Auction of To-day | Page 9

or six Club or Diamond tricks and one other suit stopped. When, however, an Ace of another suit accompanies the unusual Club or Diamond strength, the advantage of being the first to bid No-trump makes the chance worth taking.
The hands above cited as containing the minimum strength to warrant the call are all what are known as "weak No-trumpers." This kind of bidding may not be conservative, but experience has shown it to be effective as long as it is kept within the specified limits. A No-trump must, however, justify the partner in acting upon the assumption that the bidder has at least the stipulated strength, and it merely courts disaster to venture such a declaration with less than the conventional holding.
A few examples may possibly make the above somewhat more clear, as by that means the various "minimum-strength" or "border-line" No-trumpers, and also hands which fall just below the mark, can be accurately shown. It will be understood that an effort is made to give the weakest hands which justify the No-trump declaration, and also the hands which fall short by the smallest possible margin. In other words, the hands which puzzle the Declarer. With greater strength or greater weakness the correct bid is plainly indicated.
The suits are numbered, not designated by their respective names, in order to emphasize that it does not matter where the weakness is located.
HANDS IN WHICH THE NO-TRUMP DECLARATION IS DOUBTFUL
Suit 1 King, Knave, X Does not contain an Ace, but is " 2 King, X, X above the average and has four " 3 Queen, Knave, X suits stopped. It is a No-trump " 4 Knave, Ten, X, X bid.
Suit 1 Ace, Knave, X Has an Ace, three suits stopped, " 2 X, X, X and a Knave over the average. It " 3 King, X, X, X is a No-trump bid. " 4 Queen, Knave, X
Suit 1 Ace, Queen, X Has an Ace and two face cards " 2 King, Queen, Knave more than the average, but, not " 3 X, X, X, X having three suits stopped, is " 4 Knave, X, X not a No-trump bid.
Suit 1 King, Queen, X Has three suits stopped, but is " 2 King, Knave, X, X without an Ace, and is one King " 3 Queen, Knave, X short of three King suits all with " 4 X, X, X another face card. It is not a No-trump bid.
Suit 1 King, Knave, X Has three King-Queen, or " 2 King, Queen, X King-Knave suits. It is a No-trump " 3 King, Knave, X bid. " 4 X, X, X, X
Suit 1 Ace, X, X Has three suits stopped and is " 2 Ace, X, X, X above the average. It is a No-trump " 3 Queen, Knave, X bid. " 4 X, X, X
Suit 1 Ace, X, X This is the border-line hand " 2 King, X, X mentioned above. It may be a " 3 X, X, X, X No-trump bid for an expert, but " 4 King, Knave, X the moderate player is hardly justified in risking it. The presence of one or two Tens would add materially to the strength of this hand and make it a No-trump.
Suit 1 Ace, X, X, X Only above the average to the " 2 King, Queen, X extent of a Queen in place of " 3 Queen, X, X, X a Knave. No-trump is not advised " 4 X, X unless Declarer is confident he can outplay his adversaries.
Suit 1 Ace, Knave, X An average hand. With this holding " 2 King, X, X only an expert is justified in " 3 Queen, X, X, X bidding No-trump. " 4 X, X, X
Suit 1 Ace, X, X Below the average, and, therefore, " 2 King, X, X only "one Spade" should be bid. " 3 Queen, X, X, X " 4 X, X, X
Clubs } Has the weakest "solid" suit or } Ace, King, Queen, X, X that with one other Ace warrants Diamonds } a No-trump bid. Suit 2 Ace, X, X " 3 X, X, X " 4 X, X
Clubs } Ace, King, Knave, X, X Absence of Queen in one case, and or } or of King in the other, keeps the Diamonds } Ace, Queen, Knave, X, X suit from being established. Even } the presence of the additional Suit 2 Ace, Queen, X Queen in Suit 2 does not make this " 3 X, X, X a No-trumper. " 4 X, X
Clubs } Absence of additional Ace makes or } Ace, King, Queen, X, X a No-trump inadvisable. Diamonds } Suit 2 King, Queen, X " 3 X, X, X " 4 X, X
It is realized that in the last three cases cited the margin is unusually close; the