Evening Star Newspaper, February 22, 1931, Page 86

® [/HE BRIDGE JFORUM A “Presumptive Bid>’ E was always presumptive. There- fore what he called a “presumptive bid” was not necessarily due to the | fact that he had eaten Welsh rabbit and lobster Newburg for breakfast. More likely he bascd it on the discovery that most players do not lead aces against a no frumper. In any event, there is no doubt that he opened the bidding with a “presumptive bid" of four no trumps on this hand: BI3L ¥J10972 & 10832 »A AA108654 NORBH v85 ©J9176 *Q &K YK &K HhJ1098765432 Against a bid of only four no trumps, West made the correct lead of fourth best of his longest suit—the 6 of spades. When dum- my's jack went up, as if trying to sneak a trick, East covered it, but the king won. Now the jack of clubs was led to dummy’s singleton ace. followed by the jack of hearts, covered by the queen, but won by the king. The next nine tricks were all club tricks. On the last of these the semi-squeeze was applied by East. He had to decide whether to discard the ace of diamonds or the ace of hearts. It appeared as if the clubs had been played to make him discard his ace of hearts and thus establish the jack in dummy. So he discarded the ace of diamonds and declarer cashed the king. P.S.—If anybody wonders who made that pre- sumptive bid and slam, he will have to be told that his question is presumptive. A Law a Week. What occurs if a player on the defensive side calls his partner’s attention to the fact that he himself has just failed to follow suit on the partner’s lead of an ace? ‘The next time that it is the turn of either adversary to lead, declarer can compel the leader to lead a suit named by declarer. What occurs® if, during the play, declarer asks which adversary doubled his bid, and dummy tells him Contract Systems. How would you bid and play the following hand, in which East is the dealer, with neither side vulnerable? AAIB2 ¥643 ®Kg72 hAB NORTH ho4 YAK102 ¢J85 H1054 2 AQIG3 ¥ None ®AQ1064 hQIT63 Though & grand slaim may be made by North and South at diamonds and a small slam at eitTier clubs or spades, this hand was passed ewt by some of the star pairs that played ft in she recent Vanderbilt Cup compe- tition. East began with a pass on all occasions. In some cases South bid a diamond and in others passed. Those who require two and a half or even two sure tricks; those who ask two and a half quick tricks or honor tricks all passed it. The hand was opened only by thor2 needing just two quick tricks and those who count a large amount of “plus values” in inter- mediate cards as the equivalent of higher ones. A diamond opener by South brought a pile of bidding in one instance, West calling one heart, North one spade, East two hearts, South three clubs, West three hearts, North four dia- monds, East pass and South five diamonds. In another case, after West's defensive heart call, North forced with two spades, South showed three spades, North four diamonds, South five clubs and North five diamonds. Perhaps the most natural course was that at a couple of tables—South a diamond, West a heart, North three diamonds and South five diamonds, In the diamond play, with the queen of hearts led and ruffed, two rounds of trumps leave two each with declarer and dummy. The queen of clubs, covered by the king, is won by the ace. Declarer is put in with the jack, end a trump exhausts the adversaries. Then & little club is ruffed to kill East's ten. A ruffed heart puts declarer in again to use the last club and lead the spades for the winning finesses, The play at clubs is very similar, except that @ trick must be lost to East's ten. In the epade version by North, six-odd are simple if the clubs are played before diamonds are touched. How would you bid and play th: following ®and, West being the dealer, with imeither side walnerable? THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. €., . FEBRUARY 22, 1931. —3 of Four No Trumps Succeeds Even Against Sound De fense. Bridge Nezws and Comment. sp— PR A Bridge Alphabet. A stands for Auction, not yet out of style, B ss for Bridge, which will live all the while, C is for Contract, the latest appeal, D for the Dummy, Declarer and Deal; E ss for Ethics we all should obey, F for Finesse which may carry the day, G for Grand Slam and for Goulashes, too, H for the Honors that please me and vo':; I stands for Infen;na', soul of the game, J ss for Jack, and a knave is the same; L for the Laws, and obey them we should; M is for Major and also for Minor, N for No Trump, among bids the topliner; O for Odd Tricks that e all like to make, P for the Penalties all have to take; Q for the Queen, both the girl and the card, R for Revokes that hit carcless folks hard; S 1s for Slams that wsll make your heart jump, T is for Tenace and Tricks and for Trump; U Stands for Undertricks when you are set, V' ss for Vulnerable, good way to get, W for the Winnings we never should stress, X for the hidden cards no one can guess; YV is for Yarborough, lowly and weak, Z is for Zensth of skill that we seck. K stands for King, which may be bad or good, § By Shepard Barclay. A876 Y1098 $9876 & 1092 AKJI102 NORTH aA YAG54 $KJ1032 »J76 HQ9543 w13 ®AQ4 hQe2 Three Titles at Stake. Names that are bywords in expert circles are plentiful in the list of entries for the Eastern championships to be decided in the Hotel Del- monico, New York, on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday of this week. Every indi- cation points to one of the most notable jousts in the history of this classic of the game. George Reith, chairman of the Knicker- bocker Whist Club’s Card Committee, who heads the Tournament Committee, with the conductor of this department as its secretary, opines that even the auction team of four event for the Knickerbocker Challenge Trophy will have a stronger turnout than in any previous year. There is a big contingent in quest of the new Curt Reisinger Trophy for contract teams and the Julian Goldman Trophy for contract pairs, Open games also are scheduled for those who do not feel quite equal to championship com- petition, Auction Problems. - How would you bid and play the following hand, South being dealer? AK9T53 QT ®AQ10 KI5 SOUTH AAQJIB4E vJ2 ¢ 953 HdAQE Proper auction bidding is simply one spade by South and all pass. At contract, most players would bid one or two spades on the South hand, North taking it to four. West should, of course, take the first two heart tricks. After that, if he could know the contents of the other hands, he would lead a diamond; having no such knowledge, the deuce of clubs appears his best lead, through dummy’s king. That lead was made at adjoining tables in a recent club dupli- cate match, but what happened afterward was different at the two tables. One declarer, after two trump rounds, tried the double finesse of diamonds, his 10 losing to the jack. When a club put him in again, he tried the queen finesse and lost that to the king, going down one trick. ‘The other declarer, Mrs. W. M. Chubb, whose playing ability ranks as high as her teaching, I likewise started operations by dropping the hostile trumps. Then she cashed her remain- ing two club tricks before trying the double finesse in diamonds. Consequently, her con- tract was certain, no matter what East re- turned. If a club or heart, Mrs. Chubb would trump it in one hand and discard her last diamond loser from the other; if a diamond, the lead would be up to her ace-queen so that both of them would be good. When possible to eliminate an entire suit from both closed hand and dummy—espe- cially when possible to have two suits so eliminated, while there is still a trump in each hand—it is ncarly always a good thing to do, especially if there is a single or doukle ten-ace in the hand which can be strengthened by being led up to. The New Problem. How would you bid and play the following hand, South being the dealer? &JIT765 ¥ 1065 ®AQT *63 ‘ 42 NORTH YAKQ Ee ¢109832 g 1095 e SOUTH AAKQS v874 ®54 SAKJI4 BEST SPY Continued from Thirteenth Page the British. Mr. Pennypacker records tha$ Townsend visited every man in his employ, to make sure that no suspicions were being di< rected at him. And Tallmadge wrote to Washe ington as follows: “The conduct of Arnold, since his arrival at New York, has been such, that although he knows not a single link in the chain of my cor- respondence, still those who have assisted us in that way, are at present too apprehensive of danger to give their immediate usual intelli- gence. I hope as the tumult subsides matters will go on in their old channel. “Culper, jr., has requested an interview with me on Long Island on the 13th inst., but in the present situation of affairs I believe it would be rather imprudent. What makes it peculiarly 80 at this time is the swarm of refuge boats which cruise along the shore of Long Island. I have wrote Culper. jr., I will appoint an inter- view at any time.” Townsend himself, in a letter to another of- ficer in the American army, had this to say about it: “I am happy to think that Arnol® does not know my name. However, no person has been taken up on his information. I was not much surprised at his conduct, for it was no more than I expected of him. Gen. Clinton has in- troduced him to the general officers on parade as Gen. Arnold in the British service, and he is much caressed by Gen. Robinson. This will tend to gloss his character with the venal part of the enemy, but the independent part must hold him in contempt; and his name will stink to eternity with the generous of all parties. “I never felt more sensibly for the death of & person whom I knew only by sight, and had heard converse, than I did for Maj. Andre. He was a most amiable character. Gen. Clinton was inconsolakble for some days; and that army in general and inhabitants were much exasper- ated, and think that Gen. Washington must have been destitute of feeling, or he would have saved him. I believe Gen. Washington felt sin- cerely for him, and would have saved him if it could have been done with propriety.” So it is that Townsend can be called one of the important figures of the Revolution. For several years he gave Washington news of ex- treme value concerning the British plans and movements; and this final stroke, which caused the balking of Arnold’s pilans to surrender West Point, was an achievement of incalculable im- portance. He was thus a forerunner of the valuable and effective intelligence service which was to serve his country in a war 138 years later. Townsend lived until March 7, 1838, dying aé Opyster Bay at the green old age of 84 years. Popcorn Production. IP the growers of popcorn carry out presen§ planting plans, it is very likely that more than the corn will pop this year, for a rather serious overproduction is indicated. A warning has been issued by the Depart- ment of Agriculture that too many farmers are anticipating a continuance of present high prices and are planning to get their share of the fancy returns netted by those who had popcorn for sale last year. It so happened that the 1929 crop was & fairly short crop as a result of curtained plant- ing and prices went skyrocketing as a result, Plantings were nearly doubled in 1930 and every indication pointed to a crash in price, but fortunately for those who managed to make a crop, the drought so militated against thflev ] crop that the price level of 1929 was main- tained. This year, if no drought or other dis= aster occurs to curtail the crop, the crash pree dicted for last year is expected to materiaiize, unless the plantings are limited.