THE NEW GAME OF PIRATE BRIDGE

The Fourth Article on the Game That Is Supplanting Auction

R. F. FOSTER

BEFORE passing from our consideration of the original or free bids to the question of rebidding and accepting, which are more or less closely related, there is one part of pirate strategy about which auction players usually inquire most eagerly, and that is the double.

Doubling at Auction

THERE is undoubtedly a large class of auction players that would sooner double than eat. Any person who is familiar with the style of play that prevails at our large charity bridge games, when grand pianos and Pomeranian dogs are the prizes, knows that nine bids out of ten are doubled.

The double at auction has a great many meanings and uses., In the big public games it means, "let us make a big score, no matter who wins." In social games it means that the doubler thinks the other side has gone too far. In the card clubs, the double has three meanings. Doubling a one-trick bid in suit means the doubler has nothing in it. Doubling a notrumper means that he does not want to play it. Doubling a two or three trick bid may mean anything. It is left to the partner to guess. In other words, doubling at auction is a complicated business, and the partner is often justified for pleading that he has no idea what it means.

Doubling at Pirate

T pirate, all these complications are cut out. The double has only one meaning. It is a quick way of telling the bidder that the player who has just accepted him may not be the best partner after all. It is most frequently used in one-try no-trumpers. Take this situation:

Z deals. He has a typical one-try notrumper, as explained in last month's article, and bids a club. Not knowing the nature of the bid, Y accepts on length, and B doubles, to show that he also can protect the clubs, if that is what Z wants to know.

As a double reopens the bidding at once, Z bids no trumps, as he does not care which player accepts him, Y or B. Y accepted and B passed, thinking he could probably save the game, which he did by very clever play, but passing shows bad judgment, and cost him just 360 points.

A led the seven of diamonds and the eight covered, the king forcing the ace. Z started to play for the clubs, the longest suit between the two hands, leading the eight. A put on the jack, and B had to win it with the king, at the same time marking A with the queen if the eight was Z's top club. B returned the diamond, A winning with the queen and leading the four, to get the jack out of the way.

On the third round of diamonds, B discarded the ace of clubs. Any other discard and Z gets four odd and game, by making all the clubs before he lets in the diamonds. He got two odd by careful play, taking in the spade queen, putting A in with the club, and then discarding two hearts on the diamonds.

This is very pretty, but it is a great waste of skill on B's part. Pirate is a very simple game when properly bid and played. After having secured Z's confidence by doubling the club acceptance, B should have overcalled Y's no-trump acceptance with two no-trumps. Then he would have scored four odd, 40 aces, and a game, with Z for a partner; instead of letting Y score two odd and 30 aces.

Doubling Better than Bidding Two

SOME players show they have the better hand for an acceptance by bidding more in the suit. This is an excellent plan when that is the suit wanted for the trump, but when the object is to show control, or stoppers, the double is better. In the last hand but one published in the March number of Vanity Fair, Z bid a diamond in a one-try no-trumper, and Y accepted with the king-jack small. B overcalled with two diamonds, holding ace-queen-ten small. This wastes time, as the two diamond bid has to be passed up by three players, then B has to pass, and then Z has to bid no-trumps. Had B doubled, Z could have bid the no-trumper immediately, and there would have been nothing more but the acceptance.

Accepting and Assisting

AMONG the many letters that have been received from the readers of Vanity Fair, asking for more light on certain points in pirate bridge, the majority are from those who complain of their continual failure to find an acceptor for their strong hands. Here is a typical letter:

"Suppose two diamonds are bid. Second hand passes and third hand accepts. The bid comes round to second hand and she bids two hearts, holding four top honors and an otherwise good hand. No one accepts, and the bid reverts to diamonds, at which the hand is played. The second hand's cards are worthless against the diamond contract, and she could do nothing to stop it. This occurs quite often and is very annoying. Kindly tell us how to deal with such a situation."

Those who have followed these articles so far will see at once that the mistake was in not overbidding the solid heart suit. Two hearts over two diamonds may be nothing but a forced bid; a forlorn hope to do something to make a defence against the diamond partnership. But three hearts, one trick more than necessary, would at once mark the player with hearts enough to attend to the entire trump situation herself. All she asks is a trick or two in the other suits in her acceptor's hand. Either of the diamond hands would have jumped for her.

In all matters of business, love, or pleasure, if one is seeking a desirable partner, one must make one's proposition attractive, setting forth the prospects of the partnership in the most alluring terms. That is common sense.

The man who has wealth enough for all purposes makes that fact clear to the girl of his choice. The man who has his fortune to make must convince her that he has the ability to succeed. If one has social position sufficient for both, he keeps that point in his favor well in view. The business man who has capital enough and wants only ideas, says so very distinctly, and the one who has the idea and wants only the capital makes it equally clear.

The same is true of the bidding in pirate bridge. It reflects the aspirations of our everyday life. If one player has trumps enough for all purposes, he must show it in such a manner that there shall be no mistake about it. If all he wants is a couple of tricks or stoppers in a certain suit, he must indicate that suit as the only weak spot in his hand. In other words, if a player wants an acceptor, he must make his proposition attractive enough and definite enough to secure a ready acceptance from the player best fitted to help him.

Accepting One-Trick Bids

THE player who has mastered the four principal classes of pirate bids—one, two, or three tricks in suit, and bids of weak suits to feel, out no-trumpers—should be ready to study the principles upon which these various bids are accepted or assisted. You accept when another bids; you assist when the player who first bid the suit drops out, or has yet to speak.

In pirate, all original or free bids are made on precisely the same principles as sound original free bids at auction. In all my teaching I combine the two, and pupils bid the hands first as at auction; then as at pirate. The result is invariably a rapid improvement in their auction bids, as the results of unsound bids are brought home to them, while the rewards of correct bidding are more manifest.

With regard to the first or free bid, there is no difference between the two games. If a player starts with a bid of one trick only, it is clear that the suit is not solid. Some one at the table holds a sure, probable, or possible trick in it. That is, the ace, or a well guarded king or queen, although king and one is usually considered enough. There should be three to the queen, or four to the jack or jack-ten. Any player with five should accept, as it is improbable that the missing honors are sufficiently guarded to accept.

To bid only one on a solid suit is to deceive every one at the table as to the real strength of the hand, the consequences of which deception may be disastrous when the time comes for the final selection of the partners. No after bids can correct a false impression made by first free bid, in fact, they appear to confirm it.

THE OFFICIAL LAWS of PIRATE BRIDGE

R. F. FOSTER

COPIES of this 36-page pamphlet containing a full code of the official laws of Pirate Bridge, and a complete description of the method of play, bidding, acceptance, scoring and settling, may .be purchased from Vanity Fair, 443 Fourth Avenue, New York City, for the sum of 25c each, or five copies for $1.00. No charge is made for mailing.

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The first rule for accepting a one-trick bid is to do so whenever you hold a stopper in the suit. The object is to indicate to the table that the bidder cannot run down the whole suit by leading it. The result may be that he may take you on because you have the whole suit between you; or it may be that another player will be glad to have you for an acceptor in something else because you can protect that suit for him.

There are occasions, of course, in which a player will bid only one in a suit and no one will accept because the missing honors are not sufficiently guarded to justify it. This was pointed out in last month's article, when a player bid a club on five to the aceking-ten, the queen being only once guarded and the jack only twice. In other words, the suit was solid, but the bidder did not know it. Here is a situation in which this inference was taken immediate advantage of:

Z dealt and bid a club, which no one accepted, so that bid was void. Assuming that the club suit was solid, although Z did not know it, A at once bid notrump. He had a close squeak, but he made it, even after losing his king of hearts on the very first trick, by leading the club from dummy, catching the queen, and then putting dummy in with a diamond to come through the jack a second time, his inference being that the jack had only two guards, as it did not accept the club bid.

Accept First; Bid Later

IT does not matter what else you have in the hand or what you want to bid, your first duty is to accept any one-trick bid if you have the cards to -do it. Unless you show that you can stop that suit, the other players will think you have nothing in it, and will mistrust the strength of your side cards when you come to bid your own trump. One need never be afraid of being left with a one-trick acceptance. If no one can overcall it, it is probably a game hand, however little it may look like it.

The first lesson to learn in accepting is to postpone your own bid until you have accepted the suit you can stop. A hand was published in the N. Y. Sun, on February 4, in which a player holding four honors in clubs and eight hearts, with a small diamond, refused to accept a club bid, simply because he wanted to play the hand at hearts. He could have made a grand slam in clubs, and would have made it in hearts if he had first accepted the club. Failing that acceptance, no one would accept his hearts.

This is invariably the reason assigned for refusing to accept The one who should accept wants to bid and play the hand at something else. That opportunity will come later. The first thing is to secure a mortgage on the confidence of your future acceptor by showing where some of your outside strength lies, because no one knows which player will want to use just that information. Here is a typical illustration of this mistaken idea of refusing to accept because the player had a better bid in his own hand:

Z dealt and bid a club, which A refused to accept simply because, as he says in his letter, "he wanted to play the hand at a spade or no-trump and did not care to waste it on a club." As no one else could accept, the club bid was void, and the impression was left on the minds of Y and B that Z had it solid, although he did not know it. A passed, waiting.

Y passed and B bid a diamond, which Y accepted. Then A went to no-trump, not caring which of the diamond hands accepted him. As the cards lie, he would have gone game with either. With B, by passing the first club lead, to exhaust Y. With Y for a partner, ten tricks are in plain sight.

But when A bid no-trump Y would not accept, because it would be B's lead, and he would surely lead a club, and Z would run down the whole suit. B would not accept for the same reason, as Y would lead a club to Z's apparently solid suit. Z himself dare not accept, because all the diamonds were between Y and B, and they had the lead. Had Z taken a chance on it, he would have been set.

The hand was therefore played at diamonds and Y-B scored four, odd and four honors, so that A had to pay twice 64, or 128. Had he accepted the clubs, showing the stopper, and bid the no-trumper later, he would haVe won four odd and 40 aces, with a game, or twice 130. Passing up the club bid cost him exactly 388 points.

Accepting Twice

THE first principle of accepting is to show a stopper in a suit when only one trick is bid, even if you have nothing above a nine outside. The rule for accepting a second time is precisely the same as for assisting a partner at auction, when he is overcalled in that game, and it is your turn to speak before it gets round to him again.

When an auction player who is overcalled rebids his hand without waiting for his partner, he should have a hand that would count at least 12 by the Whitehead rule. If the partner has to speak first, he should not assist unless he has at least two points better than average, as 7 of his points are already included in his partner's original bid. That is, his — hand should count 9 or more.

In pirate, the player who rebids his suit without waiting for his acceptor, shows that he has at least one sure trick more than his original bid indicated. The acceptor who assists, without waiting for the original bidder whom he has accepted, shows that he has at least one sure trick more than was shown by his acceptance. To illustrate, take this hand, which shows both the rebid on the original hand and the denial of anything but an acceptance.

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Z dealt and bid a heart, which A accepted, having a stopper in that suit. Y bid two clubs and B accepted, on precisely the same stopper in clubs that A had in the hearts. As Z's hand counts up to 12, he rebids the hearts, but A refuses to accept a second time, because he has nothing but the stopper shown by his first acceptance. The heart bid is therefore void, as neither Y nor B want it, as far as they can see up to this point. Z begins to think he is left at the post. It is now Y's turn to bid. A passing.

He infers that if A has no outside tricks, and the ace of clubs is marked with B by his acceptance, Z must have something good in diamonds or spades to rebid the hand. As Y does not care in which suit these tricks of Z's may be, he goes no-trump.

B dare not accept, because Z and A have all the hearts, but Z accepts, and the combination wins the game. The hand is an interesting one to play, owing to the need for careful management in the matter of re-entry cards, and the selection of the suit to go for, hearts or clubs.

It often happens that the original declarer cannot rebid his hand, in which case two things may happen. Some better hand may pick him or his acceptor to help out a better contract; or, the one who has just accepted may turn round and assist, when he is not given the opportunity to accept a second time. Take this case:

Z dealt and bid a spade, which A accepted. Y bid two hearts, accepted by B, and Z passed, as he had nothing but the spade bid, no outside tricks. A has a hand that counts up to 12, so he assisted, bidding two spades, which Z accepted. It is now Y's bid and he passes, but B assists the hearts, bidding three on his outside tricks. His hand counts 11. Y accepts. A goes to three spades, because he can ruff hearts.

This ends it, as each player has bid the limit of his holding, and when Z accepts the three-spade bid neither Y nor B will go any further. The Y and B hands are good for three odd at hearts, but no more. They could have held A and Z down to three spades by an early club lead, but two rounds of hearts allowed A to get in a ruff and go game.

The management of the diamond suit is instructive. After ruffing the heart, A led a small trump and Z won the trick with the king, giving A another ruff in hearts. Now a small diamond to the guarded queen forced B to put up the king and lead a club. A won the club, led another small diamond to Z's queen, a small trump from Z put A in with the queen of spades, and on the two top diamonds Z shed two losing clubs.

Showing the Support

T sometimes happens that a player who has accepted once, and who could accept again, but is not strong enough to assist, may encourage the bidder by showing his supporting suit, if he has one. This allows the bidder to go on if he is strong enough, but if he is not, it opens the way for an acceptance or a bid from some other player who can use the two suits shown to advantage.

In this connection it must be remembered that a player cannot lose anything by the shift to the supporting suit at pirate. At auction, such a bid would be folly, not only on account of the danger of being left to play it, but because it discloses the situation to the opponents. At pirate, if the supporting suit-bid is not accepted, nothing has been lost by making it. If it is accepted, the acceptor has the necessary material to make it good.

The bid is sometimes useful in other ways. In the hand just given, for instance, had B bid the clubs instead of assisting the hearts, after Y had refused to bid the hearts the second time, the only player who could have accepted would have refused, as he wants to play spades, but the bid would have saved the game, as Y would have led a club instead of a heart.

Here is a good example of showing a supporting suit instead of assisting the suit first bid, when the hand is not strong enough to assist. It is also an illustration of the many situations in which the players know when the limit of possibilities has been reached, which is something one never knows at auction, although one may guess pretty close to it

Z dealt and bid a heart, which B accepted. A bid a spade, accepted by Y. Now B does not know whether Z is strong enough to rebid his hand or not, but B is not strong enough to assist, his hand being worth just 8, when he should have 9 or l6. To show what he has, aside from the stopper in hearts, B bids two diamonds. Z accepts, to show that he has the diamond trick, but declines to bid more hearts. (Note: an acceptor cannot bid, unless overcalled.)