 9 A 10 AK6 5 3 H. C. D. S. QIO 9 10 3 2 Q 6 3 J 10 9 7 The contract is two no trumps, although it is a safer spade. Z passed the first round of diamonds and then tried to drop the spades. Failing in this, he stopped that suit after winning the second round with the king, and led the queen of clubs. A looked at dummy and saw that his king was a goner if he put it on, so he passed. Dummy played small and the queen held the trick. The nine of clubs followed, the jack held and the ace killed the king and ten. Five club tricks, ace of spades and ace of hearts finished the business, giving Z four by cards and the game. This is a fair example of what one sees every day, the second hand considering his own cards and dummy and forgetting that he has a partner. If Z holds the ten of clubs with a small one, it does not make the slightest difference what A does with his king, as five club tricks must make. But if Z does AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 163 not hold the ten it must be in B's hand, and if it is twice guarded A can make it good for a trick by putting his honor on the honor led, leaving dummy only two tricks in clubs instead of five. If the declarer has the ten without a small card B must have three to the nine, and that nine will stop the whole club suit if A will only cover the honor with the honor. Study the situation from any view of its possibilities and it must be evident that no matter how the cards lie, nothing can be lost by putting the king on the queen, even when you see the ace and jack on the table waiting to gobble you up. Had A covered the honor with an honor it would have forced the declarer to let him hold the trick and make his four diamonds, or to overtake with the ace and give B a trick in clubs or spades, or let A make his king of hearts, in each case letting in the diamonds. Z cannot make his contract, no matter what he does if A covers, instead of which A lets him go game on the hand. The cases in which an honor should be covered are usually those in which there is a possible four- chette between the two hands, as in the case just given, or when there is a fourchette in the second hand itself. A fourchette, it should be explained, is the combination of the cards immediately above and below the card led. If you hold queen and ten and a jack is led through you, you cover with the fourchette, because by playing your queen you leave i64 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL your ten just as good as the queen, but you trpnsfer the trick to your side instead of leaving it to the jack. If the opponents want it, they will pay two honors for one trick. An imperfect fourchette is the combination of the card above and the card next but one below the card led. The K lo is an imperfect fourchette over the Q and it pays to cover the queen when you have a small one with the ten, because the position is pre- cisely the same as covering the queen to make three to the lo good in your partner's hand. With three to a king it is not necessary to cover, and it is hardly likely that your king can be led through often enough to catch it. One should always cover with a perfect four- chette, no matter what is beyond him in the dummy. It forces the declarer to go higher if he wants the trick, and your cards are of equal value the moment the intermediate card is played. But there are many cases in which a player should not cover an honor with an honor, even when he has an imperfect fourchette. The beginner can distin- guish such situations only by considering the object of the lead and the cards that may be in the fourth hand. If the object is to take a finesse and you have the only card to finesse against it is lost. If there are two cards to finesse against and you have one give your partner a chance to make the other. The rules for covering smaller honors with the best of the suit, such as putting aces on jacks, and AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 165 kings on tens, are a separate part of the rather com- phcated science of second hand play, the rule of cov- ering an honor with an honor not being supposed to refer to any cases but those in which the honor cov- ered and the one covering are in sequence. A very common error in second hand play is finessing against the partner. If a small card is led from dummy, who has not the king, and second hand holds ace queen and small, to play the queen is to finesse against your partner. Pass it, unless the ace is the only way to save the game. XXXVIII RETURN LEADS In the system of communication commonly used by the partners opposed to the declaration at auc- tion, the beginner is instructed to return his part- ner's suit with a card which is to be selected by one of the following rules : 1. Holding the best card of your partner's suit, lead it, regardless of number. 2. Holding both second and third best, lead one of them, so as to force the command. 3. Holding only small cards of the suit, lead back the highest. But there is another rule which might be added to these, and which should act as a corrective to all of them, but which the text-books almost invariably overlook. This rule is always to beat dummy, re- gardless of the number of cards you hold. To this might be added still another rule, which does not readily lend itself to the mechanical game. Do not return your partner's suit at all if you see a chance to give him a possible finesse in another suit. The application of the last rule depends largely on the individual player's power of inference, be- 166 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 167 cause it is not every auction player that knows enough about reading cards to see when he can give his partner a finesse. If he has advanced so far in the game he may find many opportunities to take advantage of situations in which tricks can be picked up that would escape the average player. A very good maxim for the beginner to remember is to lead up to dummy's weak suits, and to let his partner lead through dummy's strong ones. It is often better to lead up to a weak suit in dummy than to return your partner's suit, especially if you know your partner can make his own suit any time. If there is a choice, lead up to an ace in preference to a king, and never lead up to a tenace, such as ace queen. If you lead up to a very strong suit in dummy, your partner is justified in inferring your lead is a singleton, and that you want to trump that suit. All the rules for the return of your partner's suit may be affected by the play on the first trick, and the cards that fall to it, or the leads made by the de- clarer. While it is true, in a general way, that you should return your partner's suit upon the same principle after the dealer has won a trick or two, as you would if he had not been in, it may develop that this would be very unwise. Suppose the first round of your partner's suit shows that it is hopelessly against him, while you have a suit that you can do something with, such as i68 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL king, queen, jack. You are quite justified in start- ing that. Your partner may have led a weak suit, perhaps three only, to avoid worse openings. He should then be willing to have you use your own judgment as to what to lead up to dummy. One very important rule for the adversaries of the declaration to remember is this : If the declarer has been in the lead and has not led trumps, there are only two reasons. He is trying to get dummy in to lead trumps for a finesse, or he has no inten- tion of leading trumps at all, but is trying to sep- arate them, as we shall see presently. If you judge that he is trying for a rufif in either hand, you should lead the trumps at once. When the declarer refuses to lead trumps himself, there must be some disadvantage in the trump lead, and the quicker you turn that disadvantage to your own advantage, by leading trumps, the better. It is often of vital importance to take out dummy's small trumps to protect your good cards in plain suits. You can force the declarer all you please. That weakens the strong hand; but do not let the weak hand ruff your good cards. XXXIX PLAYING THE DECLARATION The declarer needs no rules for leading certain cards from certain combinations, but he should be thoroughly familiar with the leads, so that he may recognize them and infer in which hand the high- est cards of the adverse suit lie. By watching the echos and return leads, he can usually place the distribution of opposing suits. The play with a trump suit differs from that in a no-trumper in several ways, and they should be studied separately. With a trump suit there are three things to con- sider : 1. The advantage of taking out the adversaries' trumps so as to protect a good plain suit. 2. The possibility of making some of the trumps in the weaker hand separately before leading trumps. 3. The importance of getting rid of some losing cards before doing either. The contract is always for a certain number of tricks and unless the player can win those tricks the whole play goes for nothing unless it is a defensive 169 170 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL call, made to prevent a greater loss ; but in any case the secret of success lies in getting all there is out of the hands, so that one of the first things that must be mastered by any one who hopes to become an expert at the game in playing the declarer's position is to count up the tricks that he is sure of as soon as dummy's cards are laid down and to discover ex- actly where the extra tricks that are necessary to fulfil the contract or to win the game are to be picked up, if at all. That settled, the rest of the hand can be forgotten. This process is technically known as elimination, and once mastered it will save a person at least three tricks on the average in every rubber, to say nothing of the relief to the mental strain. It is so called because it eliminates from the attention every- thing that is not essential to the success of the dec- laration and leaves the mind free to concentrate upon the one suit in which tricks are to be won or lost. This process of elimination is particularly useful as a corrective for those who are in the habit of trying first one thing and then another, without any definite plan of action for the hand as a whole. It would be impossible to find a hand to which the process of elimination would not apply, and some- times it reduces the whole play to such simple terms that it might be said a child could get all there was in the cards. Take this as an example of elimina- tion in its simplest form : AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 171 H, A Q J 4 C. 7 5 D. 9 8 3 S. J 9 5 3 Y H. K 10 8 6 H. 5 2 ajlO AB C. 9863 D. K J 10 6 5 D. 4 2 S. 10 8 z S. A Q 7 6 4 DEALER H. 9 7 3 C. A K Q 4 2 D. AQ 7 S. K 2 Z bid no trump and A led the ten of diamonds, which Z won with the queen. On looking over the two hands, he sees that there is nothing more in diamonds but that ace, which they will have to force out of his hand. That eliminates one suit. He cannot do anything in spades himself, but may make a trick if they lead spades. That eliminates an- other suit. As for the clubs, there are three tricks there, but they are good any time. If the clubs are split, the five tricks are good any time. There is therefore nothing left to think about but the hearts, and the whole attention can be concen- trated on getting the most he can out of that suit. If the king is with A, the hearts are good for three tricks. That is all there is to the hand, so Z leads a heart and finesses the jack. When that holds, he puts himself in with a club and finesses the queen of hearts. 172 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL There being no more finesses he leads the ace, but fails to drop the king, B discarding the six and four of spades. Hoping to get a spade led up to him, Z leads the fourth heart from dummy, but A leads another diamond, which Z wins, having discarded his small diamond on the heart trick. Now he tries to drop the clubs and fails, so he gives B a club trick and when B tries to slip the queen of spades through him he promptly puts on the king, to make the dummy's jack good, and at the same time to prevent anything short of an ace get- ting into the lead with those diamonds. The fifth club gives Z four odd. XL PLAYING TRUMP DECLARATIONS Now let us look at the manner in which the de- clarer can eliminate the things that are not worth doing when the declaration is a trump suit. The deal is a good example of the first of our three ways of playing the hand. H. C. D. S. AK 6 5 Q J 9 4 2 8 7 5 3 H. C. D. S. 10 8 7 4 none KQJ 7 5 42 8 2 H. C. D. S. Y A B Z DEALER none AKIO 7 A 10 9 6 AKJ 6 4 H. C. D. S. Q J932 8 6 5 3 3 QIO 9 Not wishing to let the opponents get started on the heart suit, Z bid three spades right off, and A led the king of diamonds. Z won it with the ace. With a solid club suit, and two tricks in hearts, Z 173 174 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL can eliminate everything but the one idea, to get out the trumps. If the queen does not fall in two leads, he can start on the clubs and force it out, as dummy will still have a trump left to stop the dia- monds. Even if there are four trumps to the queen in one hand, the most they can make is one trump and two diamonds, as they must lead the last trump to catch dummy's. Played in this way, Z should lead ace and king of spades, and on failing to drop the queen, start the clubs, making a little slam on the hand by dis- carding all his losing diamonds on the fifth club and ace king of hearts. In the actual game Z did not even make his con- tract. Instead of leading trumps at once, he tried to give dummy a ruff by returning a diamond, in- tending to take a finesse in the trump suit. B over- trumped dummy, and led a club as a forlorn hope, hearts being useless. A trumped the club and led another diamond, and they kept this up until their five trumps all made separately. Here is an example of not leading trumps, be- cause there is no good suit to defend. It was played in an important duplicate match. The player should always stop to consider whether or not there is anything to be gained by taking out the trumps, and should avoid as long as possible any finesse that can just as well be taken later in the play, after some more promising trick winner has been tried. AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 175 H. 10 8 4 C. A D. A J 6 4 S. 9 7 5 3 2 H. K 7 Y H. 9 5 C. K 8 4 3 A B C. Q JIO 5 D. KIO 9 3 D. 7 5 2 S. AQ 8 H. C. D. S. Z DEALER AQJ 6 3 2 9 7 62 Q 8 4 S. K JIO 6 Z started with a bid of two hearts, and at one table this held the contract. A led the three of dia- monds and Z won it with the queen. He then put dummy in with a club, and led the ten of trumps for the finesse, on the old theory that with such strength in trumps the best thing is to get them out, which does not apply to auction at all. A won the trump trick with the king and, in order to avoid guessing at a suit, led it right back, Z win- ning the nine of hearts with the jack. He then ruffed dummy with a club, and dummy led a spade, which B won with the ten. [The student will ob- serve that B holds a combination from which he would lead a high card, so he plays one second hand.] B led the club queen and then the jack and A overtook it and went back with a spade, so as to avoid leading diamonds. The heart, two clubs and a spade save the game. 176 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL At another table this hand is correctly developed. Z wins the first diamond and returns the suit at once, so as to make both jack and ace and get a spade discard. There is nothing to lead trumps for. He trumped the fourth diamond, B discarding spade six. He then led a club, trumped a spade, ruffed dummy with a club, and kept that up until he had made all three of dummy's trumps and all his own small ones ; but A made the king of hearts, leaving Z a small slam. The third element in the declarer's play is getting rid of losing cards, a small sample of which is seen in the foregoing hand. This is one of the most im- portant elements in the game, but it applies only to trump declarations, the object being to get ready to ruff the suit in which you have nothing but small cards. Here is an interesting example of it. H. 10 6 4 C. 9 8 2 D. AQJ 9 2 S. 8 3 Y H. QJ7 H. A 8 5 3 C. KQJ6 A B C. 10 7 5 D. 8 6 5 3 D. 10 7 4 S. 7 5 H. C. D. S. z DEALER K 92 A 4 3 K A J10964 S. KQ 2 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 177 This hand was very badly played at one table. The bid was two spades, by Z, and A led the king of clubs. Z won it with the ace and led ace and jack of trumps, hoping to drop an honor. B won the second round and at once laid down the ace of hearts. Now if A can win a club trick with the queen, which his king lead shows he has, the game is saved, as B must make the king of trumps. A made two club tricks, but that ended it, as Z made all the diamonds, B's king of trumps winning the last trick of all, holding Z down to two by cards. At another table this hand was correctly played. When Z won the first club trick he saw at once that the thing to do was to get rid of those two losing clubs before touching the trumps, so he led the king of diamonds, overtook it with the ace and shed his two clubs on the queen and jack of diamonds. These leads made the nine good and B put on the queen of trumps, Z winning it with the ace. The jack of trumps was won by the king and B led a club, hoping he and A could make two heart tricks, Z trumped with the nine and led the four to dummy's eight of trumps, which was then high, and dummy made the fifth diamond, giving Z a heart dis- card. Then the heart lead made the king. Five by cards. XLI PLAYING NO-TRUMP DECLARATIONS In playing no-trumpers, there are three simple rules to remember, taking dummy as part of the cal- culation. 1. Play for the suit that is longest between the two hands, and prefer the suit that has more in one hand than in the other. 2. Always lead from the weak hand to the strong, and from the short hand to the long. 3. Play the high cards first from the hand that is short in the suit. There are seldom any exceptions to the first rule. No matter how weak the suit, it is the length that counts, and the suit must be played some time. The sooner the better. Suppose dummy lays down six small clubs, and you have three indifferent clubs, but dummy has a sure reentry or two, while you have every other suit safe. Lead the clubs. The high ones must drop, and you may make three or four tricks with the small cards. If you play out the high cards in other suits first, the clubs are worth- less for any purpose. Leading from the weak hand to the strong is most 178 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 179 important. It is the foundation of all finessing. If you have to lead a suit in which you hold only the king in one hand, small cards in the other, always contrive to lead to the king, never from it. The last example given shows this play. High cards from the short hand is one of the most valuable maxims in the game. You hold A K 8 6 3 in one hand, with the lead, Q 5 2 in the other. If you play the high cards from the long hand, ace and king, the queen blocks the small cards. Play the small card from the ace king hand, because it is the long hand, and play the queen from the short hand. Here is a hand which I consider one of the best examples I have ever seen of combining all these plays on the part of the declarer in one deal : It came up in a large duplicate game in New York. H. C. D. S. Q J 7 8 Q 9 7 5 4 J 6 5 3 H. C. D. S. 10 5 KQ 7 6 3 8 6 2 10 9 2 H. C. D. S. Y A B Z DEALER 9 64 A 9 4 AK 3 AQ 8 4 H. C. D. S. AK 8 3 2 J 10 5 2 J 10 K 7 Z bids no trumps. A starts with his fourth-best club, as one does not lead from only two honors i8o AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL against a no-trumper. B plays the ten, and Z wins with the ace. Counting up the combined hands, Z finds he has eight cards in two suits, but there are more in one hand in diamonds, so he selects that suit. He also plays the high cards first from the short hand, lead- ing ace and king, so that the hand that is longer in the suit shall have a clear field. On the third diamond A lets go his smallest club, showing he led from five only, and B knows, by the eleven rule, that Z has only one club higher than the six, which may be an honor. B discarded the five of clubs. On the fourth diamond he started a re- verse discard with the heart eight; but as Z dis- carded the heart four, it was not necessary to com- plete it, as A could mark B with the trey and deuce if Z did not hold those cards. This reverse en- couraged A to keep his spades and discard a heart. On the fifth diamond, B gave up the jack of clubs, keeping the deuce. Z discarded another heart and A let go a club, as he must keep a heart to lead and protect the only suit he was now afraid of, the spades. Dummy's next lead was a small spade. This avoids the error we shall come to presently, leading a jack to the ace and queen when neither hand has the ten, a mistake that is continually made by many who consider themselves first-class players. Z is leading now from the weak hand to the strong, in accord with our second rule. AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 181 B played small. Z must finesse the queen, or he cannot possibly go game. The ace dropped the king. Now dummy's jack is good for the third spade trick and the game. Had dummy led the spade jack, B would have put on the king and estab- lished both ten and nine for A, saving the game against any play. XLII FINESSING BY THE DECLARER Guided by the simple principle that the adver- saries of the declarer never finesse, because that would be finessing against their own partners in- stead of against an opponent, we come naturally to the conclusion that the only legitimate finessing is done by the declarer himself. As we shall see pres- ently, most of his finessing is forced. Any person of average intelligence can lay down two exposed hands, such as those of the declarer and his dummy and count up the sure tricks that can be won against any play, once the declarer's side gets into the lead. That so few players take the trouble to make this simple addition is the secret of most of their shortcomings at the card table. The number of times in which these sure tricks equal the number required to carry out the contract or win the game is hardly worth considering. Nine times out of ten it will be found that if there are any tricks to be won that are not in plain sight, they are to be made by judicious finessing and that the declarer is practically forced to make these finesses if he wants to get anything like the full value out of the hands he plays. i83 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 183 A successful finesse depends upon the observa- tion of two cardinal principles. Getting the right hand into the lead and always leading from the weak hand to the strong. When a finesse must be taken in order to get the required number of tricks, ar- rangements must be made for these two things, and they have to be made early in the hand. Here is an example of a no-trumper which com- bines the elements of counting up the sure tricks and seeing that the declarer is forced to try two finesses if he wants to go game : H. 7 3 C. K J 8 7 4 D. 7 5 4 3 S. Q 7 Y H. Q JIO 9 5 H. 6 4 C. Q 5 3 A B C. 10 2 D. J 10 D. K 9 8 2 S. K 6 2 z S. A 10 9 8 4 DEALER H. A K 8 2 C. A 9 6 D. A Q 6 S. J 5 3 Z dealt and bid no trumps, which all passed. A led the queen of hearts, which Z won with the ace, concealing the king. If we count up the sure tricks between the two hands, they are one more heart, two clubs and the ace of diamonds. That is five in all, or two less iB4 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL than the contract, four short of the game. Where are the extra tricks to come from? There is nothing more possible in hearts, so we can dismiss that from consideration. It is impos- sible to make a trick in spades, unless the adversa- ries give it to you, so that suit may be disregarded. There remain two chances. The first is that the two high clubs, queen and ten, may fall in two leads, but if one of them does not fall on the first lead the other is impossible. If it does not fall, the finesse against the queen is forced. The student should observe that it is impossible to finesse a suit that is distributed like the clubs by leading the jack to the ace. That is to throw it away. The only way to play such combinations is to take the finesse in the hand that has the two hon- ors. It is our rule of leading from the weak hand to the strong, and playing the high cards from the short hand first. The other chance for an extra trick is a successful finesse in diamonds, for which the lead must be from dummy. Unless both these chances come off, game on the hand is impossible. Unless the whole five tricks in clubs can be made, the finesse in diamonds is unnecessary except as a single trick saved from the wreck of a promising hand. The first thing then is to try the club suit. If neither adversary plays the ten or queen on the first round, the finesse on the second round is forced. Z therefore leads the ace, follows with a small club AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 185 and finesses the jack. This allows him to make all five of dummy's clubs, but he is still two tricks shy of game, and nothing in sight but two tricks in dia- monds. With both hearts and spades still stopped he can afford to risk the finesse at once. When that holds, he is game. An important factor in the forced finesse, the finesse that must be taken sooner or later, is the element of time. If some finesses are not taken at the right moment they fail completely of their ob- ject. A common case is finessing a suit before get- ting out the trumps, when it might just as well be done afterward. This is always dangerous if the suit is long in either hand. There are -two cases about which the beginner and many a supposedly good player needs to be repeatedly warned. These are finesses that must lose. One of these is leading a queen or a jack to an ace, or ace jack, or ace queen, without the ten. Un- less there are nine cards between the two hands this is a sure loser. If the king is on the left of the queen, it will cover, to make the ten good. If it is on the other side the queen is thrown away. The play in all such cases is to lead from the ace to the queen. The only chance for both ace and queen to make is that the king is on the left of the ace. The mistake of leading a ten to the ace and jack, or a jack to the ace and ten, has already been i86 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL pointed out. Lead small to the ace hand and finesse the jack or ten, whichever it is. When the ace jack ten are all in the same hand, the declarer must arrange to lead the suit twice from the weak hand to the strong, finessing the ten the first time if no honor is played second hand, and finessing again on the second round. This position is very common and should be care- fully studied. Take this hand as an example, lay- ing out the cards. H. Q 6 C. A 5 43 D. 6 4 2 S. A J 4 2 Y H. K 10 8 7 3 H. J 95 C. K 7 6 A B C. Q 98 D. Q 8 D. K 9 5 S. 8 7 3 H. C. D. S. Z DEALER A 42 J 10 2 A JIO 7 3 QIO S. K 9 6 5 Z bid no trump; a trifle forward, but that is the way they bid them these days. It is not a diamond bid, as there are neither two sure tricks nor outside tricks enough to stop up the holes. A led the seven of hearts. With a singly guarded queen in one hand, ace in the other, without the ten, the best chance for two tricks is to put the queen AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 187 right on; but if the ten is with the ace, never play the queen second hand. The queen held, and B played his second-best, the nine, showing one higher card, which A easily reads as the jack. The only play in this hand is the ace- jack-ten finesse in diamonds. Nothing in hearts, nothing in clubs. The spades will make any time, if that finesse lies right. The thing is to get those two finesses in diamonds while dummy is sure to get in again, and the other suits are protected. The queen wins the ten of diamonds, and A leads the three of hearts to his partner's jack, which Z allows to win, holding up the command long enough to exhaust B, as that is the hand Z is about to risk getting in. Dummy discards a club on the third heart. Now Y and Z have between them the A Q J 10 of spades, so Z leads the queen, and passes it up. B wins it. B's play is now instructive. If his partner can get in on anything it is the king of clubs, so B plays the queen, in order that A may not have to sac- rifice his king to the ace. This is called the Des- chapelles coup. Y wins the queen with the ace, as all depends on the diamond finesse, and leads an- other diamond. The finesse holds and Y gets two more club dis- cards. Then he overtakes the ten of spades with the jack and makes the ace. Three odd and the game. It is often possible to establish a suit that has a good reentry by ruffing the suit out, when there is i88 AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL a trump. Suppose one hand has king and small, the other hand ace to five. If the short hand has trumps to spare, and the long hand can get in and lead the suit a third or even a fourth time, trumping it until the last high card out against it is gone, the dregs of the suit may be made. Opportunities for this are common. XLIII THE DECLARER'S REENTRIES This is a complicated subject, but a few hints may be useful to the beginner. The great value of reentry cards is to bring in the long suit after it has been established by forcing out the high cards held by the adversaries, therefore re- entry cards are most valuable in the hand that has the long suit, and the player must foresee this from the start, and preserve them. Reentries may also be useful for getting the lead, so as to go on with the trumps. Here is a very common situation. The declara- tion is a spade, on the AJi0 94;A62of hearts ; K 10 5 of clubs, two small diamonds. Dummy has ace of clubs and small mies, Q J and small hearts, K 4 3 2 in diamonds; K 2 in trumps. Club led. The declarer let the club come up to him, and the jack forced his king. A small trump to dummy, a trump returned and the finesse of the ten went to the queen. Another club, queen led, and dummy has to play the ace, or third hand gets in a trump next round. Now dummy has to open a red suit at a great disad- 189 igo AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL vantage in order to continue the trumps, and fails to go game. Dummy should have played the ace of clubs on the first trick, keeping the king in the declarer's hand, as a reentry to continue the trumps. This would have won the game. It often happens that there is a chance to make a reentry in one hand by playing high cards in the other, but such cases are too delicate for any but the expert to manage. For example : The lead is a small club, at no trumps. Q J only in the dummy; A K small in the declarer's hand. To make the queen a reentry card for dummy's long weak suit, the declarer must overtake the jack with the king. When there is a long suit in one hand with no possible reentry outside, the proper play is to " duck " the first round. Suppose dummy lays down six clubs to the ace king, only two small in the other hand. It is impossible to catch the Q J 10 9 and another in two leads, no matter where they are, so the play is to lead a club and duck it, no mat- ter what the second hand plays or what wins it. Then, if the clubs do not all drop on the second and third round, nothing could have been done with the suit. All these are simply hints at certain principles of play, given with the idea of encouraging the student to watch more carefully for the many cases in which he will see these principles departed from and will be able to put his finger on the weak spots in a AUCTION BRIDGE FOR ALL 191 player's game, at the same time constantly striving to improve his own. Sometimes, no matter what you do, it is wrong. No finesse will hold; all the trumps are bunched against you in one hand ; you cannot clear your long suit even in four leads; but you may rest assured that if your play is based on sound principles, the finest player in the world could not have done any better with the hand than you did. THE LAWS OF AUCTION Revised to September, ip20. Reprinted by permission of The Whist Club of New York (Copyright, ip2o) FOREWORD At a meeting of the Board of Managers of the Whist Club the following laws applicable to Auction were approved and adopted, to become effective September 1st, 1920. The Whist Club New York, July, 1920. CONTENTS PAGE Preface 197 Changes in the Laws 198 The 1920 Laws of Auction How Played 201 Cards 201 Rank of Cards 201 Rank of Suits 201 Lead. 201 Trick 202 Following Suit 202 Winning the Trick 202 Odd Tricks 202 Trick Values 202 Hand 203 Game 203 Rubber. 203 Honors 203 Honor Values 204 Slams 204 Scoring 204 Forming Tables 205 Entry 205 Members Leaving Table 205 Players Leaving Table 206 Drawing for Partners and Deal 206 Cutting Out 207 The Shuffle 207 The Cut. 207 The Deal 208 New Deal (Compulsory) 208 New Deal (Optional) 209 The Declaration 209 19s 196 CONTENTS PAGE Bid Defined 209 Higher Bid Defined 210 Insufficient Bid 210 Bid Out of Turn Defined 211 Bid Out of Turn Penalized 211 Double Defined 211 Redouble Defined 211 Improper Doubles and Redoubles 212 Pass Defined 212 Pass Out of Turn Defined i . 212 Pass Out of Turn Penalized 213 Illegitimate Declarations 213 Declaring and Changing. 213 Repeated Errors 214 Cards Exposed During Declaration 214 Contract and Declarer 214 The Play 215 Dummy • 215 Dummy's Rights (Unconditional) • 215 Dummy's Rights (Conditional) 216 Dummy Penalized 216 Exposed Cards. 217 Calling Exposed Cards 217 Play of Declarer and Dummy 218 Leads Out of Turn and Cards Played in Error . 218 Renounce 219 Revoke Definitions 220 Revoke Penalty 220 Revoke Avoided 221 Claiming and Conceding Tricks 2.22 Penalties and Consultation 22'^^ Information 22,^^ New Cards 224 The Etiquette of Auction 225 PREFACE Auction was played in the United States before any Code of Laws was drafted for the game. Some of the English Clubs had altered the Laws of Bridge to meet the more obvious requirements of the new game; but, as the Laws of Bridge were merely the Whist Code revised, the so-called Laws of Auction were nothing more than the English Laws of Whist twice altered with as little labor as possible to fit another game. This was only natural in view of the sudden transfer of popular allegiance, first from Whist to Bridge, and next from Bridge to Auction. When the game obtained a firm foothold in this country. The Whist Club drafted a code which covered a number of subjects not mentioned in the English revision of the Bridge Laws, but which followed its general form. After that, every year or two, The Whist Club issued a revision of its Code. Each was a material improve- ment upon its predecessor, but there was so much to be done in the line of re-making the game that less attention was paid to the order and wording of the Laws than otherwise would have been the case. After many experiments, a system of count was adoptetd in the Code of 1915 which seemed to meet thoroughly the popular demand. The desire for more changes in the game suddenly ceased, and the mail of the Card Committee of The Whist Club no longer brought hundreds of proposed alterations. In January, 1917, The Whist Club issued a code which did not materially alter the provisions of the Code of 1915, but in which the Committee for the first time seriously attempted to clarify some laws whose wording, due possibly to repeated amendment and alteration, seemed obscure. 197 198 PREFACE Even now there does not seem to be a desire for anything^ in the nature of drastic revision but certain writers, with more or less justification, have criticised the arrangement of the present laws and characterized as ambiguous the wording of some of them. The general public has apparently been satisfied with the character of the game, but has complained that the average player has difficulty in finding the law ap- plicable to a case arising during the play. It has seemed advisable, therefore, to entirely redraft the laws and prepare, for the first time, a Code written for the game of Auction. The changes of substance are not many nor, with one or two exceptions, of great importance, but there has been an earnest effort to make the wording as clear as possible and the arrange- ment such as to simplify the finding of any law which may be desired. This, with complete indexing, it is believed will meet the objections against the wording and form of the present code. CHANGES IN THE LAWS The change made by the Code of 1920 which will surely attract the most attention is the reduction of the revoke penalty from 100 points to 50, or from 3 tricks to 2, as the case may be. This may work unfairly in the isolated instance in which the revoke benefits its maker, but as in about ninety-nine cases out of one hundred the revoke does not do this, the new penalty more nearly fits the offence in the vast majority of cases. In reducing this penalty, the possibility of an inten- tional revoke is not even contemplated; the laws do not provide a penalty for any form of crooked play. They are not drafted with the idea of defeating the tactics of the card sharp. The character of the game makes this impossible, as the bidding offers a most fertile field for the clever crook to give his partner PREFACE 199 invaluable information. "One Spade" and "a Spade" could be given different meanings and other forms of expression could be used to convey unfair information. Should a player intentionally revoke or practice other unfair methods, ostracism will be more effective than any penalty the Laws could prescribe. The question of who wins the rubber when the side that wins two games has the lower score, has for years been a subject of Auction controversy. Originally the winner of two games was held to be the winner in the rubber, no matter how many points the other side might be in the lead. This created the expression "winning a losing rubber". In 1915 this was changed, but the alteration met with opposition in certain quar- ters and The Whist Club in 1917 returned to the old order of things. Now the folly of attempting to legislate an actual loss into a theoretical victory is realized and the original change made by The Whist Club being approved, it is reinstated so that once again the rubber winners will be the partners who come out ahead, regardless of which side happens to capture two games. The proposal that the penalty for a defeated contract be increased with the idea of curbing reckless bidding received due consideration but met with little favor, as free bidding is one of the most attractive features of the game. "Contract Auction," which provides that a player be permitted to score in his trick-score only the amount of his bid, the excess, if any, to be entered in his honor-score, was considered at the time of the adoption of the 1917 Code. This year it was again proposed and was again rejected for the same reason that influenced the Committee three years ago. Auction, as it stands, gives the expert sufficient advantage; "Contract Auc- tion" would almost legislate the poor bidder out of the game. Like the Nullo, it might make Auction more attractive for the few, but must do §Q at the expense of the many. 200 PREFACE The Committee in presenting the Code of 1920, feels it should urge the Auction playing public to rigidly observe all laws and enforce all penalties. It is obvious there must be penalties; to enforce some, and to disregard others creates misunderstand- ings and hard feelings. Players are all very ready to claim the extremely severe penalty for a revoke, which is always a careless and in most cases a harmless offence, and yet many hesitate to enforce the penalty allowed for looking at a trick that has been quitted. The latter offence gives the offender improper infor- mation by unfair means, and the penalty imposed for it is far from being too severe. The picking up and examining of cards during the deal, while by no means so serious an offence as looking at the quitted trick, is a most annoying habit and is apt to result in exposed cards and other unfor- tunate occurrences. Touching one card in Dummy and then playing another is an annoyance too often condoned. The Auction players of the country are therefore urged to observe the provisions of all laws, and to exact all penalties, it being especially desirable that the penalties provided in Laws 26(d), 53 and 6i{e) be rigidly enforced, THE LAWS OF AUCTION HOW PLAYED 1. The game of Auction is played by four players, two against two playing as partners. Two partners constitute a side. CARDS 2. Two packs^ of cards having different backs are used. A correct pack contains four suits of thirteen cards each; one card of each denomination to a suit. A pack becomes imperfect when one or more cards are torn, soiled or otherwise so marked that they may be identified from their backs. RANK OF CARDS 3. In the play, Ace is high, then King, Queen, Jack, Ten, etc. ; Deuce being lowest. In drawing cards, Ace is low, then Deuce, Trey, etc. ; King being highest. RANK OF SUITS 4. In the declaration,^ Spades are high. Hearts next, Diamonds next and Clubs lowest. In drawing cards, as between cards of equal denomination, Spades are low, Hearts next, Diamonds next, and Clubs highest. LEAD 5. The player at the left of Declarer leads^ to the first trick* and thereafter the winner of each trick leads to the next. * The game may be played with one pack, legal provisions requiring two packs being suspended by consent. 2 In the declaration, No Trump ranks above any suit. ^ A player leads or plays by placing one of his cards face upward near the center of the table. * The first lead of a hand, when legally made, is called the initial lead. 201 202 THE LAWS OF AUCTION TRICK 6. After the lead, each player in his turn to the left plays^ a card. A trick consists of four cards thus played. FOLLOWING SUIT 7. A player must follow suit, i. e., must play a card of the suit led if he have one. When leading, or when void of the suit led, he may play any card he holds.^ WINNING THE TRICK 8. A trick is won for his side by the player who, (o) if the trick does not contain a trump,^ plays the highest card of the suit led; or who (6) plays the highest trump, if the trick contain one or more trumps. A trick once turned and quitted* may not be looked af^ until the end of the hand. ODD TRICKS 9. Odd tricks are those won by Declarer in excess of six tricks. If Declarer fulfil his contract, his side counts the value of all odd tricks; otherwise nothing is counted in the trick score. TRICK VALUES 10. Odd tricks count in the trick score as follows : With Clubs trumps, each counts 6 points. With Diamonds " " " 7 With Hearts " " " 8 With Spades " " " 9 With No Trump " " " 10 Doubling doubles the above values; redoubling multiplies them by four. ^ A player leads or plays by placing one of his cards face upward near the center of the table. 2 To "refuse" is to fail to follow suit. To "renounce" (Law 55) is to refuse when able to follow. See Law 56 for "revoke." 3 As a result of the bidding (Law 30), the hand may be played without a trump (t. e., "No Trump") or with one of the four suits as the trump. Any trump is a winner as against any card of a plain (non-trump) suit. * Footnote to Law 56 (a) defines "quitted." " Law 61 (e) prescribes penalty. THE LAWS OF AUCTION 203 HAND 11. A hand^ begins with the cut^ and ends when the last card is played to the thirteenth trick. GAME 12. A game is won when one side has a trick score of thirty (30) or more points. A game may be com- pleted in one hand or more; each hand is played out^ whether or not during it the game be won. RUBBER 13. (a) A rubber begins with drawing for partners (Law 22) or cutting out (Law 23) and is completed when one side has won two games. The side which has won two games adds a bonus of 250 points to its honor-score. The side having the greater number of total points* wins the rubber.^ (b) When a rubber is started with the agreement that the play shall terminate (i. e., no new hand shall commence) after a specified time, and the rubber is unfinished at that hour, the score is made up as it stands, 125 being added to the honor-score of the winners of a game. A hand if started must be played out. (c) If a rubber be started without any agreement as to its termination, and before its conclusion one player leave; or if, after such agreement, a player leave before the appointed hour without appointing an acceptable substitute (Law 21-a) ; the opponents have the right to consult and decide whether the score be canceled or counted as in (&). HONORS 14. The Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten of the trump suit are the honors unless the declaration be 1 "Hand" is also used to mean the cards held by a player. When so used the sense is obvious. Also used to designate players, as in "second hand," "third hand," etc, 2 See Law 25. ^ All points won are counted whether or not they are needed to make game. *See Law 17. " Thus a side may win two games and still lose the rubber. 204 THE LAWS OF AUCTION No Trump, in which case the four Aces are the honors. Honors count in the honor-score of the side which received them in the deal. HONOR VALUES 15. Honor values are based on trick values (Law 10). They are not increased by doubling (Law 35) or redoubling (Law 36). 3 honors^ between partners have value of 2 tricks. 4 honors between partners have value of 4 tricks. 4 honors held by one partner have value of 8 tricks. 5 honors, held 3 by one and 2 by other partner, have value of 5 tricks. 5 honors, held 4 by one and 1 by other partner, have value of 9 tricks. 5 honors held by one partner have value of 10 tricks. WHEN THERE IS NO TRUMP 3 aces held between partners count 30 points. 4 " " " " " 40 4 " held by one partner count 100 ** SLAMS 16. A side winning all thirteen tricks^ scores 100 points for Slam.^ A side winning twelve tricks scores' 50 points for Little Slam.* Slam points are added to the honor-score.^ SCORING 17. Each side has a trick-score, which includes only points won by odd tricks; and an honor-score for all other points, including bonuses for honors, penalties, slams and undertricks. At the end of the rubber, the total points of a side ^ "Simple honors" means 3 honors, 2 Without counting tricks received as penalty for a revoke. 2 Also called Grand Slam. * When Declarer's contract is seven and he wins six odd, he counts 50 for Little Slam although his contract fail. ^ Slam or Little Slam may be scored by either side. THE LAWS OF AUCTION 205 are obtained by adding together its trick-score and honor-score.^ Subtracting the smaller total from the greater, gives the net points by which the rubber is won and lost.^ A proved error in the honor-score may be corrected at any time before the score of the rubber has been made up and agreed upon. A proved error in the trick-score may be corrected at any time before the next declaration begins (Law 29) or, if the error occur in the final hand of the rubber, before the score has been made up and agreed upon. FORMING TABLES 18. A table consists of four, five or six members, of whom four are players. A complete table consists of six members. In forming a table, candidates who have not played rank first and in the order in which they entered the room. Candidates who have played but are not members of an existing table rank next. Candidates of equal standing decide priority by draw- ing^ cards. Low wins. ENTRY 19. Before the beginning of a rubber* a candidate may enter any incomplete table by announcing his desire to do so and such announcements in the order made entitle candidates to places as vacancies occur. In case there are more candidates than there are vacancies, th.e provisions of Law 18 apply. MEMBERS LEAVING TABLE 20. If a member leave a table, he forfeits all his rights at said table unless he leave to make up a table which cannot be formed without him and, when leav- ing, announce his intention of returning when his ^ The 250 points bonus for winning two games (Law 13-a) is in- cluded. 2 Law 13 (o) explains who wins a rubber. * Method of drawing is described in Law 22. * Law 13 (o) stipulates that the rubber begins when any player draws either for partners or cutting out. 2o6 THE LAWS OF AUCTION place at the new table can be filled. In such case, if he return, he has prior rights over any who have joined the table in his absence and may displace one of them. When a member^ leaves a table to make up a new table which cannot be formed without him, and does not claim the right to retain his membership in the old table, he shall be the last to draw out of the new table. PLAYERS LEAVING TABLES 21. (a) A player leaving a table may, with the consent of the other three players, appoint a substitute to play in his absence; such appointment becomes void upon return of said player or upon conclusion of the rubber. In any case, the substitute when released regains all his previous rights. (b) A player who withdraws from a table of four at the end of a rubber; or who, after availing himself of the privileges of paragraph (a) fails to return before the end of the rubber, thus breaking up the table; cannot claim entry elsewhere as against the other three players from that table. DRAWING FOR PARTNERS AND DEAL 22. A table having been formed, the members draw^ cards. He who draws lowest becomes the dealer of the first deael and has choice of packs and seats.^ He who draws second lowest is Dealer's partner and sits opposite him. The third lowest has choice of the two remaining seats; fourth lowest takes the remaining one. The members, if any, who draw higher than fourth lowest, remain members of the table but do not play in the current rubber. In all cases when drawing cards, should any one show two or more cards, he must draw again. ^ Should two members make up a new table, both rank ahead of the others. ^ One pack is spread face downward on the table and each member draws one card. All draw from the same pack. ^ A player may consult his partner before choosing. THE LAWS OF AUCTION 207 A player having made choice of packs or seats must abide by his decision. CUTTING OUT 23. If at the end of a rubber a table consists of five or six members, the players who have played the greatest number of consecutive rubbers are the first to lose their places as players (but do not lose their standing as members). The draw (Law 22) decides between claimants of equal standing; low wins. THE SHUFFLE 24. After drawing for partners, second hand^ shuffles the pack which Dealer has chosen (Law 22) and third hand^ shuffles the still pack.^ Thereafter, at the be- ginning of each deal, third hand shuffles the still pack.* After being shuffled, the still pack is placed between second and third hands where it remains until the next deal. During the shuffle, the pack must not be held below the table nor so that the face of any card may be seen. Dealer has the right to shuffle last, but must not shuffle after the cut except as in 25 (b). The deal must not proceed until the pack has been shuffled as herein provided. THE CUT 25. (a) Dealer, immediately before the deal, places the pack before his right hand opponent who lifts off the top portion and places it beside the bottom portion, preferably toward Dealer who then places the bottom portion on top. This constitutes the cut.* (b) If the cut leave fewer than four cards in the top or bottom portion ; or if during it any card be faced or displaced ; or there be any doubt as to where the pack ^ The player on Dealer's left. ^ Third hand is Dealer's partner. 3 The "still pack" is the one not being dealt, or used in the play of the hand. * A player may not cut or shuffle for partner if either opponent object. 2o8 THE LAWS OF AUCTION was divided; or any player shuffle after the cut; there must be a new shuffle and a new cut.^ THE DEAL 26. (o)The deal begins after the cut and ends when the last card has been placed in proper order in front of Dealer. (b) After the first deal, players deal in turn to the left. A player may not deal for his partner if either opponent object. (c) Dealer gives the first card to the player on his left and so on until air fifty-two cards are dealt, the last one to Dealer. (d) A player may not look at any of his cards during the deal. Penalty, 25 points in the adverse ho^'^r-score. NEW DEAL (Compulsory) 27. There must be a new deal:^ (a) If the cards be not dealt into four distinct packets, in accordance with Law 26(c). (b) If, during the deal, any card be found faced in the pack or be exposed on, above or below the table. (c) If it be discovered during the hand that more than thirteen cards were dealt to any player. (d) If, during the hand, one player hold more than the proper number of cards and another less. (e) If, during the hand the pack be proved incorrect (Law 2). The pack is not incorrect on account of a missing card or cards if it or they be found in the still pack, among the quitted tricks, below the table, or in any other place which makes it possible that such card or cards were part of the pack during the deal. Any player may search anywhere for missing cards, including the still pack and the quitted tricks (face downward). See also Law 56 (^). ^ A player may not cut or shufHe for partner if either opponent object. ^ Always by the same dealer, and with the same pack except (.e) when a missing card is not found. See Law 62 regarding new cards. THE LAWS OF AUCTION 209 NEW DEAL (Optional)' 28. During the deal any player who has not looked at any of his cards may demand a new deal:^ (/) If the deal be out of turn, (^)If the pack be imperfect (Law 2), A new deal may be demanded by either of Dealer's opponents^ who has not looked at any of his cards: (h) If Dealer omit the cut. (i) If Dealer deal with wrong pack. If any player, after looking at a card, make a claim under this law; or, if no claim be made; the deal stands as regular, and the player to the left deals next. In case of a deal with the wrong pack (i), the next dealer may choose either pack for the remainder of the rubber. THE DECLARATION 29. The declaration* begins when the deal ends and ends when all four players pass^ (Law 38) their first opportunity to declare^ or, after a bid, (Law 30) when three players in succession have legally passed. The first legal act of the declaration is a bid or pass by the dealer. Thereafter each player in his turn to the left must pass, bid if no bid has been made previously, make a higher bid^ if a bid has been made previously, double the last bid made by an opponent or redouble an opponent's double provided no bid has intervened. BID DEFINED 30. A bid is made by specifying any number from one (i) to seven (7) inclusive, together with the name of a suit or No Trump; thereby offering to contract ^ A new deal may also be demanded under Laws 37 id), 37 (e) and 54 it). ^ By the same dealer except as in (/), and with the same pack ex- cept as in ig) and (i). ^ "Opponent" is always used in the general sense; "Adversary" is always an opponent of Declarer. * Declaration also means either bid, double, pass, or redouble. " The playe'* next in turn then deals with his own pack. * To declare means to bid, double, pass or redouble. 'Law 31 defines "higher bid." 2IO THE LAWS OF AUCTION that with such suit as trump or with No Trump, the bidder will win at least the specified number of odd tricks. HIGHER BID DEFINED 31. To make a "higher bid" a player must (a) name a greater number^ of odd tricks in a suit or No Trump than the number named in the last previous bid, or (b) name at least an equal number of odd tricks in a suit of higher rank (Law 4) than the suit named in the previous bid. INSUFFICIENT BID 32. A bid following any previous bid is "insufficient" if it is not "higher" according to Law 31. When an insufficient bid is made: (a) The insufficient bidder, if he do so before an opponent has declared or called attention to the insuffi- ciency, may make the bid sufficient by changing the number of odd tricks named, in which case the declara- tion proceeds as if the bid had been sufficient. (b) When either opponent calls attention to an insufficient bid before it is changed, the insufficient bidder must make his bid sufficient by increasing the number^ of odd tricks named; and if the player on the left of the insufficient bidder then pass, the partner of the insufficient bidder must pass and may not re-enter the declaration unless an opponent subsequently bid or double. (c) If neither opponent call attention to the insuffi- ciency and the player on the left of the insufficient bidder either bid, double or pass, the previous insuffi- ciency is waived. (d) Either opponent, after the bid has been made sufficient as provided in (b) , may in turn make a higher^ bid, in which case the declaration proceeds as if no bid had been insufficient. ^ Seven is the greatest number that may be named. - Not exceeding seven. 3 i. e.. Higher than the bid after it has been made sufBcient. THE LAWS OF AUCTION 211 BID OUT OF TURN DEFINED 33. A bid out of turn/ (not an illegitimate bid, Law 41) : (a) If, before Dealer declares, a bid be made by any other player. (b) If, after Dealer declares, any player bid other- wise than in his turn. BID OUT OF TURN PENALIZED 34. After a bid out of turn: (a) Either opponent of the offender may cancel it. The proper player then proceeds with the declaration,^ the out-of-turn bid being ignored, but the partner of the out-of-turn bidder must thereafter pass whenever his turn comes.^ (b) When the player on the left of the out-of-turn bidder declares before the improper bid is canceled, the out-of-turn bid is thereby accepted as if made in turn and there is no penalty. (c) When the player on the right of the out-of-turn bidder is the proper declarer and declares* without otherwise canceling the improper bid, such act cancels the out-of-turn bid and (a) applies. DOUBLE DEFINED 35. When, during the declaration and in proper turn, a player doubles, it doubles the trick value (Law 10) of the last previous bid. Doubling does not change bidding values (Laws 4 and 31), nor the values of honors (Law 15), Slam or Little Slam (Law 16). REDOUBLE DEFINED 36. When, during the declaration, and in proper turn, a player redoubles, it doubles the double (Law 35); that is, it multiplies the original trick value (Law 10) ^ When a bid is out of turn and also insufficient (Law 32), either opponent may elect to apply either Law 32 (b) or Law 34 (a). ^ The "proper player" must pass if he is the partner of the player in error. ^ The oflfending player, as he has not received improper information, may subsequently declare in turn. * When he doubles, it is a double of the last legal bid. 212 THE LAWS OF AUCTION by four. A redouble, like a double, affects only trick values (Law 35). IMPROPER DOUBLES AND REDOUBLES 37. The penalties for improper doubles or redoubles follow : (a) A double or redouble before a bid has been made is void. (b) A double or redouble after the declaration ends: Law 41(a) prescribes the penalty. (c) A double or redouble made when it is the turn of the right hand opponent to declare is subject to the same penalty as a bid out of turn (Law 34-a) unless the Dartner of the offender has passed the bid involved, in which case the double or redouble is void and there is no penalty. (d) A double or redouble when it is partner's turn to declare may be accepted by the opponents, after consultation, as if it had been in turn; or they may demand a new deal; or call the bid that was doubled final and elect whether the double or redouble stand. Any of these penalties may be exacted even though the partner of the offender call attention to the error; but, if the player to the left of the offender declare, he thereby accepts the out-of-turn double or redouble. (^) A double of a double is a redouble; a redouble when there has been no double is a double; a redouble of a redouble is void and is penalized by a new deal or 100 points in the adverse honor-score. Doubling a partner's bid or redoubling a partner's double is pen- alized by 50 points in the adverse honor-score. Either opponent may exact any of these penalties. PASS DEFINED 38. When, during the declaration and in proper turn, a player passes; the turn to declare is thereby passed to the next player to the left. PASS OUT OP TURN DEFINED 39. A pass is out of turn : (a) If made before Dealer declares; THE LAWS OF AUCTION 213 (b) If made (after Dealer declares) by any player except in turn. PASS OUT OF TURN PENALIZED 40. After a pass out of turn: (a) If the opponent at the left of the offending player declares^ before attention is called to the error, the pass is accepted as regular. (b) If an opponent call attention to the error, the pass is void and the player whose turn it was, when the error was made, resumes the declaration; but the offending player may not thereafter bid, double or redouble unless the declaration he passed be over-bid, doubled or redoubled. ILLEGITIMATE DECLARATIONS 41. (a) A bid, double or redouble made after the declaration is ended is not penalized if made by De- clarer or his partner. But should the error be com- mitted by an adversary. Declarer may call a lead from the offending player the first time it is the turn of said partner to lead. (b) When a player who has been debarred from bidding or doubling, either bids, doubles or redoubles, either opponent may decide whether or not such bid, double or redouble stand; and, in either case, both the offending player and his partner must thereafter pass. (c) A pass after the declaration is ended is void. DECLARING AND CHANGING 42. If a player pass, bid, double, or redouble, and then attempt to change^ to some other form of declara- tion or attempt to change the size of a sufficient bid, ^ See footnote to Law 29, which provides that a pass is a decla- ration. 2 A player who inadvertently says "No Bid," meaning to say "No Trump" (or vice versa) ; or who inadvertently says "Spade," "Heart," "Diamond" or "Club," meaning to name another of these, may cor- rect his mistake, provided the next player has not declared. "Inad- vertently" refers to a slip of the tongue, not a change of mind. 214 THE LAWS OF AUCTION such attempted change may be penalized as a bid out of turn.i REPEATED ERRORS 43. When any player commits an error for which a penalty is provided in Laws 32, 34, 37, 40, 41, or 42 at a time when an error has previously been committed under those laws, for which the penalty has not already been fully paid: (a) If the previous error was committed by the other side, the penalty for it (or as much as remains unpaid) is canceled and the side newly in error is liable for the penalty provided for the new offense; (b) If the previous error was committed by the same side, the opponents, after consultation, may elect which error to penalize. CARDS EXPOSED DURING DECLARATION 44. If, during the declaration,^ any player lead or expose^ a card, such card must be left face upward on the table and the partner of the player in error must thereafter pass whenever it is his turn to declare. If the player in error later becomes Declarer or Dummy, the card in question is no longer exposed; otherwise it remains an exposed card until played. If the player on the left of the player in error later becomes Declarer he may, on the first trick, forbid a lead of the suit of the exposed card.* CONTRACT AND DECLARER 45. With the completion of the declaration, the side which has made the highest bid assumes a contract to 1 Unless it be an attempt to change the third or fourth consecutive pass which closes the declaration (Law 29). ^ Law 29 specifies when the declaration begins and ends. ^ Law 51 defines exposed cards. * When two or more cards are exposed, all are subject to the pro- visions of Law 44, but the Declarer may not forbid the lead of more than three suits. THE LAWS OF AUCTION 215 win at least the number of odd tricks^ named in said bid: the partner of that side who first named the suit or No Trump specified in said bid is Declarer. For every trick Declarer falls short of his contract, the adversaries score 50 points in their honor-score for undertricks. All tricks won by adversaries beyond their "book" are undertricks. The adversaries' book is the number of the bid subtracted from seven. De- clarer's book is his first six tricks. In case of a double, the undertricks count 100 each; in case of redouble they count 200 each. When there is a double and Declarer fulfils his contract, he counts in his honor-score a bonus of 50 points ; and a further bonus of 50 points for each trick, if any, that he wins beyond the number called for by the contract. When there is a redouble, these bonuses are 100 points each instead of 50.2 THE PLAY 46. After the declaration, the play proceeds accord- ing to Law 5. Until the initial lead has been legally made, Declarer's partner is not subject to any of the limitations^ imposed upon Dummy. DUMMY 47. As soon as the initial lead is legally made, Declarer's partner places his cards face upward on the table and becomes Dummy.* Declarer plays Dummy's cards as well as his own. Dummy takes no part in the play and has no rights except as provided in Laws 48 and 49. DUMMY'S RIGHTS (Unconditional) 48. Dummy always has the right: (a) To call attention to the fact that too many or too few cards have been played to a trick, ^ Law 9 provides that Declarer whose contract fails, scores nothing for tricks. ^ These bonuses are in addition to the increased trick score, see Law 10. ^ Except consultation as to the penalty provided im Law 54 (a). * "Dummy" is sometimes used in the obvious sense of dummy's cards. 2i6 THE LAWS OF AUCTION (b) To call attention to the fact that the wrong side has gathered in a trick, (c) To ask Declarer whether he have any of a suit he has refused.^ (d) To correct an error in the score, (e) To participate in the discussion of any disputed question of fact after it has arisen between Declarer and an adversary, (/) To correct an improper claim of either ad- versary. (g) To assist Declarer as allowed by Law 54(y). DUMMY'S RIGHTS (Conditional) 49. If Dummy have not intentionally looked at a card held by any player, he has the following additional rights : (h) To claim an adverse revoke, (i) To call attention to an adverse lead out of turn, (/) To call attention to a card exposed by an ad- versary, (k) To call Declarer's attention to any right he may have under the laws, (I) To suggest playing out the hand when Declarer would concede any of the remaining tricks (Law 59-&). DUMMY PENALIZED 50. (m) Should Dummy call attention to any matter involving a right of Declarer or a penalty incurred by the adversaries, said matter not being covered by Law 48 paragraphs (a) to (g) ; or should he, after having intentionally looked at a card held by any player, seek to exercise any of the rights mentioned in Law 49, paragraphs (h) to (Z) ; then such right or penalty is canceled and may not be exercised or exacted. (n) Should Dummy, by touching a card or other- wise, suggest a play by Declarer; either adversary may ^ "Refuse" is defined in footnote to Law 7. THE LAWS OF AUCTION 217 require Declarer to make such play (if legal) or to refrain from making it. (0) Should Dummy warn Declarer that he is about to lead from the wrong hand, either adversary may designate the hand from which Declarer shall lead. EXPOSED CARDS 51. The following are "exposed" cards — (a) Two or more cards led or played simultaneously (all are exposed) ; (b) A card dropped face upward on the table, even if snatched up so quickly that it cannot be named ;i (c) A card dropped elsewhere than on the table if the partner see its face;^ (d) A card so held by a player that his partner sees any portion of its face;^ (e) A card mentioned by either adversary as being in his own or his partner's hand. (/) If an adversary who has legally played to the twelfth trick, show his thirteenth card before his part- ner plays his twelfth, the partner's two cards are exposed ; (g) A card designated by any Law as "exposed." CALLING EXPOSED CARDS 52. After a card has been "exposed" as defined in Law 51, it must be left face upward on the table and Declarer may "call" it (i. e., require its owner to lead or play it)^ at any time when it is the owner's turn to lead or play, except when the playing of the "called" card would cause the holder to renounce. Declarer may call an exposed card any number of times until it may be legally played, but the owner may play it even if not called. 1 If an adversary throw his cards face upward on the table, they are exposed (except as in 59a) andj liable to be called; but if the other adversary retain his hand, he cannot be forced to expose it. - The fact that an opponent sees it, does not make it an exposed card. 3 Declarer and Dummy are not liable (Law 53). 2i8 THE LAWS OF AUCTION PLAY OF DECLARER AND DUMMY 53. A card from Declarer's hand is not played or led until quitted.^ If Declarer name or touch a card in Dummy he must play it.^ If he touch two or more cards simultaneously, he may play either. Declarer and Dummy are not liable to the call of exposed cards.^ LEADS OUT OF TURN AND CARDS PLAYED IN ERROR 54. (a) After the declaration and before a legal initial lead, should the partner of the proper leader lead or expose a card. Declarer may either call a lead* from the proper leader or treat the card^ as exposed. Declarer's partner may call Declarer's attention to the offense but, should they consult regarding the penalty, it is canceled. Should Declarer's partner spread any part of his hand before Declarer selects the penalty, Declarer may not call a lead. (b) Should an adversary who has played a card which, as against Declarer and Dummy, is a winner lead another or several such winning cards without waiting for his partner to play; Declarer may require said adversary's partner to win, if he can, the first or any of these tricks, after which the remaining card or cards thus led are exposed. (c) Should the adversaries lead simultaneously, the correct lead stands and the other is an exposed card. (d) Should Declarer lead out of turn either from his own hand or Dummy, either adversary may direct that the error be rectified, but Declarer may not rectify it unless so directed. (e) After a lead by Declarer or Dummy, should fourth hand play before second hand; Declarer may ^ A card is "quitted" when the player no longer touches it. ^Unless Declarer say "I arrange," or words to that effect; or un- less his touching the card is obviously for the purpose of uncovering a partly hidden one or to enable him to get at the card he wishes to play. 2 But see Law 54 (a). * If the player called on to lead a su^t hay? none of it the penalty is paid. •* Or cards. THE LAWS OF AUCTION 219 require second hand to play his highest or lowest card of the suit led, or to win or lose the trick.^ If second hand have none of the suit led, Declarer may call his highest of any designated suit. If second hand hold none of the suit called, the penalty is paid. (/) Should Declarer lead from his own or Dummy's hand and then play from the other hand before second hand plays, fourth hand may play before second hand without penalty. (g) Should any player (including Dummy) lead out of turn and next hand^ play without claiming the penalty, the lead stands as regular. (h) If an adversary lead out of turn. Declarer may call a lead as soon as it is the turn of either adversary to lead or may treat the card so led as exposed. (i) If a player (not Dummy) omit playing to a trick and then play to a subsequent trick. Declarer or either adversary (as the case may be) may demand a new deal whenever the error is discovered. If no new deal be demanded, the surplus card at the end of the hand is considered played to the imperfect trick but does not constitute a revoke therein. (/) Whenever it is suspected that any of the quitted tricks contains more than four cards, any player (in- cluding Dummy) may count them face downward. If any be found to contain a surplus card and any player be short, either opponent may face the trick, select the surplus card and restore it to the player who is short; but this does not change the ownership of the trick. The player who was short is answerable for revoke as provided in Law 56 (^). RENOUNCE 55. When a player, having one or more cards of the suit led, plays a card of a different suit; his act constitutes a renounce.^ ^Except as provided in (/). 2 Declarer accepts wrong lead if he play next either from his own or Dummy's hand. ^ See also "refuse," Law 7^ footnote. 220 THE LAWS OF AUCTION REVOKE DEFINITIONS 56. A renounce (Law 55) becomes a revoke and subject to penalty (Law 57) : (a) When the trick in which it occurs is turned and quitted^ by the rightful winners, except as pro- vided in Law 58(c) ; (b) When the renouncing player or his partner, whether in turn or otherwise, leads or plays to the following trick; (c) When one side having claimed a revoke either opponent mixes the cards before the claimant has had reasonable opportunity to examine them. (d) When a player has incurred a penalty requiring him to play the highest or lowest of a suit, or to win or lose a trick, or to lead a certain suit, or to refrain from playing a certain suit, and fails to act as directed when able to do so; he incurs the revoke penalty. (e) If at any time a player be found to have less than his correct number of cards, and the other three have their correct number; the missing card or cards, if found (see also Laws 2y-e and 54-/), belong to the player^ who is short and, unless he be Dummy, he is answerable for any revoke or revokes as if the missing card or cards had been in his hand continu- ously. REVOKE PENALTY 57. The penalty for each revoke is: (a) When Declarer revokes, he cannot score for tricks and his adversaries, in addition to any bonus for undertricks,^ add 50 points to their honor-score for each revoke. (b) When either adversary revokes, Declarer for the first revoke may either score 50 points in his ^ A trick is "quitted" when it is turned and the player no longer touches it. ^ The fact that such player made no claim of irregularity at the time of the deal is conclusive, in the absence of evidence to the con- trary, that the missing cards were dealt to him. 3 The fact that Declarer revokes does not permit adversaries to score for undertricks, provided Declarer has won (even with the help of the revoke) at least the number of tricks called for by his contract. THE LAWS OF AUCTION 221 honor-score or take two tricks^ from his adversaries and add them to his own.^ Such tricks may assist Declarer to make good his contract, but shall not en- title him to any further bonus^ in the honor-score by reason of the bid having been doubled or redoubled; nor to a Slam or Little Slam not otherwise obtained. For each revoke after the first. Declarer adds 50 points to his honor-score. (c) The value of honors as held is the only score that can be made by a revoking side unless both sides revoke; if one side revoke more than once, the other scores 50 for each extra revoke. REVOKE AVOIDED 58. A renounce (Law 55) may be corrected, and the revoke (Law 57) avoided, under the following cir- cumstances : (a) If made by Dummy, the renounce may be cor- rected before the trick is turned and quitted. After the trick has been turned and quitted, whether by the rightful winners or otherwise, the renounce may not be corrected. In neither case is there any penalty. (b) A renouncing player, other than Dummy, may not correct his error (except as in c) after the trick is turned and quitted nor after he or his partner has led or played to the following trick. If the correction be made in time, there is no revoke penalty; but the player in error (except as in e) may be required to play his highest or lowest card of the suit led. Any player, who played after the renounce, may withdraw his card and substitute another. (c) If, before the trick is turned and quitted, the partner of the renouncing player ask him whether he have any* of the suit refused, subsequent turning and quitting does not establish a revoke until the renounc- * The value of the two tricks — undoubled, doubled or redoubled as the case may be — is counted in the trick score. 2 Dummy may advise Declarer which penalty to exact. ^ They may enable him to win a game and, if that game end the rubber, give him the 250 points bonus. * Or none. 222 THE LAWS OF AUCTION ing player has answered in the negative, or until he or his partner has led or played to the following trick. (d) If the renouncing player be an adversary and the renounce be corrected in time, declarer instead of calling the highest or lowest may treat the card played in error as exposed. (e) The highest or lowest may not be called from Declarer unless the adversary to his left have played to the trick after the renounce. (/) Should Dummy leave the table after request- ing protection from revokes,^ Declarer cannot be pe- nalized, following a renounce, unless an adversary in due time call the renounce to his attention. (g) The revoke penalty cannot be claimed after the next ensuing cut (Law 25) ; nor, if the revoke occur during the last hand of a rubber, after the score has been agreed upon; nor if there have been a draw for any purpose in connection with the next rubber (e. g.j as in Law 22). CLAIMING AND CONCEDING TRICKS 59. (a) If Declarer say "1 have the rest," or any words indicating the remaining tricks or any number thereof are his; either adversary may require him to place his cards face upward on the table and play out the hand. Declarer cannot then take any finesse, not previously proven a winner,^ unless he announced it when making his claim; nor may he call any cards either adversary has exposed. (b) If Declarer concede one or more tricks, and either adversary accept the concession before Dummy lawfully demands that the hand be played out (Law 49-Z), such trick or tricks belong to adversaries even though, had the hand been played out, Declarer could not have lost them. 1 Sometimes called "courtesies of the table." ^ "Proven a winner" means that the adversary who plays last to the trick in which the finesse is to be taken, has previously refused that suit; the fact that a finesse in the same suit has previously won is not enough. THE LAWS OF AUCTION 223 (c) If an adversary concede a trick or tricks to Declarer, and such concession be accepted before the other adversary objects, it is binding on both adver- saries. PENALTIES AND CONSULTATION 60. Laws which give "either partner," "either oppo- nent," etc., the right to exact a penalty do not permit consultation. (a) If either partner suggest or name a penalty he is deemed to have selected it. (b) If either direct the other to select a penalty, the latter must do so; and, if an attempt be made to refer the privilege back, the penalty is canceled. (c) If either says (in effect), "Which of us is to select the penalty?" the penalty is canceled. Cd) A proper penalty once selected may not be changed. (e) If a wrong penalty be selected^ the selection must be corrected upon request of either opponent. (/) If a wrong penalty be selected and paid without challenge, the selection may not be changed. (g) A reasonable time must be allowed for the selection of a penalty, and the selection must be made within a reasonable time. (h) If, instead of exacting a penalty at the proper time, either opponent of the side in error play or de- clare, no penalty may be exacted. INFORMATION 61. (a) During the declaration, information must be given concerning its details up to that time, but, after it is ended, should either adversary or Dummy inform his partner regarding any detail of the decla- ration except the contract. Declarer or either adver- sary (as the case may be) may call a lead the next ^ If the "penalty" selected be something not described in the Laws, no penalty may be exacted. 224 THE LAWS OF AUCTION time it is the turn of the offending side to lead. At any time during the play, any player inquiring must be informed what the contract is. (b) Any player except Dummy may, before a trick is turned and quitted, demand that the cards so far played be placed before their respective players; but should either adversary, in the absence of such demand, in any way call attention to his own card or to the trick, Declarer may require the partner of the offender to play his highest or lowest card of the suit led, or to win or lose the trick. (c) Either adversary, but not Dummy (Law 50-0), may call his partner's attention to the fact that he is about to play or lead out of turn; but if, during the play, an adversary makes any unauthorized reference to any incident thereof, or to the location of any card, Declarer may call the next lead when it becomes an adversary's turn.^ (d) If before or during the declaration a player give any unauthorized information concerning his hand, his partner may be barred from subsequent partici- pation in the declaration, (e) The penalty for looking at quitted tricks (ex- cept where the Laws permit examination) is 25 points in the adverse honor-score for each offense. NEW CARDS 62. One new pack must be produced to replace an incorrect one (Law 2y-e) or an imperfect one (Law 2S-g). Otherwise, when new cards are demanded, two packs must be furnished and the opponents of the player demanding them have the choice, unless the demand be made at the beginning of a rubber, in which case Dealer has the choice. Except under Laws 2y(e) and 28 (^r), new cards may not be introduced during a deal. (See Law 26-0.) ^ Any such reference by Dummy, may be similarly penalized by either adversary. THE ETIQUETTE OF AUCTION In the game of Auction slight intimations may con- vey improper information. To offend against etiquette is more serious than to offend against a law; for in the latter case the offender is subject to prescribed penalties; in the former his opponents are without redress. 1. Declarations should be made in a simple manner, thus : "one Heart," "one No Trump," "pass," "double" ; they should be made without emphasis. 2. Except by his legitimate declaration, a player should not indicate by word, manner or gesture the nature of his hand, nor his approval or disapproval of a play, bid, or double. 3. If a player demand that the cards be placed, he should do so for his own information and not to call his partner's attention to any card or play. 4. An adversary should not lead until the preceding trick has been turned and quitted; nor, after having led a winning card, should he draw another from his hand before his partner has played to the current trick. 5. A card should not be played in such manner as to draw attention to it, nor should a player detach one card from his hand and subsequently play another. 6. A player should not purposely incur a penalty nor should he make a second revoke to conceal a first. 7. Conversation which may annoy players at the table or at other tables in the room should be avoided. 8. Dummy should not leave his seat to watch his partner play nor call attention to the score. 9. If Declarer say, "I have the rest," or any words indicating that the remaining tricks, or any number thereof, are his, and an adversary exposes his cards, 225 226 THE LAWS OF AUCTION Declarer should not allow any information so obtained to influence his play. 10. A player having been cut out of one table should not seek admission in another unless willing to cut for the privilege of entry. BBENTANO'S