Evening Star Newspaper, July 26, 1931, Page 77

“THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, _JULY 26, 1931. e e ® 7HE BRIDGE [fOrRUM Pleasure. If she should be invited she will mever turn it down; ‘When she can join & group at bridge, she'll do it any day; She says there's mothing in this world she'd rather do than play. She finds the game the nicest thing to kindle the evening. To many women the game is merely the means of drawing a group together, afford- ing an opportunity for conversation about the myriad topies in which they are interested. If there has ever been a solitary t¢’:ns¢: of men etting ther at bridge for such a purpose, fo mgntz‘;l'e millions eof instances in Wwhich women do it, mo man has yet come forward to point it out. When a man plays bridge—or any game— he usually iries to play the best he can. He gets his pleasure out of the competitive idea, trying to do better than the other fellow, and because of that effort receives a special sort of thrill. True, he enjoys good conversation along with his game at times, but does mot Jet it cause him to cease caring about giving an earnest effort to the game. Perhaps it is “the nature of the beast.” As a rule, when he was a very small boy he would bristle up if some one suggested that the small boy next deor could whip him in & fight. The lads might be very good friends, and there might never be a fight, but each of them liked to cherish the illusion that he could give a good account of himself if ealled upon. That competitive spirit would mani- fest itself later in the many forms of frendly games in which the boy would engage, striving always to outdo his rivals. Little girls seldom had the same competi- tive idea. Instead of dealing in comparatives, they dealt in positives. When little girls be- came bigger and grew into homemakers, their purpose was to make as nice a home as they could—a positive thought. The bigger boy now was out in the world engaged almost constantly in some form of professional or business competifjon. When the two came together then at the bridge table they carried the same psychology with them. There are exceptions, of eourse—brilliant exee] in the main men will eon- cede women the right to be the only ones who ever say: “I only play for pleasure.” A Deep Inference. Our old friend, the perfect hand, bobbed’ up again the other day in Larchmont, N. Y, at the home of Mrs. Daniel O’Connell. Mrs. Henry S. Mattern, with 13 diamonds, opened bidding with six diamonds—why not "seven, deponent sayeth not. Her partner, Mrs. Ed- ward Doherty, bid seven clubs with a full suit of them, after which the original bidder went seven diamonds. They report that the rare hands caused much excitement. Still more excitement could have been caused by their opponents if the Jatter had realized that they had a laydown grand slam at either hearts or spades and failed to bid them. A Cheater’s “Psychic.” An utterly unfair “psychic” was made re- cently by & “smart” player whose partner had passed. After the intervening opponent’s one heart he deliberately called one diamond—an jnsufficient bid. This barred the partner from further bidding and compelled him to make his own call sufficient. He did it with two spades. One opponent doubled him, and he shifted to three diamonds, which the other opponent doubled, whereupon he seemed to make & desperation bid for four clubs. This, too, ‘was doubled, and he was defeated one lowly trick, - but chortled with glee over keeping the foe from a sure game. He intended all along to wind up in eclubs, but first took the cowardly precaution of silencing his partner by dishon- estly violating a law so that misleading his partner could do no harm. From the viewpoint of sporstmanship, wheth- er “psychic” bids of one kind or another are ethical depends largely on whether the bidder is taking an honest risk of loss commensurate with the possible gain. A Law a Week. What occurs if @ hand has been played through to the last jew tricks, declarer having already made his contract, and one of the ad- versaries discovers that he had received only 12 cards in the deal, his partner having re- eeived 14? There must be & new deal by the same dealer with the same pack whenever the players are agreed that the cards were not “dealt to the sroper players into four distinct packets of 13 Why Men Generally Take Their Bridge More - Seriously Than Women—Concerning the Ethics of the “Psychic” Bid. BY SHEPARD BARCLAY. The Latest Kink. Word has gone around that some bridge clubs prohibit & player from naming a declaration which he is doubling. To say “I double a spade” is clearly an informatory double, ac- cording to some who relate the odd news, whereas “I double” may or may not be in- formatory. If péople who make that distinction are playing in the clubs which have found it necessary to enforce such a “ground rule,” we would prefer thugs and pirates as playing com- panions. Continued from Fourteenth Page the most difficult {asks associated with the construction of the modern steamboat model the production of the 1l-step stairway, Jeads from the companion deck to the . This delicate work, which almost in- volved the use of a microscope, was consum- mated after tedious handieraft. It was almost intricate to make the realistic railing for bridge. It consists of annealed brass ‘wire crimped to the desired shape with a forming Onme of the spectacular features of this model in action is the steam which pours from the stacks as simulated smoke. The arrangement is such that the released steam from the boller is shunted into these stacks. The stacks as well as the skylights on the bridge are made of ordinary roofing tin. The 3!2-inch 3-bladed screw is made of brass, being joined to the actuating power plant by means of a connecting shaft. Mr. SBwanteson’s original intention was to run the model ocean liner by remote radio contrel. That, of course, would have added bafiling mysticism to the operation of the midget craft so that superstitious folks might even have be- lieved it was (functioned by witchcraft. The outstanding drawback, which led to the aban- donment of the radio control idea, was the fact that the electric batteries required in such a set-up were too heavy to be carried success- fully aboard the model. As is, however, the careful observer notes copper wires stretched between the masts in imitation of radio antennae. The ship is also equipped with a pair of lilliputian anchors, one of which is strapped to the deck while the other is used in mooring the model in shallow water, near the border of the pool, after she has completed another session of cruising. This leaden anchor is equipped with lines and “tackle” similar to those found on a regulation marine device for such use. HE accuracy and realistic appearance of the steamboat model, which runs under its own power, are augmented by the crow’s mest p-shape tions. All these “props” have been provided to the true-to-lifeness of the model with- Here’s Hoping. Commenting on a recent tid-bit in these columns, “Enthusiast,” who keeps his identity secrct, says it was ‘“a good problem, and it wouldn't surprise me if its composer is an old hand at it. I hope you can work your problems up to the point of interest shown by solvers in those of the old New York Sun years ago. The problems of Boardman and Westenbaker were the tough nuts to crack in those days, and you know hard work was ahead whenever theirs appeared.” ¥4 flar reasons. “I devoted plenty of time to planning and building the model and now I intend to get some fun out of navigating the steamer,” is the way in which Mr. Swanteson describes fit. The practical, although diminutive rudder which this builder has provided for steering the steamship, can be adjusted so that she will pursue a circular instead of a straightaway course. Perhaps you have seen the owners of speedboat models hitch their crafts by means of stout lines to permanent mooring, about which the power boats subsequently can circle. That is the way in which these tiny power boats race against each other and the flight of time. One of the models is tethered by a 50-foot line, for example. The official timer clicks his stopwatch when the line becomes taut and the boat begins her “round robin” cruise. Knowing the diameter of the circular course, the number of laps traveled and the total elapsed time, it is a simple matter to compute the distance covered in a given perfod and the velocity of the eraft in miles per hour. The process is repeated with each power boat entered in such competition. The model which makes the low- est time record is eventually crowned the victor. Mr. Swanteson can test the speed and mileage of his steamship model in somewhat similar manner with the exception that he does not have to “halter” his boat. He can adjust the rudder so that the ship will travel a circular course of known diameter. This circle may be large or small, according to the dimensions of the pool in which the test is made. Occasionally during her cruises on the Lincoln Memorial pool, the “midget Mauretania has be- come involved in collisions. Once she ran into the sailing sloop of a Washington schoolboy with disastrous results to the “windpower” vessel. Her youthful owner, however, laughed off the occurence by remarking, “It isn’t every chap who can tell about having his boat run down by an ocean liner.” Metal Mining in the East gold mining in the Bast was not so much to brag about last year, yet the total for gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc was fairly large considering there were but 24 mines in operation. The gold dug was valued at:$46,000, the silver -at*$47,000, copper: at:$5,000,000, lead, $838,000, and the zinc at $18,000,000. What He Deserved. “What would you do,” asked a rabid bug, “if dealer bid two no trumps, your partner doubled and wyou held the ace, king and two other heazts, the ace, queen and another spade, the king, queen Bnd jack of diamonds and the @ce, king and jack of clubs?” “Bither protest,” was the response, “against the use of a pinochle deck for bridge, ask what bug-house I was in, or have you arrested for asking such a question.” Contract Bidding. How would you bid mnd play the following hand, North being the dealer with North and South wulnerable? SAQS YPAJD &®AQTS HK100 Hoxme” 1 onsass Y32 ¢ 98 #8768 410 vs7 ¢ KJI32 AQJ432 . SOUTH aKJI42 YEQ10654 ¢ 1064 & None If using the new intermediate two bid, which shows not quite enough strengih to guarantee game but promises a rebid if partner has enough strength to do anything but pass, North will open with two diamonds. South, knowing his partner will bid again, has no need to give more than a minimum response to two hearts, West here Wwill insert three clubs, North will bid four hearts and after East's pass, South should bid five clubs conventionally to indicate slam likelihood and lack of club losers. If North now should merely shift to five hearts South would call six, but North is strong enough to say six, which South then can lift to seven. Players without an intermediate two bid will open with one diamond, South making a force ing takeout of two hearts. West now will bid his three clubs, North three hearts, South four clubs, North five hearts and South seven hearts, If West leads the ace of clubs, nothing is necessary but the diamond finesse to produee 13 tricks. If West leads anything else, the contract can still be made by a squeeze play. Ten consecutive tricks in hearts and spades will ind West holding three diamonds and his ace of clubs, and obliged to discard one of West discards a diamond, dummy rd the club king and finish with three tricks. you bid and play the following aou:.h being the dealer and both sides &K108752 913 SEQ4 SAK a9 vJ9s 632 109 . $1096438 HAQJI4 YEQ106 ®AJI0 &85 Problems of Play. ‘What does the lead of a deuce show agaimst a no trump contract, no suits having been bid, when dummy holds the king, jack, ten amd eight, fourth hand the ace, queen and nine? Since all of the high cards from the ace down to the eight are in sight, partner's four- card suit contains no card higher than the seven. It is almost certain that he could not have another four-card suit that weak. Since he would lead from the stronger four- carder if he had it, the -chances are over- whelmingly that the suit led is his only four carder. If that is true, his other suits are all of three cards each. Hence, by seeing how many cards of each suit are in own hand and dummy, and counting partner to have three, it is possible to reckon declarer’s exact num- ber of cards in each suit. * The New Problem. With clubs as trumps and West leading the two of clubs, how many tricks can South make on the following hand? YA §] vQe2 $KQ1082 AK4 NORTH [~ 4652 PAIS o3 @AQI065 SOUTH