Evening Star Newspaper, October 11, 1931, Page 89

= = & THE BRrRIDGE Forum * Truth In all the partnerships of life PFrom childhood on through youth To when we face our final strife, ‘The basis must be truth. Unless the partners merit trust And do the best they can, Their hopes must crunble into dust, They can't achieve their plan. But when in all their bids and plays Each knows the other’s true, They have a start toward winning ways In anything they do. LOATING is poor etiquette. But that is not all. It is also poor pol- icy. It doesn’'t pay. In a recent tournament of con- siderable importance one of the less prominent pairs had just scored an unusually fine result against a noted peir and gloated to such an extent that their beaten opponents were made furious. As the latter went to the next table they were upset and did & poor job on the two hands played, handing out a fine present of points. It happened that those gift points were just enough to enable the beneficiaries to win the competition by & slight margin. In second place, just barely back of them, were the players who had done the gloating. So the gloaters were beaten be- cause they upset the pair they had just over- care! A good thing to bear in mini when playing in any tournament is that the people you have just met become your partners as soon as they Jeave you. It is to your interest to have them do their very best against the others they meet. If they can “knock off” others wherever they go, they are helping you win. Getting the [ump General principles of sport psychology and strategy apply to bridge as well as to their other games, as pointed out by Dr. John R..Gray in an argument for an ace lead from three cards headed by ace-jack against a small slam suit bid. “That will put the declarer’'s back against the wall,” he says, “and will expose the dummy for me so I will know better where to go from thcre.” “Fielding H. Yost and ‘Jawn’ J. McGraw are surely masters in their fields,” he adds. “They both try to score first and make the opponents come from behind—often a very rocky road.” Real experts, as a rule, will lead from an ace- jack combination against a small slam if the suit is of five cards or more, to make sure the ace doesn't get trumped; they are in doubt when it is of four cards, but almost never lead from it when it is of only three cards. They have learned that many a small slam has been arade when the lead of an ace in that situa- tion enabled declarer to get two tricks with a king-queen; refraining from leading the ace would have held him to one trick with his combination. Continuing his sportling parallel, Dr. Gray comments on psychics. “ILike trick plays in foot ball, they aim to pull the defense out of position,” he says. “Fine if they will come out, but they can’t win against a smart player, for he will not pull out of his regular position on defense. Witness Paul Ford, great end of the Olympic Club foot ball team of San Francisco, whom Bob Shand righlty calls the end. He never pulls out on a trick formation, and many times the trick crumbles before his single- handed attack.” The chief difficulty is that a good trick play or bid in bridge doesn't look like a psychic; if it does, it isn't a good onc or else isn't properly tired. IWho's an Impostor ? Sidney S. Lenz met a frienGg on a train, As they walked toward the observation car two ladies playing against their Jhusbands dragged the pair into a bridge argument after asking if they played contract. Mr. Lenz's decision brought the query from one sweet thing: *“Who do you think you are, Work or Lenz?” “Why, this is Mr. Lenz himself,” answered the friend for him. “Oh, yeah?” she responded. H-rbert Hoover.” That sounds like the enc of the story. not. Some weeks later Mr. Lenz was telling this yarn to a lady friend. She was nst particularly impressed. “I don’t believe she was Mrs, Hoover; do you?” she said. Problems of Play If South had bid a spade, West doubled, North bid two spades, East three hearts, South three spades, West four hearts, North four spades, East passed, South passed, West five hearts, North five spades, East doubled and West raked in his two aces, followed by a dia- mond, how would you play the following hand? AJ985 vs ®QJ1062 SKJIH “Well, I'm Mrs. It is NORTH AQ1042 $J10632 ¢ 84 84 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, OCTOBER 11, 193L Gloating Over Your Last Victisns in a Tourna- ment Does Not Pay—Importance of “Get- ting the Jump” in Bridge. BY SHEPARD BARCLAY Capt. Pred G. French, president of the Amer- can Bridge League, and Henry P. Jaeger of Cleveland, a former president, did the North and South bidding of this hand. The playing job was Jaeger's, and he did it beautifully. The trump situation was especially interesting. By making perfect use of his three entries in dummy, two in clubs and one in diamonds, he lost not a trump trick. His first entry, in diamonds, he used to take the third trick and immediately got to work on the trumps, which were marked in East's hand by the bidding and final double. He led the jack, which East covered, and took it with the ace. Back he went into the dummy by overtaking his club queen so he could lead the nine. East laid off this, which was finessed successfully, as also was the 8; then the 10 fell to the king. The ace and king of diamends were now brought in and the club 10 overtaken by dummy’s jack for a concluding run of dia- monds, making the contract. Modern Magic for Uncle Sam Continued from Third Page an improved concrete highway of dwarf dimen- sions, which is provided with safety fences, highway markers, traffic signs, as well as bordering ornamental shrubbery and trees. These imitation trees and shrubs are made of bits of hemp and wire rope which have been uncoilled and unraveled to form pompons that are colored appropriately to simulate trees growing along the thoroughfare. The attrac- tive turf which abuts the road is made from carpet with unusually long pile which has been processed with hot irons and painted in oil to imitate grass of different varieties and texture. It is like entering the empire of mechanical toyland to view and review other displays of the United States Bureau of Public Roads which illustrate the six leading types of high- way now constructed in this country. Each road type is represented by a model 4 by 7 feet in size, which weighs 250 pounds, and depicts a stretch of undulating countryside speckled with topographical bumps and dents such as commonly handicap highway construction. All the various machines used in building such a road are shown in abbreviated form. These metal models are true to scale and are made of brass, steel, copper, lead, iron and other sheet metals. Some of them are machined specimens, while others built of sheet lead were draped over hardwood dies designed from photo- graphs of regulation equipment. The six types of highway illustrated in these realistic dwarf-size replicas include concrete, bituminous macadam, crushed stone or gravel, mixed-in-place bituminous surface treatment, bituminous concrete and brick. The bricks used in the simulation of the brick highway consist of wooden blocks cut with a circular saw which was filed to an edge qualified to cut out tiny, true-to-life brick. form. The topographical features of these inter- esting models are all designed from engineer=- ing data of mythical highways and are made on accurate scale ratios. They consist of built-up wooden frameworks covered with wire and then filled in with plaster to the desired dimensions. Small hand tools and the art of sculptoring artistry were employed in shaping these models to the required contours. After this unique work of making artificial terrain was compieted the models were painted with a mixture of paint and sawdust in order to develop the essential surface texture. i Other models and pictures are replicas of certain historical trails and roads in this coun- try which have aided measurably in the de- velopment of the Republic. The Naticnal pike, the Boston Post road, Dan Boone's wilderness road, the Sante Fe trail to Mexico, the Oregon trail and the notable old Mormon trail live again in these exhibits. - Crafty Martens of Many Types THB marten is not a single type of animal, but is in fact a species ranging from the more common pine marten to the rare and highly valuable Russian sable. The furs known as marten and sable both come from members of the same family. They are found in the northern parts of both the Old and New Worlds. The animals, tree dwellers, are long and slim of body and short of leg. They travel with great rapidity through the trees, following regular “highways” as do the squirrels, leaping from branch to branch and tree to tree. The pine marten is about the size of an ordinary house cat. The natural color of the marten is a deep rich brown and the fur is long and soft. Be- cause of their small size it takes quite a num- ber to make up a fur coat, with the result that the expense is fairly high. It multiplies rapidly when allowed to roam at will and unmolested by human hunters. The usual litter is of six kittens and these are ysually born and raised in abandoned nests of squirrels ar woodpeckers. The largest of the marten family is the black marten sometimes called the black fox, pekan or fisher. This often attains a size of two to three feet with a tail a foot long. It is a ferocious fighter and is able to, and does, kill bear cubs. Its diet, however, is cosmopolitan and it feeds upon squirrels, rabbits, dead fish, chip- munks, snakes, frogs, toads, ground birds, beechnuts and catnip. The hunter finds it a clever animal, which is capable of sneaking bait out of traps without being caught, and for this reason the capture of the marten is a difficult feat. Nearby Canners Rated High THE tomato canners of Maryland and Virginia came through the past season’s inspection with flying colors, not one of the 400 canneries having been found producing substandard goods. The Federal requirements are strict and lay down rigid rules as to presence of skins, blem- jshes and other imperfections and set a high requirement for quantity of meats in a can. Despite the fact that the hot early Summer, with heavy rains later, cut the crop to the ex- tent of 2bout 50 per cent, the price for the finished goods was low. Because of this low price, no substandard goods were turned out, for there would have been no market. These blocks were then painted the desired color and laid up in road' The New Problem 1/ your side had such czcessive confidence that you bid one spade in the South, North three clubs and you three no trump, West lead- ing the deuce of diamonds how would you play the jollowing hand? AK ¥1093 ®A93 SHAJ10963 &J42 $PKJE3 ¢ 10842 SKT AAQ10B vQss eJ5 &Q85e 498763 YATS5 ®KQ76 &2 A Law a Ileek What occurs in this case? East, when £ 1§ West's turn to lead, leads the queen of hearts. Declarer, under the law, instructs West to lead a club. Before the latier can obey, East picks up his heart and leads the deuce of clubs. The penalty having bcen selected for the first offense, West must go ahcad and lead a club as called. To punish the second offense de- clarer may either treat East's club as exposed and make him play it whenever he can legally do s>, or he can call a lead from the adver- saries whenever it is again their turn to lead. What occurs if, after one player has bid seven spades, the opponent at his left bids seven diamonds? Statistics George Reith has figured out the statistics on a number of championships won by various players in contract events of the American Bridge League, American Whist League, Van- derbilt Cup and Eastern championship. They show that Philip Hal Sims has won 10, Mr. Reith himself 6, Baron Waldemar von Zedt- witz, Comdr. Winfield Ligget, jr., and David Burnstine 5 each, and Mrs. Sims, Ely Culbert- son and Oswald Jaccby 4 each. Other players have, of course, won in these events, but none as often as those listed. Contract Bidding How would you bid the foliowing hand, South being the dealer and neither side vulnerable? AAT ¥ None ¢QJ753 HBAK10754 aJs3 ¥Q10762 @64 »Q632 AK1004 ve3 ¢ K983 I8 HQY852 YAKJI54 @Al & None In a recent duplicate contest South at one table started with one heart. North made a game-demand take-out of three clubs, South bid three spades, North bid four diamonds, South four hearts, North six clubs. It happens that this contract can be made by careful play, but South didn't dare leave it in with void clubs, so shifted to six hearts, which West doubled. North then went to six spades, which East doubled, then South to six no trump, which West doubled. A spade lead set the contract three tricks. At the other table South started with two hearts, a non-forcing bid promising a rebid of some kind if his partner could do anything but pass. North, knowing South would bid again, gave a minimum response of three clubs. South’s rebid was three spades. North showed his protection in the one unbid suit, diamonds, by calling three no trump. South indicate@@ his unbalanced distribution, and hence preferws ence for suit play, with four hearts, virtually compelling his partner to choose between hearts and spades. The latter did so with four spades. Five-odd were made. The lesson to be learned from such hands ¥ that caution should be exercised when the early bidding discloses the fact that there is no suit in which the hands fit well and there is not a safe no-trump distribution in either. At such time beware of slamitis! How would you bid the following hand, South being the dealer and neither side vulnerable? AKQJ10762 i ¥ None *Q7 SAKJI4 &LA9 48543 YEK96542 ¥vQJ87s *J $9652 » 10985 & None & None YAl ®AK10843 $Q7632