Evening star. [volume], January 31, 1932, Page 17, Image 91

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
The Fridge Forum
An Old, Old Story
Wio can we get to play tonight?
We've phoned and phoned in vain;
lie Jacksons are out and the Browns away
And the Johnsons have a pain,
nd the Greens have Invited company
And the Wilsons have a date,
nd it seems that we're doomed to idleness,
That the cards are stacked by fate.
9
lut there goes the phone, I'll answer it;
Bill Jones? Oh, yes, hello!
ou say that our phone's been busy since
An hour or more ago?
ou think that you folks would like some bridge?
I'll see what the wife will say;
Vhy yes, though we hadn't intended to,
We'll both be glad to play.
D LAYERS who have had a lew tastes of
duplicate tournament bridge almost
invariably prefer it to any other form
of the game. It furnishes many de
sirable features in addition to the mere
minimizing of the luck element. Per
ape the most appealing is the opportunity
affords to make comparisons with others
fter the hands are played, to find out how
hey treated the same cards. Besides being
njo.vable, this constitutes some of the most
aluable instruction possible, for it is "the case
nethod’’ whereby definite proof is given of the
rinciple involved.
In the evolution 7>f the game all over the
ountry the coming up of duplicate is the most
mportant present manifestation. Contract is
lready entrenched as the style of play, rather
han auction, and lends itself admirably to
uplicate arrangements. Each duplicate board,
ontaining a hand, has markings to show arbi
rarily who is vulnerable, if any one, and the
coring is slightly different from rubber play,
nth 300 premium allowed for game in hand
lot vulnerable and 500 vulnerable. Otherwise
he scoring is substantially the same as in
ubbers.
Probably not as many as 10 per cent of the
contract players of the country have ever
ilayed in a duplicate tournament. It is strongly
ecommended, however, to all groups of sulfi
ient numbers to furnish three or more tables
>f play.
One striking case of advancement of the
-ame, especially in the grade of bridge played,
s the Advertising Club of New York Two sea
ons ago the big weekly tournament there was
■ntirely auction, on the basis of progressive
>airs. In the next season a contract section
vas tried, with almost as many entrants as in
he auction. The second half of that season
here were few entries for the auction section,
nany more playing contract In the first half
>f this season there were no auction entries,
every one playing progressive pairs at contract.
Then the tournament was switched to dupli
cate contract for the second half of the current
season. There was to be a progressive pair
section, but nobody entered. So now the whole
ounch is playing the most modern form of
jridge, duplicate contract, and getting better
ind better day by day in every way.
An Eternal System
Ray H. Eisenlord of Erie, Pa has been famed
imong his bridge friends in the Middlewest for
nsisting, both through auction and in contract,
that the best system is his own. which is to
make my original bids sound, and guess them
;ho rest of the way.”
Having followed closely the Lenz-Culbertson
iflair, he writes: "I have reached the con
tusion that my system was used by both sides.
I therefore claim to be the originator of the
iystem they actually use "
He finds one fault with them, in that they
were not dependable in the first part of the
system—making the original bids sound.
Mr. Eisenlora recommends his system to all,
players of no ability and of great skill, as easy
to learn. He says it should be called "the
iniversal system.”
jrhat Price, Yarboroughs ?
Mrs. Leslie H. Coioney is having a lot at
fun keeping track of the “Yarboroughs ’ she
holds—those hands so weak, containing nothing
higher than a 9, that a certain Lord Yar
porough used to bet 1,000 to 1 against their
peing dealt. Mathematically, they are sup
posed to come to a player not quite once in
I 800 deals, so he was really a piker in laying
those close odds. Mrs. Coioney got such a
land some weeks ago. and has kept track of
leals since then, watching for the next one.
So far she has recorded 697 deals without
one in It. Her weakest during that stretch
was a hand with three tens and one with a
single jack.
'No Jll-Trump Discards
Albert H. Lederer wonders about the rules
for the new all-trump declaration When it is
the contract, and a declarer has the three top
honors in a suit, with just a singleton in
dummy, can he discard mi the second round,
or\would that discard constitute trumping the
trick? It would constitute trumping the trick,
for all suits except the one led are trumps.
Glad to Comply
Mrs. Norman N. Newman, partner of Comdr.
Winfield Liggett, jr„ on the team of four
which won the national contract champion
ship of the American Bridge League, writes the
following: "I wish you would publish my pro
test against a false statement which has been
printed, saying that Comdr. Liggett and I
used the approach-forcing system, with the
one-over-one. We actually used the official
The Duplicate Form of Tournament Is Grow
ing in Popularity Every where—A Group
of Questions and Answers.
BY SHEPARD BARCLAY
aystem, with the two-club forcing bid and the
one-over-one variation."
That was the first time that the official
aystem, then not three months old, had ever
been used In the national championship team
of-four tournament, and therefore constitutes
a 100 per cent record to date for the method
In such an event.
A Close Question
In a recent dissuasion of a hand passed
by every approach-forcing bidder in a dupli
cate game, after partner's original dealer one
spade bid, vulnerable, it should have been
pointed out that the hand was about on the
Shall the IDorld Disarm ?
Continued from Third Pave
must find means of adapting ourselves to It if
what we ourselves propose is agreed to.
In either event, an immense amount of
work remains to bdone in every country. It
should be inspired by a keen desire to succeed,
in the knowledge that failure will be nothing
less than disastrous. After what has been
done by the Preparatory Committee, each
country should bring forward deflniti figures,
and success will depend on the adjustment of
these figures, which evidently will have to be
negotiated beforehand.
SETSliJO SAW AD,4,
Chief Japanese Delegate to the League
of Nations.
I AM a firm believer in the possibility of the
I world disarming one day, but it will not be
an easy thing to accomplish.
The process will have to be a very gradual
one because no disarmament will be possible
unless certain conditions, which so far do not
exist, are brought to prevail in the world.
The attitude of Japan in this question has
always been favorable to the idea. Seven years
ago we suggested it, and we have never ceased
advocating the measure. We believe disarma
ment possible because once any idea grows
and develops as this idea has done so far, it is
bound sooner or later to be realized. Every
where disarmament has been hailed as the
panacea for all our troubles, and many are
the earnest men who are working to achieve
this aim.
When naval disarmament was suggested
some years ago, many people declared that the
Idea was impossible. "You will never bring
about even a partial disarming of the big fleets
of the world," we were told, and yet see what
has already been done. At Washington and
at London we made undoubted progress, and
the chief navies of the world as a result of
these conferences have begun to cut down their
strength according to scale.
X think the same success can be reached
with regard to the armies and air forces of
the great powers, and that is why I look for
ward with confidence to the big Conference on
Disarmament In February.
We must not, however allow ourselves to
be too optimistic. The problem of disarma
ment where armies ar>rt air forces are con
cerned is far more complicated than it looks.
j>or it hinges on the problem of guarantees
and security. You cannot expect a country
that is surrounded by powerful enemies to dis
arm if her security is not guaranteed her in
some way or other. And so our problem will
never be solved if we do not guarantee the se
curity that nations need, and quite reasonably
so, through the League or some other medium.
There is, for Instance, the question of Ger
many and France. Germany theoretically dis
armed, but is still showing a distinct political
reaction against peace ever since Hitler and his
party have begun to win support in the country.
France, conscious of that menace and exposed
more than any other country to the attack of
her old enemy, asks for guarantees before dis
arming. Germany is hardly helping the cause
which we have at heart by the Increasing sup
port which her people are giving to the Ger
man National Socialists.
Disarmament as an ideal is a very fine one,
but it implies a great advance in certain qual
ities that up to now humanity has somewhat
lacked. If all the world agreed to disarm to
morrow, would it follow that every nation
would carry out its pledge as contemplated?
What would happen If one nation did not really
disarm? Would not all the rest of the world
be at its mercy? «
Disarmament, even when obtained in theory,
will ' consequently only be possible if certain
precautions are taken by the League of
Nations to guard against the possibility of
any one country taking advantage of the situa
tion. How can this be done? The most prac
tical one would be to create an international
army or armies to keep the peace whenever
any nation threatened to break it. We have
as yet not reached the moment when man can
be depended upon to keep the law if there is
no police force to enforce it.
Similarly, I think some kind of army will
have to be kept at Geneva or some other
central point to see that no country takes
advantage of the general disarmament to at
tack its defenseless neighbors. We might, too,
have an international navy, as Admiral Lacaze
once suggested.
PAUL P Ain LEV E,
Former Prime Minister, War Minister
and Air Minister of France.
iipvISARM, disarm immediately without fear
U of consequences and peace will follow,”
plead certain partisans of disarmament, in
voking the example of the United States of
America.
But it is Impossible not to see the vicious
circle that would result from the thesis of
complete and immediate disarmament. To
warn any country still nursing imperialistic
aims that no resistance will be offered even to
its worst machinations is hardly likely to in
duce it to give up warfare loyally and for al
ways. '
War between two civilized nations with all
the resources of modem science and industry
has now become so ruinous and absurd that
reason alone might succeed in preventing its
recurrence. But to trust to this alone would
mean that the transition period which must
precede a really pea<#ful Europe will be much
longer and full of dangerous “intercurrents.”
And these risks will prevent any immediate
and material reductions of armaments, since
otherwise a disarmed or ill-armed country
could hardly hope to protect Itself against at
tack.
Parallel Pipes “Human"
THE vox human* pipes in a pipe organ differ
from the regular pipes in that two complete
sets are required in order to produce the sound
which simulates the human voice. These pipes
are arranged in pairs side by side. One is a
trifle over pitch and one a trifle under. The
vibration of the two at the same time gives
the rounder, fuller note of the human voice
rather than the clear, sharp tone of the reg
ular pipes.
border-line between a one no-trump bid and
a pass. This was the hand:
*A2 VQ975 4 983 2 * 1041
Ely Culbertson says he himself, having a
good partner, would bid one no trump on it,
but that it is so close that if the 9 of hearts
were the 6 instead, he would pass it. Mrs.
Elizabeth B. Banfleld, a national champion
and user of that method, would make the bid,
but wouldn't teach it. The hand would be passed
by William J. Huske, prominent as a player
and writer on the system. They would con
sider it Just too weak for a ''shaded” bid of
no trump.
On Abolishing Honors
In the first 100 hands of the Culbertson
vs. Lenz match there were only three times
that honors were counted. Scoring them has
always been objected to by many as being a
premium awarded for pure luck. Since in
contract they occur so seldem, they can now
be objected to on the ground of unimportance.
The statistics of any game of considerable
length are likely to inveigh against the ab
surdity of having such an unnatural factor
in the game, which is supposed to be a test
of skill.
lVomen Emulate the Men
St. Louis is furnishing a pretty good answer
to the question of whether the new’ "official”
system of bidding is practical for winning
bridge. It gives a much better answer than did
the marathon match in New York, for play is
at duplicate instead of just random deals Now
that Mrs. Guy Forcier and Mrs. Don Henry
have won the women's pair championship of
the city using the system, as did the men’s pair
champions, Edgar V. Maher and Lester C.
Vogel, many St. Louis players are flocking to
the new method.
A Law a Jireck
South bid one heart, West doubled, /forth
passed. East bid one spade and immediately
said: "Oh, you doubled, didn't you, partner?
Then I bid tico spades?” What does the laic
provide in this case?
The player who had doubled may be barred
from any further participation in the con
tracting. for he has received unauthorized
information about his partner's hand, he know*
his partner could have bid one spade even if
the double had not been made. The law cover*
the case in these words: "If, before or during
the contracting, a player gives any unauthorized
information concerning his hand, his partner
may be barred from further participation in
the contracting."
South bid one spade, West one diamond and
Horth promptly one heart. How is this case
covered by the law?
Experts 'Mistithes
South played this deal at five diamorwfc,
doubled by West. How in the world can the
latter, though a star, misplay his hand so that
the contract is made? .
4 None
- 4 KQ9841
4 10 6 4
4 K J 8 4
4 A Q J 10 3 NORTH
V A 7 £ C*J10 8 5§
4 A g *3 4 872
4 A 10 9 5 2 " 4 Q7
SOUTH
4 K 9 872
V None
4 KQ J9S3
463
The ace of spades was ruffed in dummy, then
a small heart trumped in closed hand. A
small spade, ruffed, put dummy in again for a
second lead of hearts to be ruffed, the ace
dropping. Another spade ruff put dummy in
position to lead his heart king, declarer dis
carding a club. Here's where West made hi*
fatal play. Not wishing to waste his singleton
ace of trumps without catching a trump with it,
he thoughtlessly discarded a club.
The beans were now spilled. When the heart
queen followed for South's second club discard.
West decided to trump it. His club ace now
was ruffed, the next three tricks were diamond*
from South. The twelfth was won by the
spade king and the thirteenth fell to West’s
6pade queen.
In the finals of a national championship.
North bid a second hand spade on this deal.
East passed, South two diamonds, West passed.
North three spades, East four clubs and South
doubled. East now believes in Santa Claus
because his adversaries enabled him to make
his contact. How, oh, how could they do itT
4 AQJ861
4 A 764
♦ QS
*A
_ NORTH
4&7S 41088
4K1058 " H « 4QJ
4683 | § 4 A K
4Q54 4 J 9 8 7 6*
801TH
44
4983
4 J 109814
4KMI