Evening Star Newspaper, March 22, 1931, Page 90

SYCHOLOGY versus mathematics is an / old combat in expert bridge circles. Some of the greatest players think that giving paftner accurate infor- mation at ali times is the most pro- ductive policy. Others favor taking a chance of misleading the partner in order to hoodwink the opponents at every opportunity. Most of the top-rank performers can be placed defi- nitely in one of these classes or the other. Some are nearly always in line with the eternal probabilities cf the game, telling their partners the truth on a!l but the 1arest occasions, which places them in the “nearly always” rather than the “always” group. Seldom has there been a more grotesque pair in these respects than W. Cleveland Cogswell d Norman J. Bonney, partners for years on Bosten Chess Club team and recent winners of the Eastern contract pair championship. Cogswell is an attorney noted for his ability to play upon th: emotions of a judge or jury— in other words, a psychologist. Bonney is an expert acccuniant and statistician. In bridge one of the'pair is a great sticker for faithful- ness to the mathematics of the game, the other an extrame psychologist who seeks every op- portunity to fool the opponents with a queer bid, lead or play. But the lawyer is the strict bridge mathe- matician and the accountant is the bridge psychologist. If you can figure that out you're @& better man than. the conductor of this Forum. New Valuation Method. A new mecthod of counting the value of high cards if play:1 at your own bid has been devised by Julian Rice, one of the most energetic of the rising gz°neration of bridge analysts and students. He counts ace-king-queen as 3, -queen-jack as 2, ace-king-jack or ace- queen-jack as 2!'>. All other combinations of two or more honors he rates the same as the defensive, or “quick trick” value, except those containing the ten and two other honors, to which he adds a quarter more than the quick trick value because of the ten. Combinations bigs he counts supporting values of in trumps as 1 for ace, king s =EBE S bidder’s four hearts closing it. would show the same strength with a voluntary call of just two no trumps, as also would straightaway bidders, the original caller then going to three hearts and the partner to four. The likelihood of the second suit being fairly short would indicate the possibility of declarer essaying a cross-ruff. Consequently, since East has no positive lead combination of ace-king, king-queen or queen-jack and no short suit to ruff with his own trumps, his best lead is prob- ably a trump to limit the declarer’s ruffs. By taking two trump tricks, nexi, two spades, «ufiing a third spade, cashing a third trump and then playing the clubs, the fourth club of North establishes, so that only one diamond and one spade are lost, declarer getting an extra trick above his game contract. If West opened the bidding with a natural Mhid of one club, how should North and South bid the following hands, granting that op- ponents thereafter pass? NORTH ¥953 $AKJG SOUTH ¥v642 ¢ .53 A Real Thrill. No true lover of cards can fail to get a thrill from that magnificent book entitled “A History of Playing Cards and a Bibliography of Cards and Gaming,” by Catherine Perry Hargrave. Most ordinary mortals would wonder how & book could sell for $25 a copy, but not after seeing that tremendous volume from the almost AAQ104 &52 AKS5 #0643 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, MARCH 22, 99I. - & TuE BrRIDGE FFORUM Psychology Against Mathematics Is an Old Bridge Contest—Eventsof the Week in the World of Bridge—New Problems. By Shepard Barclay. Who Dealt This Mess? We can stand the man who says he held “The ace three times of clubs,” We can bear the one who says “renigs” When speaking of revokes, But this we must confess— You can never make us reconciled To all that host of dubs W ho consider that the finest wit' The cleverest of jokes Is this: “Who dealt this mess?”’ It is true, of course, that what you say Reveals just what you are, You will find that people size up From what you say just once, So this we want to press— If you want your talk while playing bridge To rate you over par, If you'd like to be regarded well And not a brainless dunce, Don't ask “Who dealt this mess?” with quaint and bizarre sidelights on its lineage through China and Japan, India, France, Ger- many, Belgium, England, Holland and America. The wonderful card museum of the United States Playing Card Co. just outside Cincinnati has furnished much of the material for the book, which is dedicated to its president, John Omwake, who for more than 40 years has delved enthusiastically into the subject. Capab-lanca Versatile. If Jose R. Capablanca ever forgets what he knows about chess he can turn to bridge for consolation in his old age. The wonderful Cuban who has held the world's championship at the silent game more different years than he cares to admit and who still looks like & college Beau Brummel can acquit himself with credit in any company. With a rising young player named Sidney S. Lenz for a partner— who ranks as high in bridge annals as he does g and later on declares that “Dummy should not Farm Crop By-Products Bring New Profits. UST as the margin of profit in many in- dustries is to be found in the income from by-products, so may the farmer of the future look back on the development of by-product utilization as the turning point from a re- stricted income to real prosperity. Realizing the need for disposing profitably of the tremendous amount of waste matter that results from present farming operations, the Department of Agriculture has been for some time in extensive research work which already is beginning to show results. It has been established that for every 100 pounds of graim produced anywhere from 100 to 250 pounds of straw, stalk, husk and other waste matter also have been produced. This, in total figures, means more than a quarter of a billion tons per year of average crops. From this waste matter it has already “been proven that paper and synthetic tannin can be made. One of the greatest potential markets for corn waste products is the synthetic rosin and solvents industries, which already consume 500,000 pounds of furfural annually. This product furfural was first produced in 1918 as a laboratory curiosity at a cost of $30 per pound. With the adoption of commercial pro- duction methods, however, this cost has dropped to 17% cents per pound. It is expected that as the department’s chem- ists continue their experimental work new and even more profitable by-product uses will be found for the present waste in stalks and husks. __South hnvlné bid one spade, which was passed all around, what would you lead, as West, from the following hand? Why? H842 ¥ve87 @ 7543 $985 The player holding this hand knows it is , so far as trick taking is concerned. This causes some inferior players to be careless with such hands, thinking it makes no differ- help the partner to use his cards to the best advantage. A leader can always tell his partner some- thing about his own hand; when he does that he is also telling partner something about de- elarer’s hand. The lead of the fourth-best in this case helps partner to count declarer’s hand, and, therefore, is the lead to The New Problem. How would you bid and play the following hand, North being the dealer? AMAQ YA52 ®AK1092 »6G43 & 100653 YKJI8T Around the World, Continued from Sixth Page had come 200 miles to ask his official trick. off from ag > ARERRE il ity afje Jabihil i i s gl it 1 §id ;5" B i it 1 [EFeded | Eéiiiitiis i ffiiigslg E | 2F gi £ E 141 i i i : i § ‘They were the French military. mandant galloped ahead and rode aeroplane, He did not seem to first hidden among these Arabs, but said to him, “C’est moi”"—“It is I,” He seemed very mystified, but he rode back across the plain and spent the night in his little outpost. His wife was most kind. The next morning we rode back again, I started up my machine and flew off to Aleppo, some 300 miles north of Jerusalem. The next day I reached Bagdad and began my flight over the world$ loneliest countries. A broken oil line over, the Per- sian Gulf, a forced landing in Ba- luchistan and a mecting with desert brigands are related by Mrs. Bruce in The Star's Magazine mext Sunday.