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HOWARD LUCEE _ MISS MARGARET KNIGHT _ _ e ay, ?I I FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE L FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE Including Mayonnaise, Goulash and Dummy Up BY ROBERT F. FOSTER NEW YORK GREENBERG, PUBLISHER I927 -- COPYlIGHT, 1927, By ROBERT F. FOSTER MA~NUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY THE VAIL-BALLOU PRESS, IN C., BINGHAMTON, N. Y. dA5 AA 1 I' CONTENTS PAGA INTRODUCTION.... V....... DESCRIPTION OF THE GAME....... I SCORING....... IMPORTANCE OF THE SCORING..... 12 BIDDING SYSTEMS......... 8 FREE BIDS IN Surr....... 2 FOUR-CARD SUIT BIDS.....24 THE DOUBLE VALUATION SYSTEM... 26 THE PARTNER'S ASSISTS..... 29 TRUMP VALUES...... 34 DEFENSIVE BIDS......45 BIDDING NO-TRUMPERS........46 THE TAKE-OUTS......48 DOUBLING........52 PLAYING THE HAND.....54 THE LEADS AND PARTNER'S RESPONSES.... 56 FINESSING............ 6 IMPROVING THE MEMORY........69 DUMMY UP... 71 MAYONNAISE AND GOULASH......72 THE LAWS......75 v7 I INTRODUCTION AS far back as I9I7, and again in 1920, when the revision of the laws of auction bridge was under consideration, an effort was made to have contract bridge recognized and legislated for in connection with the parent game. The rather illogical reason for its rejection, as stated by the then chairman of the committee, was, "that contract would almost legislate the poor bidder out of the game." As pointed out at the time, this assumes that the average rubber is made up of two good bidders against two poor ones, and that they never change partners. As everyone knows, bridge players usually follow the natural impulse common to all games, and play with their equals. Under such circumstances it is difficult to see how one pair is going to be "legislated out of the game" when all four at the table are about on a par. One of the best replies to the objection stated is the fact that contract bridge is daily growing vii viii INTRODUCTION in popularity, and under the name of plafond has almost entirely superseded the regular game of auction in Europe. In England, newspapers and magazines are constantly devoting more space to it. The reasons are not far to seek. It is a much livelier game than auction, and gives ample opportunity to the speculative player, and to the one who depends more on his judgment of the adversaries than upon any hard and fast rules about the exact bidding value of his own hand. Poor bidders can hold good cards. They like to play and are not afraid to cut into a table against players of supposedly superior skill, as they know skill is not of much value if it is shy of aces and kings. The essential difference between contract and the parent game is in the scoring. The number of tricks that can be scored toward game is limited by the number bid. Over-tricks go into the honor column. The penalties for overbidding are increased. The premium for slams both bid and made are augmented, and a rubber won in two straight games is worth more than if three had to be played to decide it. Partial scores are of more value than in auction. FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE DESCRIPTION OF THE GAME ONTRACT is a game for four persons, two being partners against the two others. Two packs of 52 cards each, with distinctive backs are considered necessary, the still pack being used to mark the position of the next deal. The cards rank from the A K Q down to the 3 and 2 for all purposes. The suits rank in the order of spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs, spades being the highest. No-trumps outranks all suits. If there is a trump suit, the five highest cards in that suit are called "honors" and there is a bonus for holding four or more in one hand. In no-trumpers, the four aces are the only honors. If more than four candidates offer for play, those who shall have the preference are decided by drawing from a full pack of 52 cards, spread face down. A player exposing more than one card must draw again. A table is considered complete with six players. The two who draw the highest cards are 2 FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE partners, and the higher of the two has the choice of seats and cards, his partner sitting opposite him. The next highest has the choice of the remaining seats. These four play a rubber, at the end of which if there are more than four players belonging to the table, those who have just played draw cards to decide the outgoers, the lowest cards drawn retiring in favor of those waiting to play. There can be no ties in drawing cards, because if the denomination is the same, the rank of the suits decides it. The player who wins the deal takes a thoroughly shuffled pack and presents it to the player on his right to be cut. At least four cards must be left in each packet, and the dealer must complete the cut. He then distributes the cards face down, one at a time, beginning on his left, until each player has thirteen. No trump is turned. All irregularities in the deal will be found in the Third Section of the Laws, at the end of this book. While one partner is dealing, the other is shuffling the still pack ready for the next deal. This he places at his right. The next dealer then passes it over to be cut, without any further shuffling. DESCRIPTION OF THE GAME 3 A misdeal does not lose the deal. If a player deals with the wrong pack, or out of turn, he must be stopped before the last card is dealt or the deal stands good, and the packs, if changed must so remain. The deal passes to the left, either at the end of the play, or when all four pass without a bid. The object of the game is to get the privilege of playing the hand with a certain suit for the trump, or at no-trump, which carries with it the right to play with the exposed dummy as the partner. This privilege is bid for, the dealer always having the first say. He can bid any number of tricks from one to seven in any suit, or at no-trump, or he may pass without a bid. The next player in turn to the left then has the opportunity to bid higher, if a bid has been made, or to pass, or double. In order to overcall a previous bid a player must name an equal number of tricks in a higher ranking suit, or a greater number in a lower ranking suit. For example: If the dealer bids a club the next player in turn to the left may bid one in anything except clubs, or he may say two clubs. But if the dealer starts with one spade, the next player will have to bid one notrump, or two in some suit. 4 FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE There is no limit to the number of times a player may overcall a previous bid, up to seven tricks, even if made by his own partner, but no player can increase or change his own bid until it is overcalled, or doubled, by some other player. No player can double his partner, but he may redouble an adversary. Players frequently deliberately overbid their hands to prevent the other side from going game, as no one can score toward game but the highest bidders. If a player's bid is not enough to overcall the previous bid he may correct himself without penalty by making the number of tricks sufficient in that suit, provided he does so before attention is called to the error. The suit cannot be changed, and a pass or double cannot be changed. If the player on the left of the insufficient bid passes, doubles, or makes a bid, before correcting the error, that accepts the insufficient bid as regular. But if attention is called to it before it is corrected, the player may then correct it in any way he pleases; by more tricks, or by changing the suit, or both; but his partner is barred from any further bidding during that deal. There are thirteen tricks to be played for in DESCRIPTION OF THE GAME S every hand, and the seventh won by the same side is known as the "odd" trick, the first six won by that side having no scoring value, and being known as the "book." A bid of one means to win seven tricks. A bid of two to win eight tricks, or two over the book, and so on. When three players in turn pass the last bid or double, that ends it, and the player who first named the suit, or no-trump, becomes the "declarer" and his partner the "dummy." Suppose A-B play against Y-Z, and that Z deals and bids a heart, A a spade, Y and B passing. Z now bids two clubs, A passes and Y bids two hearts, which holds. Although Z shifted from the hearts, he is the player who first named that suit and therefore becomes the declarer. Again: suppose Z bids a heart, A passes and Y shifts to spades. B and Z pass. A actually had a better heart hand than his adversary Z, and now bids two hearts. If this holds, A is the declarer, in spite of the fact that his adversary first bid that suit. If the declarer, with dummy as his partner, can make good his bid, which is called the "contract," by winning as many tricks as he bid, or more, he scores their full value "below the line" on the score-pad, where the points count toward 6 FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE game. Any tricks over his contract that he wins are scored "above the line" in the honor column, where nothing counts toward winning games, although those points all help to increase the ultimate value of the rubber. These over-tricks are scored at various values according to their number, as will be explained under "Scoring." As soon as either side reaches 30 points or more below the line, whether they make it all in one hand or in two or three, a line is drawn under it to show a game won, and both sides start the next game from zero, as no score can be carried over from one game to the next. The side that first wins two games wins the rubber. Doubling does not effect the value of the tricks in bidding, and two spades will still overcall two hearts, doubled or redoubled; but the values are increased in the scoring. If a player in his proper turn doubles the last bid made by an adversary, that means the tricks shall have double value if the contract is fulfilled, or the penalties be doubled if it fails. Either the declarer or his partner in their proper turn, may redouble if they wish to, which makes the tricks four times their normal value, but there the doubling ends. Doubling is the same as any other declaration, and reopens the bidding for fol DESCRIPTION OF THE GAME 7 lowing players. Doubling does not affect the scores for honors held. The partners who make the winning bid are known as declarer and dummy. The player to the left of the declarer leads any card he pleases for the first trick, and dummy at once lays down his thirteen cards, face up and sorted into suits, the trumps, if any, on his right. Dummy takes no part whatever in the play, except to ask a player who renounces to a suit if he has none of it. The declarer plays the dummy's cards to suit himself. Each player in turn to the left must follow suit if able to do so; if not, he may trump or discard at pleasure. The highest card played, if of the suit led, wins the trick, but trumps win all other suits. The four cards played constitute a trick, and the winner of each trick leads for the next, any card he pleases. The declarer gathers all the tricks won by his side and keeps them separate, so that they may be easily counted. Either adversary may gather the tricks for that side. As soon as the declarer has won six tricks, which constitute his "book," it is usual to push them together, as all tricks over that count toward fulfilling his contract. 8 FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE Should any player renounce to a lead when able to follow suit, he may correct the error if he does so before either he or his partner has led or played to the next trick, not otherwise. If the player in error is an adversary of the declarer, he may be called upon to correct the error by playing his highest or his lowest of the suit, or to leave the card played in error on the table face up, as liable to be "called." That is, the declarer may demand that it be played to any future trick in which it does not constitute a revoke. The partner of a player who renounces should never fail to ask him if he has none of that suit, because if the renounce is not corrected in time it becomes a revoke. The penalty for a first revoke is two tricks, for any further revokes by the same side, one trick each. These tricks are taken from the side in error at the end of the hand and given to their opponents. The tricks are then counted and scored by either side exactly as if no revoke had occurred. If the side in error has not tricks enough to pay, the other side scores a grand slam. Dummy cannot be penalized for revokes under any circumstances, his hand being exposed. SCORING THE most important part of the game of contract is the scoring. The value of the tricks won by the declarer depends upon the trump suit; there is no difference in their value to the adversaries if they defeat the contract. If clubs are trumps, each trick over the declarer's book, within the limits of the contract, is worth 6 points toward game; if diamonds, 7; if hearts, 8; if spades, 9, and if no-trumps, Io. These values are doubled if the contract is doubled and succeeds; they are quadrupled if the contract is redoubled and succeeds. Hearts doubled and redoubled would be worth 32, the odd trick winning the game. It does not matter how many points more than 30 the declarer makes, they are all scored, but win only that one game. If one side has a "partial score," less than 30, when the other side goes out, that partial score is worth nothing toward winning the next game, which starts at zero for both sides. In addition to the trick scores there is a special 9 to FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE bonus of 80 points for holding four honors in one hand, regardless of the suit, and ioo for holding all five honors, or four aces. When either side wins a game, they add Ioo points above the line, and the side winning a second game adds 300 for the rubber; so that if the same side wins two games straight, the rubber is worth 400 to them. If they have to play three games, only 300. If either side wins twelve of the thirteen tricks, the little slam is worth 50 in honors. If they win all thirteen, the grand slam is worth Ioo. Little slam both bid and made is worth 250; grand slam both bid and made, 500. Grand slam made after bidding little slam, 300. If the declarer makes any tricks over his contract, they are scored above the line. The first over-trick is worth 50, the second 30, the third 20 and any further tricks io each. This has been found better than the old way of scoring them all at 50 each, which led sharp players to underbid hands that could not well be overcalled, so as to pile up honor counts that were worth more than winning a game. The Canadian system of making over-tricks only io each, killed all interest in the play after the contract was fulfilled, as the tricks were not worth playing for. The DESCRIPTION OF THE GAME I I same objection lay against scoring the tricks at the usual value. Now, a player bidding two hearts and making five, scores i6 toward game and Ioo above the line. If the declarer is doubled and still fulfils his contract, he not only scores his tricks at double value, but gets 50 points bonus for fulfilling a doubled contract, and 50 more for any he may make over his contract, and also doubles the sliding scale of 50, 30, 20 and io for over-tricks. A bid of three hearts doubled and making five odd would score a total of 48 for game and 310 in penalties and bonus, besides honors held, if four in hand. If the declarer fails to fulfil his contract, his adversaries score 50 points above the line for the first trick by which he fails, Ioo for the second, and 200 each for any further tricks, so that if he should bid five and make two only, they would score 350 in penalties, regardless of what the suit was. These penalties would be doubled if the contract was doubled, and four times as much if it was redoubled. These penalties are made increasingly severe to prevent rash players from repeatedly overbidding their hands in order to prevent the other side from winning the game. IMPORTANCE OF THE SCORING LAYERS who are familiar with the parent game of auction bridge usually have some difficulty in accustoming themselves to the difference between that game and contract on account of the variations in the matter of scoring. In auction, the object is to secure the contract as cheaply as possible, so as not to run any unnecessary risks. Take such a hand as the following for example: H.AKQJ2;C.64;D.AK2;S. AKQ The dealer may be absolutely confident that he can make game at hearts on these cards, but there is nothing to be gained by bidding more than one, as he is not afraid of spades, and it might be to his advantage to hear some other bids. No matter how cheaply he may get the contract, or how high he goes, the score will be the same, provided he is not set. But at contract, the beginner is continually 12 IMPORTANCE OF THE SCORING I3 being impressed by the fact that unless one bids game one cannot win the game. This naturally leads to a habit of stretching the hands to more than they will meet, continually overbidding and getting set. The experience of the best players goes to show that this is a mistaken policy, and that there is a safe limit beyond which it does not pay to go. One of the worst mistakes a contract player can make is continually trying to win games by bidding game, when it is not in the cards. The best players try to arrive as accurately as possible at the value of their combined hands, and stop to look and listen when they are asked to pass that mark. The beginner should have clearly before him the differences in the resulting scores according to the number of tricks bid and the number won in play. Let us suppose that it is admitted the foregoing hand cannot make less than game, and might make much more. In the top line are shown what would be the results at auction, as these cannot possibly be affected in any way by the previous bidding, apart from doubling, if the bidder makes good. In the lines under that are shown the scores that would result from the various bids of one heart to six hearts, at contract. 14 FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE Winning: 4 odd 5 odd 6 odd 7 odd At Auction. Any Bid 237 245 303 36I At Contract. Bidding I Bidding 2 Bidding 3 Bidding 4 Bidding 5 Bidding 6 Bidding 7 i88 I98 258 176 I96 256 154 184 254 212 262 342 - 220 320 - - 478 318 316 3I4 412 400 578 736 If these scores are carefully studied it will readily be seen that while the auction player gains nothing by bidding more than one, the contract player loses points by bidding more than one if he does not go far enough to bid game. It will also be evident that by bidding more' than enough to go game he loses points if he cannot go far enough to bid a slam and make it. Against this difference in points as between bidding safe and bidding game, must be placed the advantage of winning game so as to get the first leg on the rubber, which is admitted to be an equity in three-fourths of its full value, as it IMPORTANCE OF THE SCORING r5 is 3 to i that the winners of the first game will also win the rubber game. On the other hand, compare the difference in the penalties at auction and at contract, in case the bidder fails. The top line shows the number of tricks a player might be set, up to 5. The lower lines show the cost in the two games, apart from any doubling, which would simply double each result. Set: I 2 3 4 5 At Auction:- 50 ioo 150 200 250 At Contract:- 50 150 350 550 750 To show the use of these tables. Let us suppose you have in the combined hands an apparently safe contract to win two odd at spades. If you leave it at two and win four, you get, apart from honors, which you get anyhow, i6 below the line, 50 and 30 above, for your over-tricks, total 96. If you stretch it to a four-bid, and win, you get 132, a gain of 36. But if you fail, and get two odd only, you lose I50; or 50 if you make three odd. A careful study of these facts has led many players to decide that there is nothing in over i6 FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE bidding the hand more than one trick, unless it is in the nature of a sacrifice when you are pretty sure that the other side can win the game or rubber. Some place the limit at two tricks, if the two will win game if it turns out well. The deciding factor in the game seems to be the value of what are called "partial scores," that is, scores that do not quite reach game, but make it easier to go game on some subsequent deal, as it is not necessary to bid more than enough to reach 30 points from where you stand. At auction, partial scores are seldom of value because if the declarer is 8 up, and bids one notrump, making three, he would have won the game anyhow. But at contract he must bid three no-trumps, hearts, or spades, or he cannot go game, even with the partial score of 8 to help him. At contract, the partial score has a great advantage on account of the tactical position. If you want only 12 points, you need not bid more than two in anything. The other side realize this, and it is in such situations that they will continually outbid you to "keep the flag flying," until you have piled up penalties enough to disregard the eventual loss of the game. At auction, the average rubber among good IMPORTANCE OF THE SCORING 17 players is five deals, and its value about 400 points. At contract it runs from seven to eight deals, on account of the partial scores, and is worth nearly twice as much as at auction. For this reason the usual auction stakes should be cut in half at contract. The gist of all this is that it is the safe game that pays, on account of the partial score values; that the limit of overbidding should be two tricks; and that the stakes should be reduced, and more time allowed for playing a rubber. BIDDING SYSTEMS S the important difference between auction and contract is that in auction all you win counts toward game, no matter how little you bid, while in contract your bid sets the limit for your progress toward game, it is evident that the cautious or backward methods of auction will not do in contract. At auction, if your partner bids one in anything and it suits your hand, you say nothing, and if the adversaries have nothing to say, the bid stands. In contract this style of bidding will not get you anywhere. If you want to win the game you must show your partner how close you can come to doing it, and see if he can help you out with the balance. Suppose you start with a bid of one heart, and he has just enough to raise you once. That is not doing any good, because you will make more by leaving it at one and scoring over-tricks, if you cannot bid four. This we have seen in our table of results. But if you can start with a bid of three hearts and he has a raise, he will jump at the chance to bid game. BIDDING SYSTEMS I9 The first thing to do in contract is to settle upon some bidding system which can be relied upon to produce, in tricks won, as nearly as possible the number predicted by the cards held. No system is absolute for every hand, but some are much better than others, because they will beat averages. There are three conditions which all systems must meet. These are: The bid on your own cards. The bid in support of partner. The bid against the adversaries. A FREE BID is the first made on that deal. A DEFENSIVE BID is made against an opponent's bid. A SUPPORTING BID increases the partner's contract. A TAKE-OUT BID shifts from the partner's bid. A SECONDARY BID is one made on the second round. A PRE-EMPTIVE BID aims to stop any further bidding. A NEGATIVE DOUBLE denies strength in the opponent's suit. A POSITIVE DOUBLE is intended to punish over-bidding. MAJOR SU.ITS are Hearts and Spades. MINOR SUITS are Clubs and Diamonds. * A 20 FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE There are at present five distinct systems of free suit-bids in common use, two of which refer to the major suits only; two to the minor suits only, and the fifth to all suits. Some of these preclude the others. FREE BIDS IN SUIT ALL modern bidding systems are based on having a minimum of two sure tricks in the hand, but they vary in their conditions as to the distribution of these two tricks. Here are some examples which will serve to illustrate these differences. An "x" signifies any card below the ten. A. H. A Kxx x, C. x x x, D. x x x, S.x x B. H. A xx xx, C. Ax x, D. xx x, S. xx C. H. QJxxx, C.A Kxx, D. xx, S. Ax D. H. QJ xxx, C. A Kx, D. xx x, S. xx E. H. QJ xx x, C. A xx, D. xx x, S. Ax F. H. x x x, C. A x x, D. xx, S. A x x x G. H. x x x, C. A K x, D. x x x, S. xxx H. H. Axx x, C. xxxx, D. xxxx, S. Ax System No. I requires five cards in a major suit or four in a minor, at least one sure trick in the suit named. This gives us a heart bid on A, or B, a club bid on C; no bid on any of the others. 21 22 FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE System No. 2 requires five cards in a major suit, but does not insist on any sure trick in that suit if there are more than two tricks in the whole hand. This system would bid a heart on A, B or C; but would not bid at all on the others. System No. 3 refers to the minor suits only, when there is no good major suit bid, and is usually combined with System No. i. This requires only four cards, and at least one sure trick in the suit named. It would bid a club on C, even without the ace of spades. It would bid hearts on A and B. System No. 4 also refers to the minor suits only, but makes no distinction as to the number of cards in the suits, so that there is at least one sure trick in the suit named. This would bid a club on C, D, E, F or G; but a heart on A or B. No bid on H. System No. 5 will bid on any hand that contains two sure tricks, as every hand must have at least one four-card suit. If neither of the sure tricks are in a four-card suit, it will bid the fourcard suit anyhow. With two equal suits, it will bid the one of higher rank. This is the only system that has a bid on any of these eight hands. A heart on A, B, C, D, E and G; a spade on F; a diamond on H. FREE BIDS IN SUIT 23 The distinction between these systems is chiefly in the insistence on there being at least one sure trick in the suit named. This is in order to guarantee the partner that if he leads that suit, somewhere in the hand will be forthcoming two sure tricks for defensive purposes, at least one of them being in the suit bid. This defence is not shown under Systems No. 2, or 5; but it is under Systems No. I, 3 and 4. Personally, I am a strong believer in showing the exact location of at least part of the defence, and use Systems No. I, 3, and 4, only. I will carry System No. 4 to the extent of bidding a singleton ace, or ace and one small, if the only other ace is in a short major suit. I am a great believer in bidding the minor suit ace instead of notrumps with three aces, and no other high cards. These short minor-suit bids are sometimes called "approaching bids," as they are designed to encourage the partner to bid, instead of passing, as if you had nothing worth mentioning that could be of any use to him. FOUR-CARD SUIT BIDS T has lately become the practice to bid on only four cards in the major suits, provided there is an extra trick in the hand to make up for the shortness in trumps, as five cards in a major suit is the standard. Some writers give a number of examples of the combinations that might be held, and the outside strength required, but their rules are so inconsistent, requiring only two tricks in some cases, three in others, and some in between, that they are evidently all guesswork. The simplest rule that I have found for fourcard bids in the major suits is this: Say to yourself, "If I had a fifth card in this suit, would I bid it?" If the answer is yes, then see if you have a sure trick outside that suit, which is more than the two in hand that make it a bid, that trick will take the place of the missing trump. Example:H. A Kx x, C. Ax x, D. xx x, S.x xxx Summing up the general rules for suit bids, they may be formulated in accordance with 24 FOUR-CARD SUIT BIDS 25 what is now generally known as the "Double Valuation System" which is based on the analysis of a very large number of deals, all going to show that if you secure the contract, you will take twice as many tricks as the number of sure tricks in your hand. The only trick that is not a sure trick is a guarded king; but as it will take a trick about half the time, we double it, and call it a trick. This gives us the following scale of values, which I have found will come to within 2 per cent of the actual value of the hands on the average, if you get the contract. If you do not get the contract, all sure tricks fall to their face value. THE DOUBLE VALUATION SYSTEM A guarded king is worth........ I trick Ace, or K Q of the same suit,.... 2 tricks A Q Io, A J Io, or K Q io, of same suit,.................. 3 tricks A K, A Q J, or K Q J, of same suit,....................... 4 tricks Queens, jacks and tens have no bidding value apart from higher cards in the same suit, but they may be useful as stoppers, or protection in no-trumpers. If any other player bids a suit, the values in that suit fall to their defensive, or face value, in your hand. If your partner denies your suit, your high cards equally lose their double value in the denied suit. This system gives us the following rules for counting the hand for a free bid in suit:The average major suit is 5 cards and requires 4 tricks in the hand, at least 2 in the suit bid. See examples A and B. A major suit of only 4 cards requires 5 tricks 26 DOUBLE VALUATION SYSTEM 2 27 in the hand, and at least 3 of them in the suit bid. Minor suits do not require length, as they are never bid to insist on them for the trump, but there must be 4 tricks in the hand, at least 2 of them in the suit named. Defensive bids may be made on a trick weaker than would be considered essential for a free bid. If there are three tricks in the hand, at least two in the suit named, it is often worth while to bid the suit, simply to encourage a partner who has still to speak. This is especially true of second hand, who by a defensive bid may induce his partner to make some attempt to secure the contract, or force the bidding up, which he would not otherwise have attempted. After two passes, the bids become half attacking and half defensive, and the hand should be worth at least 5 tricks, with three of the four suits protected, for a suit bid. After three passes, there should be at least 6 tricks in the hand, and three suits protected. A suit is said to be protected when it is improbable that the adversaries can run it down against you and win every trick in it. Three to the queen-jack, or four to a queen or jack, are examples. 28 FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE Suits that are long enough for a good trump suit, such as six or seven cards, king or queen high, are not good free bids except under Systems No. 2 and 5. If there is no good minor suit bid in the hand, these long suits should not be mentioned as free bids, but may be when the bid comes round again, if the development seems favorable. That is why they are called "Secondary Bids." Take these examples: H. K x x x x x, C. A K x x, D. x x, S. x H. Q J x x x x, C. A x xx, D. K x, S. x In the first there is a good free bid in clubs, secondary in hearts. In the other there is no free bid, as the hand does not contain four tricks at the double value; but it is a good secondary heart bid. THE PARTNER'S ASSISTS AVING settled upon some system that will govern the opening bid upon any hand that may fall to the player's lot, there are two situations that may arise. One is where the second hand puts in a bid that overcalls, or doubles, and the other is where second hand passes. This takes us across the table to the partner of the first bidder, who must determine what he is going to do. We have already seen that after two passes, the dealer's partner would require at least a trick more than would be enough for a dealer, because he has a partner whose weakness in high cards is announced. Third hand should also have three suits stopped, or six tricks if he has only two stopped. After three passes, fourth hand should be cautious about reopening the bidding, as game is extremely doubtful, and penalties may be severe. For the sake of clearness in defining the relative positions of the players, in what follows we shall call the player who makes a free bid the 29 30 FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE "dealer," whether he is the actual dealer or second hand, and his partner we shall always call the "partner." If one is accustomed to auction, one must keep constantly in mind the difference between the two games in the matter of having to bid game in order to win game. When second hand passes up the dealer's bid at auction it is quite unnecessary for the partner to say anything if the bid suits him, unless he is so strong that he is anxious to warn the dealer not to shift, because it does not matter how cheaply they get the contract, they score toward game every trick they make over the book. Since free bids on four-card suits have come into vogue, there are some players who believe in what is called the "jump assist." This is increasing the bid, even when second hand passes, in order to show unusual trump holding. As we shall see presently, the partner is expected to have what is called "normal" trump assistance, which is three. But if he has four or more trumps and a strong assisting hand elsewhere, he jumps the bid to show the dealer that even if he is bidding on only four cards, he will find at least four in the dummy. This jump assist is THE PARTNER'S ASSISTS 31 never made without the extra trump length, at auction. In contract, it is most important for the partner to advance the contract, far enough to win game, regardless of any unusual trump holding, which is often possible if there is a partial score. If he passes, and fourth hand says nothing, a chance for game may be missed. This brings us to the consideration of how the partner shall estimate the trick-taking value of his hand, taking it in connection with the dealer's bid. In the first place, he counts all combinations of high cards at their double value, except in the suits named by the dealer; or by second hand, if any. It is important to remember that if the dealer bids a heart and second hand two clubs, the high cards in both hearts and clubs fall to their normal value in the hand of the partner. The same is true for the dealer's cards if the partner denies the suit. If the dealer bids a heart on ace-king to five, and the partner denies heart assistance with two clubs, the ace-king of hearts are worth two only, not four. The partner must never forget that many free 32 FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE bids are made on the minimum of four tricks, but the contract is to win seven; therefore the dealer expects to find three in the dummy, which gives us the first rule that governs assists:Three of the tricks in the partner's hand are included in the dealer's bid, and must never be counted, or bid over again. In order to increase the dealer's bid the partner should have at least four tricks in his hand, counting both high cards in suits other than trumps, usually called "plain suits," and any superfluous trumps, or any uses to which trumps can be put, such a "ruffing" (trumping) a plain suit. Four tricks justifies one assist. Five tricks, two assists. Six tricks, three assists, and so on. By "assists" is meant raising the contract a trick. If the dealer bids one heart and partner holds three assists, he should advance the contract to four hearts at once. In auction he would advance it only one trick, but would go on if that was overcalled by an adversary, not otherwise. We shall see presently what the partner would do if the dealer "rebids" his hand; that is, advances his own bid, if it is overcalled, when partner passes. THE PARTNER'S ASSISTS 33 The high cards being counted according to the table of Double Valuations already given, we shall turn attention to the trump suit; that is, the suit proposed by the dealer. TRUMP VALUES T HE partner counts only the three highest honors, A. K. Q. as of any value in assisting bids, therefore the expression "honors" refers to them in what follows. When the dealer starts with a bid of one in a suit, he cannot be credited with more than five cards in that suit, and may have only four. It is therefore important for his partner to warn him if he will find dummy with only one or two small trumps, which might leave anywhere from six to eight against him. Just as the dealer expects to find three tricks in his partner's hand, so he expects to find at least three small trumps, or an honor and one small. This is called "normal" assistance, and must not be counted, as it is included in the dealer's bid, just like three tricks. But there are certain ways in which trumps may be valuable. In the first place, there may be more than normal assistance, which is valued as follows: 34 TRUMP VALUES 35 Four small trumps are worth,... I trick One honor and two small are worth,..................... I trick Two honors and two small are worth,..................... 2 tricks Five trumps are worth no more than four, unless something can be done with them besides following suit to the dealer's trump leads. If the partner has a singleton, or a missing suit he may count on his ability to ruff such a suit as follows: Ruffing Ist round, holding only 3 trumps,.................... 2 tricks Ruffing 2nd round, holding 3 or 4 trumps,.................. I trick Ruffing i st and 2nd rounds, with 4 trumps,.................. 3 tricks Ruffing both Ist and 2nd rounds is not counted upon when holding only three trumps, because trumps may have to be led before dummy can be given a second chance. Holding less than normal assistance in trumps, such as one or two small only, the dealer should be warned by "denying" his suit if possible. This may be done by naming any five-card suit, or any four-card suit containing three tricks, or by 36 FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE going to no-trumps with good cards in the three other suits. As examples of counting the partner's hand, take the following; the dealer bidding one heart, second hand one spade: H. xxx; C. A J Iox; D. xxx; S. xxx There is no assist, as the hand contains only normal trump assistance, cannot trump anything, and contains nothing but the three tricks included in the dealer's bid. H. xx x; C. A K x x; D. x x x x x; S. x This is worth two assists, as there are four in clubs, and the ability to ruff the 2nd round of spades is equal to a king, or one trick. [It is an excellent plan to put a trump alongside a singleton, to remind you that it is as good as the king of that suit.] H. xxxx; C. Ax xx; D. QJ xxx; S.This is a jump assist, even at auction. At contract it is an immediate advance to four hearts. The extra trump is worth I; the ace of clubs 2; and the ability to ruff both Ist and 2nd rounds of spades, 3 more. It should be remarked in passing that the TRUMP VALUES 37 original bidder never counts on ability to ruff a suit, but counts only on ability to exhaust trumps by leading them. The five highest trumps in the pack are worth only five tricks, whether they win tricks by leading trumps or by trumping other suits. Seven trumps to the ace-kingqueen is seven trump leads, or three leads and four ruffs, but never more than seven tricks. The partner, on the other hand, counts the fourth trump as a trick, because if the dealer has five, valued as four tricks, and dummy has four, the dealer may catch all the adverse trumps in two leads, and make five tricks in trumps by leading, while dummy can still make one or two more by ruffing. REBIDDING THE HAND AT auction, the dealer starts with as cheap a bid as possible that will convey to the partner a correct idea of his holding. If he bids one in suit, his normal holding is five cards, and he wants his partner to deny the suit if short in it. If the dealer starts with a bid of two in a major suit, he intimates that he does not care if he finds only one or two small trumps in his dummy, as he has trumps enough for both hands. There is no such thing as a free bid of two in a minor suit, clubs or diamonds, among good players, as it serves only to embarrass the partner, and at the same time tells the adversaries that there is not another sure trick in the hand, or the bid would be no-trumps, as we shall see presently. There is nothing the partner would not do in response to a bid of two clubs or diamonds, that he would not equally do if the bid were one only. At auction, this distinction between a bid of one in a major suit and then advancing the bid later, or bidding one or two at the start and say38 REBIDDING THE HAND 39 ing no more, shows the outside holding. Take these examples:H. A K Io x x; C. x x x; D. x x x; S. x x One heart bid, and nothing more to say. H. A K o x x; C. A xx; D. x x x; S. xx One heart, and if overcalled by opponents or assisted by partner, two hearts, showing a sure trick outside hearts. H. A K o x x; C. A K x, D. x x x; S. x x One heart and rebid the suit twice, showing two extra tricks. H. A K oxx; C. A Kx; D. Axx; S. xx One heart, advancing the bid three times if necessary. This is auction bidding, in which the dealer may not be called upon to rebid the hand at all, or perhaps only once, and if he wins tricks enough to go game, he will score game. At contract he cannot do this, but must bid game if he wants to score game, and games are very valuable on account of the bonus of Ioo points that goes with the first game of the rubber, and 300 for winning the second game. 40 FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE For this reason many players consider that the auction method of rebidding hands should be abandoned and the full value named at once. This also abandons the advantage of first showing the partner that assistance in trumps is wanted, and of showing outside tricks, when that normal assistance has been assured. It should be obvious that if the partner has only two or three tricks, which is not enough for an assist, you cannot go game unless you have seven or eight yourself, and may fail even then if you find a number of trumps against you in one hand. If you are long enough in trumps to disregard this possibility, you can bid game on eight tricks. In contract, you have this safeguard, which does not exist at auction. If your partner has an assist, four tricks, he will assist, even if second hand passes, simply to reopen the bidding. You can then rebid your hand to the limit. If he jumps the bid, you have the same opportunity. For this reason most players prefer to be on the safe side and bid only one on five-card major suits as a starter. Then, if the adversaries just overcall, to rebid the hand, as the partner may have normal assistance in trumps, but not enough sure tricks outside trumps to make an REBIDDING THE HAND 4I assist. This gives us this table for the partner: Do not assist a bid of one with less than................... 4 tricks If dealer rebids, you can assist with...................... 3 tricks After a second rebid, you can assist with................... 2 tricks After a third rebid, you can assist with................... i trick As an example of a cautious approach to the safety limit in bidding, taking this distribution. Y's hand H. 953 C. AQJ3 2 D. 87 S. 1042 A's hand B's hand H. QJ H. 8 72 C. 1098 C. K6 D. 9 5 4 D.KQJ63 S. A K 9 5 3 S. J 8 6 Z's hand H. A K IO 1064 C. 754 D. A Io 2 S. Q7 4Z FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE Z deals and bids one heart. A one spade. With normal trump assistance, four tricks in clubs and no ability to ruff, Y can assist once, but no more, so Y bids two hearts. B holds four tricks in diamonds, normal trump assistance and what might be a trick with the club king, as clubs must be the assisting suit on his right; but unless A has more than four tricks, which would be a rebid, they cannot go game, so B just assists once, bidding two spades. Z now rebids, three hearts, showing his outside trick, just to keep A and B from getting the contract too cheaply, although he knows that if his partner could not bid more than two hearts game is improbable. A passes, having no rebid, but B will go to three spades, for the same reason that Z went to three hearts. Neither side can make more than three odd, but Y or Z might deliberately overbid at the risk of being set, just to keep A and B from playing the hand. The honor score is worth nothing in contract, so a set is a dead loss: but the partial score might be valuable to A and B. Here is an example of a jump assist, without waiting for any rebid by the dealer: REBIDDING THE HAND 43 Y's hand H. QJ72 C. AJ 75 D. A964 S. 4 A's hand B's hand H. io5 H. 93 C. 96 C. KQ82 D. Io 5 3 2 D. KJ8 S. AK o 6 3 S. Q J 5 2 Z's hand H. AK864 C. 1043 D. Q7 S. 987 Z deals and bids one heart. He has no rebid. A bids one spade, also having no rebid. Y now counts his hand for two tricks each in clubs and diamonds, and one trick, for the extra trump length, and one more for the ability to ruff spades. With these six tricks he jumps the bid to four hearts, adding his six to the dealer's four, which is ten. Unless A has a rebid, B cannot bid game. He has two tricks in clubs, one in diamonds, and the 44 FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE two for his extra trumps, but he cannot ruff anything until the third round, which is too remote to bid upon it. Add his five to his partner's four and it is nine only, and nine tricks is all they can make in play, with spades trumps. But in spite of that, B should bid four spades, just to keep Y and Z from going game. At auction, the score for four honors, 40 points, would be worth something, but at contract they have no value. Y would consider four spades a "free double," as it wins the game if made, whether doubled or not. DEFENSIVE BIDS ONCE the bidding is started, the adversaries must make the best defence they can, so that if the dealer starts with a bid of one, the second hand should show anything that he has, even going so far as to bid on three tricks only. He still has a partner, and something should be done to encourage that partner to bid if he has anything. If third hand assists the dealer, nothing is lost by having put in a bid second hand, but as long as the other side do not bid enough to go game at the score, there is no use in risking being penalized by undertaking contracts one cannot hope to make. There is nothing in "flagflying," which is deliberately overbidding the hand to "keep the game in." At contract, if the other side have any doubt about their ability to win game, they will stop bidding and let the flag-flying players have a try at their contract, usually after doubling it. 45 BIDDING NO-TRUMPERS O-TRUMPERS are hands that are too strong to pass, but have no sound majorsuit bid, and are not likely to win game at a minor suit. The qualifications are: Three suits stopped or protected. No singletons. Not more than one two-card suit. At least five tricks in the hand, at double valuation, for a free bid by dealer or second hand; at least seven tricks for third hand after two passes, and at least eight or nine for fourth hand after three passes. The best suit distributions for no-trumpers are:4333;4432;5332 One may occasionally bid no-trumps on a 5 4 2 2 distribution, but it is dangerous unless both these suits are stopped, such as ace and small or king and queen. At contract, even more than at auction, players refrain from bidding 46 BIDDING NO-TRUMPERS 47 against no-trumpers, especially when they have the lead. Sporty no-trumpers are occasionally bid on two suits, if they are strong enough to count up to nine tricks. Here are two examples in which if partner has an early trick, game is won. H. x x x; C. A K Q x x x; D. A K; S. xx H. A K x; C. A K xx x x x; D. x; S. xx In the second as in the first, if partner takes out with spades, deny the suit with clubs. To bid three originally on such hands is a gamble, but many players will take it. At auction bids of one are safe enough; but at contract the conservative players bid the clubs. As a rule, the best notrumpers are hands that can support a majorsuit if partner bids it as a take-out. Bidding two no-trumps on Ioo aces is not as important as winning the game. THE TAKE-OUTS OWING to the danger of incurring heavy penalties if the no-trumper is not a success, it is even more important for the partner to waj/ the declarer at contract than at auction. For this reason the following rules should be followed: Never leave your partner in with a one notrump bid if you have a singleton or a missing suit. Bid any five-card suit, or the higher ranking of two four-card suits. Never leave your partner in if you have no card higher than a queen, (usually called a "bust") and any five-card suit to bid, no matter how weak it may be. Never leave your partner in with a one notrump bid if you have five hearts or spades; no matter what they are, or what else you have in the hand. The stronger the hand the more reason for the take-out, and if it is worth five tricks, bid game. Here are examples: H. xx x; C. Q J x xx; D. x xx; S. xx 48 THE TAKE-OUTS 49 Bid two clubs as a warning to drop the notrumper. H. K x x x x; C. xx x; D. xx; S. xx x Bid two hearts as a warning to drop the notrumper. H. A K IO x x; C. x x x; D. x x; S. x x x Bid two hearts as probably safer than one notrump. H. A K o x x; C. K J xx; D. xx; S. Ax Bid four hearts. With a no-trumper for the dummy, this should be a game hand. At notrumps, you might both be shy of diamonds, or of spades. When the dealer's no-trumper is taken out by partner with a suit, if it is a minor suit it is always a warning, and the dealer should never go back to no-trumps unless able to bid game. If it is a major suit, it is either a warning or it is safer than no-trumps, therefore the dealer should never go back to no-trumps unless able to bid game. The bugaboo that some writers stick up just for the sake of knocking it down is that if the dealer does not know whether the major-suit so50 FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE take out is weak or strong, he will not know whether to go back to no-trumps or not. This shows the illogical mind. It is admitted by these writers that if they knew it was a weak takeout, they would leave it alone, and if they knew it was a strong take out they would equally leave it alone. As it must be one or the other why not leave it alone in either case? There is no such thing as a defensive bid against no-trumpers. If you have the lead, a bid simply warns the no-trumper that you can defeat it, and gives the dealer the option of a shift to a safe suit bid, or a double of your bid, or to let you play it and stop you from going game. If the second hand is strong enough to hope to go game against a no-trumper, the third hand is probably weak enough to take it out and make game impossible for your opponents. The worst bid in the game, and the greatest loser, is bidding against no-trumpers when you have the lead. Fourth hand will sometimes be tempted to bid a suit asking for a lead. This again simply warns the no-trumper that it cannot go game if that suit is led, so the no-trumper is dropped. If the partner of fourth hand is strong enough to go game in that suit, the no-trumper would THE TAKE-OUTS 5 probably have been set for several hundred points if left alone. If second hand overcalls your partner's notrumper with a suit, and is left to play it, lead the trump right up to him, beginning with the best you have, and force him to lead up to your partner in all three of the other suits, in which the no-trumper is strong. DOUBLING THE only legal use of the double, according to the laws of the game, is to increase the penalties for overbidding, but there has lately been quite a fad in the game of auction for what is called a "conventional double," that is, a declaration that does not mean what it says, and would have no meaning except with a previous understanding with the partner, or an assurance that he knew what it was intended to mean. This conventional double is governed by these rules. It must be a double of not more than one notrump, or two in suit. It never means what it says, that you can defeat the contract. It must be made at the first opportunity. That is, you cannot bid a spade over a heart and then double two hearts conventionally. You should have doubled the hearts before bidding spades. It must be made before the partner has bid anything. There is no use asking him to show 52 DOUBLING 53 what he has when he has already done so by bidding. This double is practically a command to the partner to bid something, according to these rules:If you double a no-trumper, to bid his best suit, preferably spades if he has four of them, no matter if he has better clubs or diamonds. If you double a major suit, to bid the other major suit, or to go no-trumps if you are strong enough in the doubled suit to stop it twice. If you double a minor suit, to bid whichever major suit you are better in, if you cannot go no-trumps against the minor suit that is doubled. If you are unfortunate enough to find that your only long suit is the one doubled, take out the double by bidding two of it and let the doubler do the best he can. Do the same if your partner's double is redoubled by the third hand. If a no-trumper is doubled and redoubled, pass. That shows a 4 3 3 3 hand, and leaves the doubler to guess which is the 4-card suit. PLAYING THE HANDS AFTER the bidding is finished, the partners who play against the declarer may have given each other some information as to what they can do by their bids, but in many hands they will not have made a bid. In such cases all the information must be given by the manner in which they play the hand. There are three ways in which this may be done: By the conventional leads from high cards. By the partner's play on those leads. By discarding. If either player has bid a suit, and that one has the lead, he should lead the suit bid. To lead any other suit, when there is a trump, should be a singleton. If it is the leader's partner that has bid a suit, the top of that suit should be led against a trump contract, unless the leader is fortunate enough to have an ace-king suit of his own. In that case he should lead the king, showing he still holds the ace, and then lead the suit the partner has bid. 54 PLAYING THE HANDS 55 Against no-trumpers, holding three or more of the partner's named suit, lead a small card if you have an honor as good as the queen; otherwise lead the best of it. As the majority of the hands are played with a trump suit, the correct opening leads against trump contracts should be learned first, the leads against no-trumpers being modified to meet certain conditions. The proper way to learn the leads is the same as the way to learn how to value hands. Sort out the actual cards from a pack, and hold them in the hand, so as to accustom the eye to them. All such combinations as A Q J, A J 10, K Q Io, should be so familiar that they are at once translated into their trick values, just as the letters c a t are translated into "cat," when seen in type. THE LEADS AND PARTNER'S RESPONSES AGAINST trump contracts, the general rule is always to lead a high card when holding two or more touching honors, such as A K, K Q, Q J, or J Io. There are five rules for leading these five honors, otherwise the lead from suits of four or more is a small card. The king is always led when accompanied by the card next it in value, above or below, or by both; such as A K, K Q, K Q J, or A K Q. With three honors, follow the K with the Q, as your partner knows you have the ace if the K wins, but does not know you have the Q. Follow with the A to deny the Q. From K Q J, if your K wins, follow with the J; as your partner knows you have the Q, if he has the A, or the A wins your king. The ace is led to deny the king. From A Q J, follow with the Q to show the third honor, the J. From A J Io, follow with the J to deny the Q, and show the Io. From A and only one other high card, follow with a small card. Never be afraid to lead the ace from A Q and others. 56 LEADS AND PARTNER'S RESPONSES 57 The queen is led to deny both ace and king, but shows the jack. After leading the Q, follow with the io if you have three honors. The jack is led to show the ten, but may be an interior, as it is often led from K J Io. The ten is lead from interior sequences, as from K Io 9, or Q 0o 9; or it may be led as the top of a short suit of three cards only. Doubletons, (two-card suits) are very confusing leads, and should be avoided unless partner has bid the suit. If a high card is led, the partner may indicate the number he holds by playing the lowest of three small, or the higher of only two, neither as good as the jack. This play of a higher and then a lower card, when making no attempt to win the trick, as when the leads are king and then ace, shows the leader that it will be perfectly safe for him to lead a third round, as his partner either has the queen or can trump. If dummy is also out of the suit for the third round, this playing "down-and-out" as it is called, shows that the partner of the leader can beat any trump dummy can put on. Against no-trumpers, as long suits cannot be stopped by trumping them, there is no hurry about making the high cards, and they are not 58 FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE led unless there are three in the suit. From A K, K Q, or Q J and others, begin with the fourthbest, counting from the top, such as the 5 from K Q 7 5 3. This is expecting to lose the first trick, but leaves the partner with one or two of the suit to lead if he gets in again first. From any three honors, lead as against trump contracts. The partner's response to high leads, or when dummy plays high enough to shut him out, is covered by this rule:When you make no attempt to win your partner's lead against a no-trumper, play your second-best, regardless of number or value. Suppose the lead is the king and you hold J 10 2, play the Io. A small card led, dummy puts on the ace, and you hold K Q 2, play the queen. These echoes, as they are called, show the leader that you hold only one higher card, and always unblock the suit, as with more than two originally you always keep 'the smallest card until the last. From J 10 2, play the Io and then the J. With io 8 6 4, play the 8 and then the 6; then the Io. When a small card is led, always try to win the trick as cheaply as possible, regardless of the contract's being trumps or no-trumps. With LEADS AND PARTNER'S RESPONSES 59 K Q, play the Q. With A K, play the K. With K J io, Q in the dummy and not played, play the io. To play the higher card deceives the partner and may prevent him from going on with that suit. "Cover and honor with an honor" is a bad rule when you see that it can do no good. This is a situation that can be learned only by long practice, it comes up in so many different ways. If dummy leads a Q through your twice guarded K, put on the K on the chance that it set up the io in your partner's hand. But if both Q and J are in the dummy, it is useless to put on the K. If dummy has J, or J Io and others, and leads through your guarded K or Q, stay off. The declarer may have only the ace, and your partner K or Q. In returning your partner's suits, lead the best you have, so that he may know where the high cards are. If you have led from three of his suit, play it down. That is, having led the io from io 6 2, play the 6 next time. He can miss the 2; but he could not place the 6 if you play the 2 on the second round, and would credit you with no more, and try to ruff you. In discarding, any card above a six is called 60 FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE an "encouraging card," because it should show some protection in that suit. The play of a high card and then a lower shows a sure trick in the suit. By discarding encouraging cards in one suit you ask your partner to protect some other suit, which is often vital against no-trumpers. Keep a Q or J twice guarded if possible. If your partner has the other card, Q or J, even once guarded, you can stop that suit, no matter how the declarer may manage it. FINESSING THIS is one of the three ways in which the declarer tries to make tricks that are not on the face of the cards. His adversaries never finesse, in the true sense of the word. They may hold off, or "duck," or underplay, but that is not finessing. To finesse is to try to win a trick with a card which is not the best you hold of the suit, nor in sequence with the best. The typical finesse is A Q and small cards in one hand, only small cards in the other, no matter which is dummy. Always "hope" the K is on the right of the Q, and lead from the weaker hand. If the K is not played second hand, "finesse" the Q. If these two cards are divided, A x x in one hand and Q x x in the other, still "hope" the K is to the right of the Q, and lead a small card from the A to the Q. 62 FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE With A Q J, it may be necessary, if the first finesse wins, to get the weaker hand in again to try another finesse. If this cannot be done, lay down the ace in the hope that it will catch the king. With A J io and others, two leads from the weaker hand are always needed, hoping that the K and Q are divided. The first finesse of the io will lose, but the second finesse of the J may trap the other honor. The important thing about this finesse is to make sure of getting these two leads from the weaker hand so as to get the opportunity to finesse twice. As a rule, it is useless to finesse unless something more is to be gained than simply the winning or losing of a trick. In many hands a finesse must be made to fulfil the contract, in others it may make 50 points extra for a little slam. As an illustration of the importance of finessing, sort out a pack of cards into four suits and distribute them as follows: FINESSING 63 Y's hand H. Q3 C. AK3 D. J Io 7 6 4 S. Q9 6 A's hand B's hand H. A 9 7 4 H. J62 C. J Io 42 C. 9 8 D. K5 D. Q82 S. J Io S. K 8 5 42 Z's hand H. K85 C. Q765 D. A93 S. A73 Z deals and bids no-trump on five tricks, which is the minimum for a safe bid at contract. A passes, having the lead against the no-trumper and no chance to go game at anything. Y counts his hand as worth four tricks in clubs. Add these to the five shown by a no-trump bid and we get nine, so Y bids three no-trumps, that being enough to win the game. A leads the heart seven, and Y, dummy, plays the singly guarded queen second hand. B plays his second-best, the six, as he makes no attempt 64 I'OSTtR'S CONTRACT BRIDGE to win the trick, Z drops the five. This makes it easy for A to read his partner for only one higher than the six, which must be jack or eight, and probably the missing deuce. This also marks Z as still having a guard to the king. Dummy leads the diamond jack and B plays small, Z playing the three. A wins with king, and tries to get B in to come through that guarded king of hearts, by leading spade jack. This dummy covers with the "imperfect fourchette" queen and nine. The king and ace fall. Dummy is put in with a club and leads a small diamond, Z playing the nine and catching the queen. Then dummy is put in with another club to make the two diamonds; a good example of the promoting power of aces and kings, showing the justification for counting them at double value. On these three diamond leads A will have been forced to discard three hearts, or unguard the clubs or make the spade nine good for a trick. Z, having watched these discards and inferred the lone ace of hearts, leads the heart from dummy. B plays the jack, and Z the eight. Now, having discarded two spades on the diamonds, he must make the club queen FINESSING and heart king, making a trick over his contract. Another important method of winning extra tricks is making dummy's trumps separately from the declarer's, and the situation is usually governed by the simple rule; "Do not lead trumps while you hold losing cards in the adversaries' suit." Sort out the cards and try this hand:Y's hand H. 542 C. 6 D. A K o 5 2 S. 9752 A's hand B's hand H. 73 H. J Io 9 C. KQJ72 C. 10843 D. 96 D. J 8 43 S. KIo64 S. AQ Z's hand H. AKQ86 C. A95 D. Q7 S. J 8 3 Z deals and bids one heart. A makes a defensive bid of two clubs, hoping his partner has 66 FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE something better. Y counts his hand for five tricks; four in diamonds and a ruff in clubs, so he raises the bid to three hearts, adding his five to partner's four. Z in turn adds his outside trick to the nine, making ten, and bids four hearts, so as to go game if possible. A leads the king of clubs, and Z wins with the ace. He returns a club at once, and dummy trumps it. In order to make absolutely sure of retaining the lead, he does not risk a diamond, which might be trumped, however improbable that is, but leads the trump and wins with the queen, so as to let dummy trump another losing club. Now he must lead the diamond, and win with the queen. Two trump leads catch both B's and another trump lead forces him to give up the club, unguard the diamonds or blank his ace of spades. B sheds the club, and wins the fourth diamond, but in the meantime Z has discarded two losing spades, and makes five odd, one over his contract. Another method frequently employed by the declarer is getting rid of losing cards by discarding them from his own hand, if dummy cannot trump them. Lay out these hands: FINESSING 67 Y's hand H. Io 6 C. 10 7 5 D. AQ J 94 S. 753 A's hand B's hand H. QJ72 H. A853 C. KQJ6 C. 982 D. 7 6 5 3 D. Io 8 2 S. 6 S. AJ4 Z's hand H. K94 C. A43 D. K S. KQ o10982 Z deals and might bid two spades, showing he has trumps enough for both himself and dummy; but if starts with one spade, Y advances the contract to two, having four tricks in diamonds. As Z has six tricks himself, he adds them to the four shown by the assist and bids four spades, so as to go game. A leads the king of clubs, which Z wins with the ace. In order to discard his losing clubs he leads the king of diamonds and overtakes it 68 FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE with dummy's ace. On dummy's queen and jack of diamonds he sheds his two clubs. The nine of diamonds being now the best, he leads that. B refuses to trump, as he must lose both his small trumps if he does. He prefers the heart discard, Z sheds the heart four. We now have what is practically a finessing position, as dummy leads a heart, and Z hopes the ace is on the right of the king. B puts on the ace second hand, and returns the suit, to force a lead up to his trumps. When Z leads the king of spades B plays what is called the Bath Coup, letting the king win, so as to be sure of two tricks with his ace and jack, but Z makes his contract, four odd and game. There are other ways in which the declarer may win extra tricks, such as by making reentries, holding up command of suits, and ducking high cards in his own suits, but these are not common, and are better learned by practice at the card table, than by reading a book. They are for advanced players who can figure out positions that the inexpert player would not understand even if explained. IMPROVING THE MEMORY O many persons complain of poor card memories that a few hints as to how the habit of observation, upon which all memory, or rather recollection, is based, may be useful. To start with, when you are dummy and have nothing else to think about, first of all study the cards your partner plays, and see if you can recall, at the end of the hand, just how many he had of each suit. When you can do that fairly well, go a step further and see if you cannot also recall all the high or important cards in each suit, so that you can describe the hand, and judge whether or not his bidding was sound or unsound. When playing the hand, as declarer, always study carefully the suit distribution of the dummy before you play, and keep the suits in a definite order, say hearts, clubs, diamonds and spades, so that the recollection of the figures, such as 4 3 i 5 will give you 4 hearts, 3 clubs, I diamond and 5 spades. This is useful in many cases in which you may fail to recall how many 69 70 FOSTER'S CONTRACT BRIDGE times a suit has been led. After a little practice, you should be able to recall all the important cards as well as the suit distribution. When playing against the declarer, pay close attention to what your partner has in your long suit, and observe carefully what cards he plays to your leads. It is useless for him to play a six and then a four to show you it is safe to go on with a third round if you do not know he played a six the first time. If you can get four persons together to improve their card memories, it is excellent practice for each to take a different suit, and to see how many cards they can recall in the actual distribution of that one suit. If your suit is to be clubs, for example, can you be sure that you had three, dummy five, your partner two and the declarer three? After a little practice you should be able to recall the location of the high cards. From this it is only a step to remembering an entire hand, and just how it was played. Most of the games are won or lost by the accuracy or inaccuracy of a person's knowledge of the last five cards in each hand. This knowledge is simply elimination of what you know they do not hold. DUMMY UP WHEN a fourth player is not available, it is frequently desirable to have a rubber anyway, and it is good practice for contract to see how closely one can judge the value of two hands in combination if the dummy's cards are seen before the bids are made. Four hands are dealt as usual, but the thirteen cards that fall to the left of the dealer are turned face up and sorted into suits. The dealer looks them over, comparing their possibilities with his own thirteen cards and can either bid or pass. Each player in turn to the left then has a chance to bid on his cards combined with dummy's, or pass. The highest bidder places dummy's cards between his two adversaries, and the player to the left leads for the first trick. All doubling is to defeat the contract. The scoring is as at contract, no honors being worth anything unless there are four in one hand. Three separate scores must be kept, as each player is for himself against the two others when he is the declarer, and wins or loses equally to each. 7' MAYONNAISE AND GOULASH THIS is a variation for four players, which differs from contract in one particular. This is that if the highest bid made is not enough to reach game the hand is not played. This condition precludes the possibility of any partial scores, because if game is not both bid and made, nothing is scored but penalties. If the hand is not played, each person sorts his thirteen cards into suits, and the four hands are then placed one on the top of the other and presented to be cut without any shuffling, and are dealt out 5 5 3 at a time, instead of one by one. 72 THE LAWS OF CONTRACT BRIDGE I THE LAWS OF CONTRACT BRIDGE Revised, January, 1927 Copyright, 1927, by R. F. FOSTER These laws are divided into four Sections: I. How Contract Bridge is played........................ Page 75 II. Scoring..................... 90 III. Irregularities and Penalties.... 95 IV. Special Laws for Club Play.. IIO SECTION I HOW CONTRACT BRIDGE IS PLAYED I. Contract Bridge is a card game for four players, two being partners against the two others. A partnership is called a side. THE CARDS 2. Two packs of cards, with distinctive backs, should be used, one pack for each side. Each 75 76 THE LAWS pack to be correct and perfect must contain fiftytwo cards divided into four suits of thirteen cards each without duplication. RANK OF THE SUITS 3. The four suits, Spades, Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs, shall rank in the order named for both drawing and bidding, Spades being the highest. RANK OF THE CARDS 4. The thirteen cards of each suit shall rank: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Deuce; the Ace being always the highest and the Deuce the lowest, both in drawing and in play. HONORS 5. When there is a trump suit, the Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten of that suit shall be known as Honors. When there is no trump suit, the four Aces shall be the Honors. TRUMPS AND NO TRUMPS 6. Cards of the trump suit shall outrank and, therefore, win over cards of any other suit, if THE LAWS 77 legitimately played to the same trick. In No Trumps, suits shall have no rank. INCORRECT OR IMPERFECT PACKS 7. Any pack in which cards are duplicated, or missing, or can be identified by the backs, shall be rejected for play; but any scores made with such packs, previous to the deal in which the defect was announced, shall stand. DRAWING FOR PARTNERS 8. Each of the four players shall draw a card from a thoroughly shuffled pack, spread face downward on the table; but none of the four cards at each end shall be drawn. Any player exposing more than one card shall draw again. 9. The two players who draw the higher cards shall be partners against the two others. If two or more draw cards of equal rank as cards, the rank of the suits shall decide. THE SEATS Io. The player drawing the highest card shall choose his seat, his partner sitting opposite him. The player drawing the higher card of the remaining two shall choose one of the remaining 78 THE LAWS seats, his partner sitting opposite him. In making a choice partner may be consulted, but a choice once made can not be changed. CHOICE OF PACKS BY DEALER i i. The player drawing the highest card shall be the first dealer. Having made his selection of a seat, he shall then take his choice of the two packs of cards. In making his choice h'is partner may be consulted, but the choice once made can not be changed. POSITIONS AT THE TABLE I2. With respect to the deal, the four players shall be known as Dealer, Second Hand, Third Hand, and Fourth Hand, as in the following diagram: Third Hand Second Hand Fourth Hand Dealer 13. The order of dealing, bidding and play, shall always be to the left. THE LAWS 79 THE SHUFFLE 14. The pack chosen for the first deal shall be thoroughly mixed or shuffled in full view of the other players, with all the cards face down, so that the face of none may be seen during the shuffle. The Dealer shall always have the right to make a final shuffle before presenting the pack to be cut. THE STILL PACK i5. The pack not in play shall be known as the Still Pack, the cards of which shall be gathered and shuffled by the Dealer's partner, who shall then place this shuffled pack at his right, to the left of the next Dealer. CUTTING BEFORE DEALING I6. The Dealer shall present the pack he has chosen, thoroughly shuffled, to the player at his right to be cut. In cutting, at least four cards must be left in each packet. The upper portion shall be placed towards the Dealer, who shall complete the cut by placing the lower portion on the top. 80 THE LAWS FALSE CUTS 17. Should there be any confusion in the cut, or any doubt as to which was the top, or if any cards are exposed in cutting, or if the pack is shuffled after it has been cut, there must be a new shuffle and cut. THE DEAL I8. The Dealer shall distribute from left to right the entire fifty-two cards, one at a time, all face down, beginning with the player at his left, so that each of the four players shall receive thirteen cards in regular order. I9. The deal shall begin when the cut is legally completed by the Dealer, and shall end when the last card comes in its regular order to the Dealer. 20. No player shall deal for any other player except with the consent of his adversaries. NEW DEALS 21. There must be a new deal by the same player if the cards are not dealt in regular order into four distinct packets of thirteen cards each; or if the last card does not come in its regular order to the Dealer; or if any card is found faced THE LAWS 8I in the pack, or is turned face upward during the deal. 22. Any player who has not looked at any of his cards may demand a new deal if the deal is out of turn, or with the wrong pack, or with a pack that has not been properly cut; but this right to demand a new deal must be exercised before the deal is completed, or the deal shall stand as regular and in turn. The packs, if changed, must so remain, if the deal is completed. 23. There must be a new deal by the same player if the pack is proved to be incorrect or imperfect at any time before the play of the hand is finished. 24. There must be a new deal by the same player if, at any time after completion of the deal, one player has too many cards and another too few. 25. If at any time after the deal is completed one player has too few cards, and the others their correct number, the missing card or cards must be found, if possible, and restored to his hand. If found in the Still Pack, under the table, or any such other place as to make it reasonable to assume that the pack was correct when dealt, the deal must stand and the player who is short shall 82 THE LAWS be responsible for any Revoke or Revokes he may have made as though the missing card or cards had been in his hand. 26. If the missing card or cards be found in such a place as to make it reasonable to assume that it or they had not been part of the pack when dealt, there must be a new deal by the same player. 27. If the missing card or cards can not be found, the deal must stand and the player who is short shall play out the hand without penalty for Revoke in consequence of such shortage, unless it is the first deal with that' pack. In that event, there must be a new deal by the same player with a complete pack. THE BIDDING, OR DECLARATIONS 28. The deal completed, the Dealer shall make the first bid, or he may pass without bidding. A bid is an undertaking to win at least seven of the thirteen tricks to be played for; the seventh trick being known as the odd trick. A trick consists of four cards, one from each player. 29. Bids and passes together with doubles and redoubles constitute the various Declarations. A bid of one Club, one Diamond, one Heart, one THE LAWS 83 Spade or one No Trump shall be considered as an undertaking to win the odd trick at the Bid or Declaration named. A bid of two shall mean two odd tricks and so on; but no bid shall exceed seven tricks. OVERCALLING 30. The Dealer having made his declaration by bidding or passing, each player in turn to the left must make a declaration. 3I. The bids shall rank: Clubs, which is the lowest, then Diamonds, Hearts, Spades, and No Trumps, which is the highest. In order to overcall a previous bid, a player must bid at least the same number of tricks in a higher ranking bid, or a greater number of tricks in the same or a lower ranking bid. METHOD OF DECLARING 32. The simplest methods of announcing the bids shall be adhered to, such as: "One Heart"; "Two Clubs"; "Two Hearts"; "Three Clubs"; or "Three No Trumps"; or "No Bid." A player can not change his declaration under any circumstances except to correct an insufficient bid, or a slip of the tongue. 84 THE LAWS 33. A player may bid the same suit, or No Trumps, that an adversary has already named, or he may increase his partner's declaration, or he may change it to any other declaration. There shall be no limit to the number of tricks, less than eight, which any player may bid in his proper turn, always provided that his bid outranks the last previous bid. DOUBLING 34. Instead of passing or overcalling the previous bid, any player may, in his proper turn, double the last bid made by an adversary, provided no bid has intervened. This double may be redoubled by either of the doubler's adversaries in his proper turn, but no player may double his own or his partner's bid, or redouble his own or his partner's double. 35. Doubling does not alter the rank of the bids, although it doubles the numerical value of the tricks in the final score. In the bidding, two Hearts shall still overcall two Clubs, even if the two Clubs bid have been doubled. The same rule applies to redoubling. 36. A double or redouble is a declaration and shall rank as a bid. The form shall be: "Three Hearts." "Double Three Hearts." THE LAWS 85 37. A double bid must either be passed, redoubled or overcalled. A redoubled bid must be passed or overcalled. 38. A double of a double is a redouble. A redouble of an undoubled bid is a double. 39. A bid may be doubled and redoubled once but no more. DECLARING ENDS 40. When three players in succession, in their proper turn, have passed a bid, double or redouble, the bidding ends. 41. If all four players pass without any bid having been made, the deal passes to the player at the left. THE CONTRACT 42. The highest bid, undoubled, doubled or redoubled, when passed by three players in their proper turns, shall be known as the Final Declaration, or the Contract. DECLARER AND DUMMY 43. The partners who secure the Final Declaration or Contract shall be known respectively as Declarer and Dummy. The Declarer shall be 86 THE LAWS the player who first named for his side the suit or No Trump specified in the Final Declaration or Contract, and his partner shall be the Dummy. THE OPENING LEAD 44. The player at the left of the Declarer must begin the play by leading any card he pleases, placing it face upward on the table in front of him. Dummy shall then lay his thirteen cards face upward on the table in front of him, sorted into suits, the trumps, if any, at his right, and shall thereafter take no part in the play. The Declarer shall play the twenty-six cards in his own hand and Dummy's, and shall have the sole right for his side to select and exact any penalties that may arise during the course of play. ORDER OF PLAY 45. Each player in turn to the left must follow suit to the card led, with any card of the same suit that he pleases. The players in order of play shall be known as Leader, Second Hand, Third Hand, and Fourth Hand. THE LAWS 87 QUITTED PLAYS 46. A card is played by an adversary when so held that the partner can see any portion of its face; by the Declarer when laid on the table face up and the fingers removed from it; by Dummy as soon as the Declarer touches or names it, unless he is arranging. A RENOUNCE 47. A Renounce is a failure to play a card of the same suit that is led. If a player has none of the suit led, he may play any card of any other suit. TRICKS 48. The highest card of the four played, if of the suit led, shall win the trick, except that Trumps win over all other suits. THE PLAY 49. The four cards of each trick shall be gathered and turned down in front of the rightful winners, the Declarer gathering all of the tricks won by his side, and either one of the adversaries 88 THE LAWS all the tricks won by his side. A trick erroneously gathered in may be claimed by the rightful winners any time prior to the entering of the score for the deal. The winner of each trick shall then lead any card he pleases, the others following suit in regular order to the left. This shall continue until all thirteen tricks have been played. The last trick turned down may be examined by any player if neither he nor his partner have led or played to the following trick. THE BOOKS o50. The tricks taken by each side shall be kept separate to facilitate counting them. The first six tricks taken by the Declarer's side have no scoring value but shall constitute the Declarer's book. All tricks taken over this book shall count toward fulfilling his contract. 5I. The Adversaries' book is the number of tricks named in the contract deducted from seven, but all tricks they win over their book shall be counted as defeating the contract. DUMMY 52. Dummy shall not, by touching cards, or in any way, suggest a play; but the Declarer, by THE LAWS 89 naming a particular card, may call upon Dummy to play it. 53. If at any time Dummy renounces to a lead, while holding a card of the suit led, and the error is not corrected before the lead to the next trick, the trick stands good. 54. Dummy shall have the right, if he has not intentionally looked at any of the other hands, to call attention to too many or too few cards played to a trick; to point out that a trick has been gathered by the wrong side. He may call the Declarer's attention to any rights that Declarer may have under the laws, or to ask any renouncing player if he has none of the suit Jed. QUITTED TRICKS 55. A trick is quitted when it has been turned down and the winner of the trick has made a lead for the next trick. A quitted trick shall not be looked at until the end of the play, unless it is discovered to have too many cards in it. END OF PLAY 56. The play ends when the thirteenth trick has been gathered in, or when any or all of the remaining tricks have been conceded by either side. 9o THE LAWS SECTION II. SCORING FULFILLED CONTRACTS 57. The Declarer, having fulfilled his contract, shall score for the number of odd tricks named in the contract, but no more, according to the following scale of values. These trick scores shall be kept separate from all other scores. If Clubs are trumps...... 6 points each If Diamonds are trumps.. 7 points each If Hearts are trumps..... 8 points each If Spades are trumps.... 9 points each If there are no trumps.... io points each If the Declarer not only fulfils his contract, but wins one or more tricks beyond the number named in his contract, such tricks shall have a fixed value regardless of whether the winning declaration was in suit or no-trumps, but all such points 'for over-tricks shall be scored in the honor column. For the first trick over the contract,.................... 50 points For the second trick over the contract,................. 30 points For the third trick over the con THE LAWS 91 tract,.................... 20 points For any further tricks, each,... io points If the contract has been doubled, these values for tricks and over-tricks, if any, shall be multiplied by two; and if redoubled, multiplied by four. DEFEATED CONTRACTS 58. The Declarer, having failed to win the number of odd tricks named in his contract, scores nothing for such tricks as he may have won, but the adversaries score 50 points in their honor column for the first trick by which the contract fails; Ioo for the second trick, and I50 for each further trick. These penalties shall be doubled or redoubled if the contract has been doubled or redoubled. HONOR SCORES 59. Honors are the five highest cards in the trump suit, or the four aces at no-trumps. There shall be no score for less than four honors in one hand. In the suits, this shall be 80 points. For all five in one hand, or the four aces in one hand at no-trump, Ioo points. Honor scores are not increased by doubling or 92 THE LAWS redoubling, and are scored by the side holding them, whether the contract is defeated or not. BONUSES FOR SLAMS 6o. There shall be a bonus of So points for winning twelve of the thirteen tricks, Little Slam; or ioo points for winning all the tricks, Grand Slam, neither of which have been bid. If the Declarer both bids and makes a Little Slam, he shall score 250 points. If he bids Little Slam and makes Grand Slam, 300. If Grand Slam is both bid and made, he scores Soo points. The score for slams is not affected by doubling, and may be scored by either side. BONUSES FOR DOUBLED OR REDOUBLED CONTRACTS 6i. The Declarer having fulfilled a doubled contract, shall take So points in his Honor column; or ioo points, if redoubled. GAMES AND RUBBERS 62. The first side to win 30 or more points in trick scores alone, whether made in one or more deals, shall win the game. All points made over THE LAWS 93 the necessary 30 shall be counted as part of that game. A line shall be drawn on the score pad under each game won. 63. All points scored for tricks that do not reach game before the other side wins the game shall stand, but they shall not count anything toward the 30 points required to win the following game, as each game must start from zero for both sides. 64. The side that first wins two games wins the Rubber, if the first two games are won by the same side, a third is not played. For winning the first or second game, Ioo points are added. For winning the Rubber game, 300 points. Therefore a two-game Rubber is worth 400; a three-game Rubber, 300 only. Wagers on the result of the Rubber are won by the winners on points. SETTLING UP 65. The score-keeper shall add up the total scores for tricks, Honors, and Bonuses, for each side, at the end of a Rubber. He shall deduct the smaller total from the larger, and the difference shall be the number of points won or lost on that Rubber. 94 THE LAWS ERRORS IN SCORING 66. Errors in the trick score may be corrected at any time before the bidding begins for the following game. If there should be no such game, before the final score of the Rubber is agreed to. 67. Errors in scoring Honors, Bonuses, Penalties or Slams may be corrected at any time before the final score of the Rubber is agreed to. 68. Errors in addition or subtraction on the score sheet may be corrected at any time before the withdrawal of an interested party from the table. NEW RUBBERS 69. After the Rubber is won and the score agreed to, a thoroughly shuffled pack must be spread, and partners, seats, and choice of cards drawn for afresh. UNFINISHED RUBBERS 70. If for any reason a player should be unable or unwilling to finish a Rubber, the score shall be made up as it stands. If a deal has been started, the bidding and play of that deal must be finished and scored. THE LAWS 95 SECTION III IRREGULARITIES AND PENALTIES 7I. All Penalties may be exacted by either adversary, the Declarer for this purpose acting for the Dummy. 72. If, before the deal is completed, any player touches any of the cards dealt to him, and thereby causes that or any other card to be exposed, his adversaries shall score 50 points in their honor column as penalty. TOO MANY CARDS 73. During the play, if one player, not being Dummy, is discovered to have too many cards, the others having their right number, the side not in error may demand a new deal; or they may consider the surplus card at the end of the hand to belong to the imperfect trick, but it shall not be considered as a renounce in that trick. TOO FEW CARDS 74. If, during the play, one player has too few cards, the others having their right number, the missing card or cards must be found, if possible, and restored to his hand. If the missing 96 TIE LAWS card or cards be found in such place as to make it reasonable to assume that it or they were a part of the pack when dealt, the player to whose hand it or they are restored shall be responsible for any Renounce he may have made; but he shall not be liable to any of the Penalties for having an exposed card. 75. In order to locate the missing card or cards, the quitted tricks may be counted, face down, and if one is found to contain a surplus card, either adversary of the one who is short shall turn this trick face up, and may select any one of the cards to return to the short hand, the Declarer acting for Dummy. This shall not change the ownership of the trick. 76. Should either side fail to keep its tricks properly separated, and an adversary obtain the right to return a card to a short hand owing to the fact that there are more than an even multiple of four cards in the improperly kept tricks, such adversary shall have the right to choose any card from the improperly kept tricks. INSUFFICIENT BIDS 77. Should any player make a Bid that is not sufficient to overcall the previous Bid, he may promptly correct himself by making the Bid suf THE LAWS 97 ficient numerically, but without changing from the suit or No Trumps he has named. 78. Should an insufficient Bid be passed, overcalled, or doubled by the player at the left, it shall stand as regular. 79. Should any player call attention to the insufficient bid before it is corrected, it must be made numerically sufficient in any suit, or in No Trump, the insufficient Bidder may choose. The partner of the player in error shall be barred from any further participation in the bidding for that deal. 80. Should the bid be both insufficient and out of turn, the player at the left of the player in error may exact the penalty for either offence, but not for both. CHANGING A BID 8I. Should a player make a bid in his proper turn and then change it for any purpose except to correct an insufficient bid, or a slip of the tongue, he shall be liable to the penalty for a bid out of turn. DECLARING OUT OF TURN 82. Should a player bid, double or redouble out of turn, and any player call attention to it, 98 THE LAWS the erroneous Declaration shall be rejected, and the partner of the player in error shall be barred from any further bidding during that deal. The Declaration shall then revert to the player whose proper turn it was to declare; if that player is the partner of the Declarer in error, he must pass. 83. If the player at the left of any Declaration out of turn should make a Declaration before attention is called to the error, the bidding shall proceed as though the erroneous Declaration had been made in regular order. PASSING OUT OF TURN 84. If no Bid has been made, a pass out of turn shall be void, unless the player at the left of the irregular pass bids or passes, in which case both Declarations shall be accepted as regular. 85. If a Bid has been made and a player passes out of turn, the player whose turn it was to bid shall proceed with the bidding, unless player at the left of the erroneous pass shall have made a Declaration, in which case both Declarations shall be accepted as regular. The player who passed out of turn must not reenter the bidding unless the bid he has passed out of turn is overcalled, doubled, or redoubled. THE LAWS 99 ILLEGAL BIDS OR DOUBLES 86. Should a player bid more than seven tricks, the bid is void and the offending side must thereafter pass during that deal. The side not in error may then revert to the last legal declaration, or demand a new deal, or call the illegal declaration a contract to win seven odd tricks, which the side not in error may double, or play against it undoubled. 87. Should a player who is barred from bidding proceed to bid, double, or redouble, either adversary may decide whether or not the illegal declaration shall stand. In either case, neither of the offending side shall reenter the bidding for that deal. IRREGULAR DOUBLES 88. Any player doubling or redoubling a redouble shall be penalized ioo points in the adversaries' Honor column, and the illegal double or redouble shall be void, or the side not in error may demand a new deal. 89. Doubling a partner's bid, or redoubling a partner's double shall be penalized o50 points in the adversaries' Honor Column, and the illegal double or redouble shall be void. I00 THE LAWS 90. Any bid or double made after the bidding is closed is void. It shall not be penalized if made by the Declarer or his partner, but if made by an adversary, the Declarer may call a lead from the partner of the player in error as soon as that player obtains the lead. 9I. Should a player double any Declaration other than the one last made, such a double shall be void, and he must amend his declaration, his partner being barred from any further bidding. CARDS EXPOSED DURING THE BIDDING 92. Any card exposed before the bidding is finished shall be left up on the table, and if it is an honor the partner of the offending player shall not thereafter participate in the bidding of that deal. 93. If the player with an exposed card becomes the Declarer or Dummy, the card may be taken up without penalty; but if this card is on the Declarer's right, he may forbid the lead of that suit by the partner of the player in error. DUMMY 94. Should Dummy expose one or more of his cards before the initial lead, the Declarer shall THE LAWS IOI forfeit any right he may have had to call a lead to the first trick, but he may call a card exposed by the adversary on his right. 95. Should Dummy in any way suggest the play of a card or suit from his hand, either adversary may call upon the Declarer to play or not to play the card or suit indicated, provided the play demanded does not constitute a revoke. 96. Should Dummy "intentionally" look at the hand of another player, and thereafter attempt to call the Declarer's attention to any irregularity, such as an exposed card, a lead out of turn, or a revoke, for which the Declarer would otherwise have had the right to demand a penalty, that right is forfeited. If it is a lead out of turn to which Dummy calls attention, the adversaries may consult as to which of them shall lead. If Dummy ask the Declarer if he has none of a suit to which he renounces, the Declarer cannot change his play. But if Dummy has not "intentionally" overlooked the hand of any other player, he retains all his rights as a player.* 97. Should any dispute arise between the Declarer and his adversaries, either as to the * I consider this a silly law, as Dummy cannot help looking at the hands of his adversaries, which are usually deliberately shown to him in order to turn them from the view of the Declarer. 102 THE LAWS interpretation of the laws or as to facts, Dummy shall have the right to participate. LEADS OUT OF TURN 98. Should the wrong adversary lead, the Declarer may treat the card led in error as exposed, or he may call for the lead of a named suit from the adversary who next obtains, or who rightfully then has the lead. If both adversaries lead simultaneously, the card led in error is exposed. 99. If the Declarer lead out of the wrong hand, either adversary may call attention to the error, or may accept the lead by playing to it, either in his right turn or otherwise. ioo. If the lead is called from the proper hand, that hand must lead the suit that was led in error from the wrong hand. If the proper hand is void of the required suit, any suit may be led. IoI. If any irregular lead is played to by either adversary, before naming a penalty, the irregular lead shall stand as regular and without penalty. o02. Should an adversary lead any card that is a sure winner as against Declarer and Dummy, and proceed to lead several such winning cards without waiting for his partner to play, the THE LAWS 1o3 partner may be called on to win any of those tricks if he can. Should he be able to win one of them, the Declarer may then call on him to lead a suit, if any of the cards led in error are still exposed but unplayed. IRREGULAR PLAYS o13. Should the Fourth Hand play before the Second, the Declarer may call upon the Second Hand to play his highest, or to play his lowest of the suit; or, failing any of that suit, his highest card of any designated suit. Failing either of these, the penalty is paid. 104. If both Declarer and Dummy play to any trick before either adversary plays, the Fourth Hand may play before the Second without penalty. CARDS EXPOSED DURING PLAY Io5. The Declarer can gain no advantage through exposing any or all of his cards. He may, therefore, do so without penalty. Io6. Exposed cards are those dropped on the table face upward; two or more played at once; cards so held that the partner can see any portion of the face; or cards mentioned or hinted at as being in the hand. o04 THE LAWS Io7. All cards exposed, except by Declarer, must be left on the table face up, subject to call. Io8. The holder of an exposed card may be called upon by the Declarer to lead or play it at any time in his proper turn. The call may be repeated in future tricks until the card is played; but the player cannot be obliged to play a card that would cause a Revoke. Io9. Should an adversary of the Declarer play to both the twelfth and thirteenth tricks before his partner has played to the first of these, the partner's two cards are exposed, and subject to call. i 10o. The holder of an exposed card cannot be prevented from playing it if the opportunity offers. i i i. Cards exposed because the Declarer claims or concedes a certain number of the remaining tricks are not subject to call. COMPLETED PLAYS II2. A card is not finally played by the Declarer until it touches the table face up and the fingers are removed from it. Cards played by the adversaries cannot be taken back after the partner has had an opportunity to see any portion of the face. THE LAWS IOS II3. Should the Declarer name or touch any card in the Dummy he must play it, unless he announces in advance that he is merely arranging, or unless he is manifestly pushing one or more cards aside to reach the one desired. REVOKE I 4. A revoke is a renounce in error, not corrected in time, or failure to comply with a performable penalty. I15. The revoke is established when the side in error leads or plays to the following trick, whether in its right turn or otherwise, or when the player in error or his partner exposes the remainder of his cards or claims the remaining tricks. 16. Should one side claim a revoke and the other side mix the tricks before they can be examined, the revoke shall be held as established. 117. Dummy is not subject to any penalties for revokes. If Dummy leave the table (not having forfeited his rights) the adversaries must protect the Declarer from revoking, or they cannot enforce the penalty against him. CORRECTING A RENOUNCE 118. Should any player renounce to a lead, io6 THE LAWS and Dummy ask if he has none of the suit when barred from doing so by reason of having forfeited his rights, the Declarer shall forfeit any rights he may have under the laws. II9. A player who renounces in error, may, on his own initiative, correct his error before his side plays to the next trick; but if he is an adversary, he may be called upon by the Declarer to correct his error by playing the highest card, or by playing the lowest card, he holds in that suit or the card played in error may be called exposed. This penalty can also be enforced against the Declarer if the player at his left has played to the trick after the renounce. A renounce by Dummy must be corrected before the lead to the next trick. 120. If a renounce is corrected in time, those who have played after the renouncing player may take back their card or cards and substitute others without penalty. I2I. Any player may ask one who renounces to a lead whether he has any of that suit. If this question is asked before the side in error leads or plays to the next trick, the error may be corrected unless the question is answered in the negative, or remains unanswered until the player in error or his partner plays or leads to the following THE LAWS 07 trick, or abandons the hand. If Dummy has forfeited his rights, he can not ask this. THE REVOKE PENALTY 122. The penalty for an established revoke shall be two tricks, taken from the side in error and given to the other side at the end of the hand. For any further revokes by the same side the penalty shall be one trick each. I23. After the transfer of the tricks taken as revoke penalty, the scores shall be made up exactly as if all the tricks had been won in the regular course of play, together with any penalties that may have been incurred by doubling. 124. If the side in error has not tricks enough to pay the penalty, the other side shall score for a grand slam. 125. If both sides revoke in the same deal, the revokes cancel each other. If one side revokes more often than the other, that side is penalized. If one side is subject to a penalty of two tricks, and the other three the difference shall be transferred. 126. The revoke must be proved and the penalty claimed before the cards are cut for the next deal, or spread and drawn from for the io8 THE LAWS next Rubber. If there is no next deal or Rubber, before the Rubber score is made up and agreed to. CONCEDING TRICKS I27. If the Declarer at any time claim the rest of the tricks, or any stated number of them, he must state how he proposes to win the tricks he claims. He may then be called upon to lay his cards face upward on the table and play out the hand. Failure to state how he proposes to win tricks claimed shall subject Declarer's cards to call. Any cards exposed by his adversaries in consequence of his claim shall not be liable to call. 128. If, after the Declarer has laid his cards face upward on the table, tricks are conceded by one player, and the concession is accepted, either verbally or by abandoning the hand, the concession shall stand, even if it can be shown that the tricks conceded could not all have been won. If Dummy has not forfeited his rights, he may object to the Declarer's conceding tricks. INFORMATION 129. During the bidding, any player is entitled to any information as to the details up to THE LAWS o09 that time, but after the contract is settled by three consecutive passes, any player giving information except as to the final contract shall be penalized by having the other side call a lead the first time thereafter it is the turn of his side to lead. I30. An adversary of the Declarer may inform his partner that it is not his play, if he sees that he is about to play or lead out of turn. Dummy is not allowed this privilege. 3 I. Any player, except Dummy, may ask that the cards played to a trick be identified by those who played them. If no such demand is made, and either adversary calls attention to the card he has just played, his partner having not yet played to the trick, the one who has not played may be called upon by the Declarer to play his highest, or to play his lowest card of that suit; or failing a card of the suit led, to trump or not to trump. 132. Should any player, other than Declarer, make an unauthorized reference to any incident of the play, either by locating any particular card or calling attention to cards that have or have not been played, either adversary may call a lead from the offending player or his partner the first time either of them obtains the lead, the Declarer acting for Dummy. I IO THE LAWS CONSULTATION I33. While the partners may not consult, except when Dummy illegally calls attention to a lead out of turn, one may direct the other to select a penalty. If either names it, at the proper time, it cannot be changed. If a wrong penalty is exacted and paid unchallenged it shall stand. SECTION IV SPECIAL LAWS FOR CLUB PLAY FORMING TABLES I34. A table shall be complete with six players. If there are more than four candidates for play, the first six in the room shall belong to the table. If there are more than six with equal rights, those who are to form the table shall be decided by drawing. The six drawing the highest cards shall complete the table, the four highest playing the first Rubber. PLAYERS AND PARTNERSHIPS I35. If there are more than four belonging to a table, those who are to play the first Rubber THE LAWS I I I shall be decided by drawing from a thoroughly shuffled and outspread pack. The four highest are the players, and the two highest shall be partners against the two others, the highest of the four being the first player and having the choice of the seats and cards. 136. Should there be any candidates for play already in the room who do not belong to any table, they shall have preference over any that thereafter enter the room, or who may belong to other tables. CUTTING OUT I37. At the end of the first Rubber, if there are more than four belonging to the table, the four who have just played shall draw from an outspread pack to decide the outgoers, the lowest going out. The four who are to play the next Rubber shall then draw for partners, seats, and cards. 138. At the end of the second Rubber, those who have played two Rubbers shall retire if there are two waiting to play. If there is only one waiting to play, those who have played two Rubbers shall draw to decide which shall go out. After the third Rubber, those who have played three Rubbers shall draw to go out. 112 THE LAWS 139. In all cases in which more than four belong to a table, the order of going out having once been decided shall be maintained. To keep this rotation, the players should be numbered on the score-pad. ENTERING TABLES I40. If a table is incomplete, having less than six players, a candidate may announce his intention to join that table, provided he does so before the cards are spread to draw for the next Rubber. If there are more candidates than vacancies, the candidates shall draw to decide which shall belong to the table. LEAVING TABLES 141. Should a player who leaves a table fail to return, or if he leaves at the end of a Rubber and it breaks up that table, the three who remain at that table shall have preference over him for entering or making up any other table. FILLING TABLES 142. Should a member of an existing table assist in making up another table, and before leaving, announce his intention to return, he retains THE LAWS I 3 his rights at his original table provided he returns at first opportunity, and he may then replace any member who has joined during his absence. 143. Should a player leave one table to make up another table that needs a fourth, he shall be the last to cut out of that table if he decides to remain with it. I44. If one table is broken up and one or two of its players cut into another table which has only four or five members, all six of the new formation shall cut for the right to play the next Rubber. NEW CARDS I45. If a player should demand new cards at any time, for any other reason than to replace an imperfect pack, the demand must be made for two packs, at his expense, before the beginning of the next deal. His adversaries shall then have the choice of packs. SUBSTITUTES 146. Any player leaving a table during the progress of a Rubber may appoint a substitute, if agreeable to the others, but his appointment shall be void at the conclusion of that Rubber II4 THE LAWS or the player's return, and the substitute shall be considered as not having acquired or forfeited any rights either at that or any other table through such substitution. I47. If an agreed substitute is not available, the score shall be made up as it stands. THE END I Iti r I I I I I I I -, THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN GRADUATE LIBRARY DATE DUE _ -'rm 9584 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN III IIIII I I 11111 1111111I1111111111llfiI11lll1 3 9015 01995 0537 1 I i ii 12 iH~ jj 44t 4ii~N 1K ~ ~NJ. ~ i J" kg