A Guide to Contract Bridge - A Collection of Historical Books and Articles on the Rules and Tactics of Contract Bridge

A Guide to Contract Bridge

A Collection of Historical

Books and Articles on the

Rules and Tactics of

Contract Bridge

By

Various Authors

Copyright © 2011 Read Books Ltd.

This book is copyright and may not be

reproduced or copied in any way without

the express permission of the publisher in writing

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from

the British Library

Card Games

Playing cards were invented in Imperial China, and specimens have been found dating back as early the ninth century, during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Female players were some of the most frequent participants, and the first known book on cards, called Yezi Gexi (presumably written in the 860s) was originally written by a Tang era woman, subsequently undergoing additions by other Chinese scholars. By the eleventh century, playing cards could be found throughout the Asian continent. During the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), characters from novels such as the Water Margin were widely featured on the faces of playing cards. Playing cards first entered Europe in the early fourteenth century, probably from Egypt, with suits (sets of cards with matching designs) very similar to the tarot suits of Swords, Staves, Cups and Coins (also known as disks or pentacles). These latter markings are still used in traditional Italian, Spanish and Portuguese decks. The first documentary evidence of ‘card playing’ is a document written in Vitoria-Gasteiz (now Spain) in 1334, in which the ‘Knights of the Band’ (a Spanish military order who wore a red sash across their torso) were categorically prohibited from playing cards.

As can be seen from this short and potted history, card games have been in existence as long as the cards themselves; and hence have a long and varied history. The cards were first formalised into something closely resembling our modern deck in the seventeenth century, but the joker was only introduced by the USA in the 1870s. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker, a group of card games involving betting and primarily individual play). A small number of card games played with traditional decks have formally standardized rules, but most are folk games whose rules vary by region, culture, and person. Today, common categories of card games are ‘trick-taking games’, which are based on the play of multiple rounds, in each of which, each participant plays a single card from their hand, ‘matching games’, such as ‘Rummy’, or the children’s game, ‘go fish’, in which the aim is to acquire groups of matching cards, and ‘shedding or accumulation games’, the objective of which is respectively, to be the first player to discard all cards from one’s hand, or accumulate all cards in the deck. The popular game, ‘Uno’ is an example of the ‘shedding type’, and is one of the few games to be formally commercialised – in this case by the American company, Mattel. It should also be noted that card games do not necessarily need more than one player; Solitaire is perhaps the most famous of the one-player variety; a ‘patience game’ in which the original ‘tableau’ is cleared by moving all cards to ‘discard’ or ‘foundation piles.’

The popularity of card games has endured, and if anything increased, into the present day. Starting from the introduction of cards, and thereby games with cards in ninth century China, their use and relevance to human sociability has spread all over the globe, and is showing no signs of waning.

Contents

Contract Bridge Made Easy - The New Point Count Way. Josephine Culbertson

Modern Contract Bridge. Ina Hickey and Noel Peart

Advanced Auction and Contract Bridge Tactics. H L Thornely

Duplicate Bridge Made Easy. Edward Rosen

CONTRACT BRIDGE

MADE EASY

The New Point Count Way

JOSEPHINE CULBERTSON

‘The World’s Greatest Teacher’

Foreword by

ELY CULBERTSON

Contents

Foreword by Ely Culbertson

Introduction by Josephine Culbertson

1. HOW TO VALUE YOUR HAND

The Culbertson System of Bidding

How to Value Your Hand for No-trump Bidding

‘Have We 26 Points, Partner?’

How to Value Your Hand for Suit-Bidding

The Culbertson Rule of Four and Three

The Other Side of the Penny

26 Points for Game at Spades and Hearts

29 Points for Game at Diamonds and Clubs

Two Refinements

Summary

2. THE OPENING BID OF ONE OF A SUIT

The Code Message

Biddable Suits

Rebiddable Suits

When to Open with 12 Points

When to Open with 13 Points

When to Open with 14 Points

How About Vulnerability?

The Three-Card Minor Suit-Bid

If You Wish to Be an Expert Bidder

Defensive Tricks

When You Have More Than One Biddable Suit

The Principle of Preparedness

3. RESPONDING TO THE OPENING SUIT ONE-BID

When to Pass

Responses You May Make with Only 6 Points

No-Trump Responses

Suit Responses

6-18 Points!

A Minimum of 18 Points

Raising Your Partner

The New Culbertson Formula for Raises

Summary of Responses

4. REBIDDING AFTER THE OPENING SUIT-ONE BID

How the Opener Rebids on the Second Round

When the Game Seems Reasonably Sure

Don’t Be Too Conservative!

When Game Seems Very Probable

When There Is Merely Hope for Game

When There Is No Hope for Game

A Revaluation of Your Original Suit

How Many Points for Rebidding?

Rebidding After Partner’s Two No-trumps Response

Rebidding After Partner’s Double Raise

Rebidding After Partner’s Forcing Take-out

How Responder (Partner of the Opener) Rebids

You Must Show Your Preference

5. THE OPENING BID OF TWO OF A SUIT

The Purpose of the Two-Bid

A Convention—Not a Law

The Importance of Partnership Morale

When to Open with a Two-Bid

The Rule of 24

Responding to the Two-Bid

Your First Obligation

The Response of Two No-trumps

The Double Raise

Any Other Response

7 Points, Including an Ace or King

Summary of Responses

6. OPENING THREE AND HIGHER SUIT-BIDS

Pre-Emptive Bids

Distinctive Features of All Pre-Emptive Bids

Point-Count Requirements

How to Determine ‘Reasonable Safety’

The Culbertson Rule of 2 and 3

How to Count Your Winners

The Minor Suit Three-Bid

Responding to Opening Pre-Emptive Bids

Responding to Opening Three-Bids

Responding to Opening Four-Bids

7. OPENING NO-TRUMP BIDS

The Opening Bid of One No-trump

16-18 Points

One No-trump vs. One of a Suit

Exceptions

Responding to the Opening Bid of One No-trump

When to Raise Your Partner

How to Count Your Points for Raises

With 8 or 9 Points

With 10-14 Points

With More Than 14 Points

When to Bid a Suit

With 8-11 Points

With 12 or More Points

Responding with Six-Card Suits

Rebidding by the One No-trump Opening Bidder

When Responder Bids Two of a Suit

When Responder Bids Three of a Suit

When Responder Raises in No-trumps

How Partner of the Opener Rebids

The Opening Bid of Two No-trumps

Responding to Two No-trumps

The Opening Bid of Three No-trumps

Responding to Three No-trumps

Summary of Opening Bids with Balanced Hands

8. THE DEFENDER’S BIDDING

Simple Overcalls

Not Much Hope for Game

Why Make a Simple Overcall?

Requirements for Simple Overcalls

Have a Very Good Trump Suit

The Culbertson Rule of 2 and 3

Responding to Simple Overcalls

Strong Defensive Bids

The Immediate Overcall in Opponent’s Suit

The Single Jump Overcall

Pre-Emptive Overcalls

The Defenders’ One No-trump

Defensive Overcalls of Two and Three No-trumps

The Take-out Double

Meaning of a Take-out Double

How to Recognize the Take-out Double

Requirements for a Take-out Double

Responding to the Take-out Double

With 0-5 Points

With 6-10 Points

With 10 or More Points

Free Responses to Take-out Double

The Pre-Emptive Response

The Cue-Bid Response

When the Take-out Double Is Redoubled

Rebidding by Take-out Doubler

When Partner of Doubler Makes Any Simple Suit Take-out

When Partner of Doubler Jumps in a Suit

How Partner of Take-out Doubler Rebids

Re-opening the Bidding

The Optional Double

How Partner Responds to the Optional Double

The Four No-trump Overcall

How Partner of an Opening Bidder Responds Over an Intervening Take-out Double

9. THE PENALTY DOUBLE

Profit and Loss

Light and Tight Doubles

Light Doubles

Requirements for a Light Double

What Does Partner of the Doubler Do?

Light Double After Partner Has Opened with One No-trump

Tight Doubles

The Two-Trick Rule

What Does Partner of the Tight Doubler Do?

Lead-Directing Doubles

The Double of Three No-trumps

The Double of a Slam Contract

10. SLAM BIDDING

How Many Points for a Slam?

‘Blackwood’

11. HOW TO PLAY YOUR CARDS

The Finesse

Declarer’s Play at a Suit Contract

Declarer’s Play at No-trumps

12. LEADS, SIGNALS AND DISCARDS

The Opening Lead Against No-trumps

When Your Partner Has Bid

When Your Partner Has Not Bid

The Card to Lead

The Rule of Eleven

The Opening Lead Against a Suit Contract

Very Bad Leads

Not Very Good

Excellent Leads

When to Lead a Trump

When to Lead a Singleton

Waiting Leads

Leading Your Partner’s Suit

The Card to Lead

Signals and Discards

The Come-On or High-Low Signal

Discarding

13. HOW YOU SCORE IN BRIDGE

The Rubber Bonus

What It Takes for Game

Below and Above the Line

Below the Line

Above the Line

When the Rubber Ends

Scoring Table

Foreword

This book, Josephine Culbertson’s Contract Bridge Made Easy, is unique among the thousands of books that have been written on the greatest of intellectual card games.

The unique feature of this work is that it is neither a textbook nor an abstruse discussion of the problems of bidding or play; it is a course of personal instruction, given directly by the finest, most experienced contract bridge teacher in the world, who is also, of course, a practical tournament and rubber bridge player; she has won as many national and international championships as any man. The instructions in this book are based on Mrs. Culbertson’s actual lesson sheets, used to the greatest advantage by her thousands of pupils.

Mrs. Culbertson’s daily bridge column, syndicated by King Features, appears in newspapers throughout the world as well as in the United States. Also, in her capacity as associate editor of the Bridge World Magazine, the most authoritative publication of its kind in the world, she conducts the question-and-answer department and so has the special advantage of being in close touch with all grades of bridge players. She knows their problems, their strong points and their weaknesses. Thus, she does not give advice as from an Olympian height, but is virtually at your side, explaining why this bid or that play is wrong, guiding you to the correct bid or play.

The simplicity and clarity of this book will speak for themselves. You will have no reason (as you might have in countless other cases) to wonder what a sentence, let alone a paragraph, means; you will not have to consult bridge friends or local bridge authorities for ‘interpretations’. If you give reasonable time to your reading, you cannot help but absorb fundamental knowledge that is a must if you wish to become a good bridge player.

Let no one tell you that the groundwork of bridge can be glossed over—that the leading experts break every rule and ‘get away with it’. Before breaking a single rule with impunity, they had to know the rule; much later they discovered the exceptions to the rules and why there are exceptions.

Contract Bridge Made Easy is further simplified by the fact that its basis is the standard 4-3-2-1 point-count, with Culbertson point-count valuation. It is generally agreed that this means of evaluating a bridge hand is the easiest to learn, and the Culbertson point-count method, in particular, is so simple and clear-cut that it practically does the thinking for the player, yet it is so accurate that it approaches the perfection of the most masterly bidding.

In sum, then, I do not hesitate to say that this book, even more than previous works by Josephine Culbertson, provides the best course of instruction obtainable.

Introduction

This book is designed to teach all the fundamental facts controlling the correct way to play contract bridge. The first part of this book explains ‘The Culbertson Point-Count System of Bidding’.

The second part of the book is devoted to ‘The Play of the Hand’. As I believe every player should know how to play his cards before attempting to bid, I strongly urge that the beginner, or the player who needs to improve his card-playing, start with the ‘Play of the Hand’. Of course, because of limited space, I cannot include all the finer points of bidding and play (of which there are a great number) but I intend to cover this higher field in a companion book to follow.

This book is designed to teach you as if you were studying with an experienced teacher. The amount that you learn depends entirely upon how intelligently you go about this. There is a great difference between plain reading and study. Each chapter in the book is a new lesson. Do not proceed to the next one until you have studied and understood the principles explained in the preceding chapter.

People with whom you play may tell you many ‘rules’, some of them correct, some of them incorrect. The principles of Bidding and Play as explained in this book are all you need to know until you become an expert player. Then, like the experts, you occasionally may make exceptions to these rules.

Later, if you wish to study advanced bridge, I recommend Contract Bridge Complete by Ely Culbertson. Lessons from a qualified teacher will help you to complete your bridge education much more rapidly.

Practise as much as you can by actually playing. Playing with better players is the best sort of training. Do not try to remember everything you have learned on every hand. Indecision will not help you make the right bid or play, and it will annoy other players in the game. Do not be ashamed of your mistakes. The difference between an expert and an average player is that the expert makes fewer mistakes.

If you understand the fundamental principles, you should be able to meet 90 per cent of situations that arise in Bidding and Play. However, the fundamental principles of Bidding and Play are always the same.

I wish to express my appreciation to Alphonse Moyse, Jr., Editor of The Bridge World Magazine. Not only has he been of great assistance in editing this book, but, for the past fifteen years, has been co-editor with me of many books written by Ely Culbertson. In my opinion Mr. Moyse is one of the most brilliant bridge writers in the world.

I also wish to thank Robert Lee Johnson, an outstanding teacher in Hollywood, California. His years of experience in teaching have been of immeasurable aid in the preparation of this book. Without his analytical mind this book would not have been the same.

I am most grateful to my daughter, Joyce. She worked constantly beside me in the preparation of this book.

CHAPTER 1

How to Value Your Hand

The one feature that makes bridge bidding so fascinating is the fact that the two partners must decide what action to take with their combined 26 cards, when each partner can see only the 13 cards in his hand. If each partner sat in front of a tall mirror, bridge bidding would be a cinch!

Combine the cards in these two hands:

As partners, North-South must win at least nine tricks at notrumps—one trick in spades, three tricks in hearts (possibly four), four tricks in diamonds, and one trick in clubs. And since nine tricks will give them game at no-trumps, North-South must arrive at the final game contract of three no-trumps. The only problem is—how to get there? How can North know that South has the Ace of hearts, the Q-J of diamonds and the Ace of clubs? Or how can South know that North has the Ace of spades, K-Q of hearts and A-K of diamonds?

Obviously the two partners must have some way of ‘talking across the table’ and exchanging information about their cards, or they would never land in the correct final contract. In other words, they must have some method of legitimate intercommunication about each other’s hands.

The Culbertson System of Bidding

That’s where the Culbertson System of bidding comes in. You see, the Culbertson System of bidding is merely a series of ‘code messages’, whereby each partner may talk across the table without violating either the rules or ethics of the game. These ‘code messages’ of the Culbertson System are so well-known (used by 99·9 per cent of all bridge players the world over), that two total strangers playing together as partners for the first time will have no trouble in decoding them.

However, even in the Culbertson System it’s impossible to create code messages that will enable one partner to tell the other partner precisely which thirteen cards he holds, because you can be dealt 635,013,559,600 bridge hands of which no two will be alike! The best we can do is agree on some simple and accurate method of valuing a bridge hand—of determining what any given hand of thirteen cards is worth—and then creating codes of bidding that will enable us to pass this valuation across the table to our partner.

How to Value Your Hand for No-trump Bidding

The simplest and easiest way to value your hand for all no-trump bidding (when you wish to play without a trump suit) is to use the 4-3-2-1 point-count.

That’s simple enough, isn’t it? Whenever you wish to bid no-trumps, you merely count your face cards—4 points for each Ace, 3 points for each King, 2 points for each Queen, and 1 point for each Jack.

Since each suit contains an Ace, King, Queen and Jack, there are 10 points in each suit; and as there are four suits, there must be precisely 40 points in the pack, made up of the 16 face cards it contains. In other words, a hand with fewer than 10 points is below average in high-card strength; a hand with precisely 10 points is an average hand in high-card strength; and a hand with more than 10 points is above average in high-card strength.

‘Have We 26 Points, Partner?’

If the two partnership hands seem adapted to no-trump play, and the two partners have 26 of these 40 points, they can probably win 9 of the 13 tricks, meaning that they should bid three no-trumps (game). If North-South have 26 points, East-West can have but 14 points. Right? East-West might have three Aces and one Queen (a total of 14 points); but if East-West win tricks with all four of these cards, North-South will then win the remaining nine tricks and make their game contract of three no-trumps.

So no-trump bidding merely amounts to this: ‘Have we 26 points, partner?’

Let’s take another look at those two hands given on page 17.

If North has the first bid, he’ll open the bidding with one no-trump, because (as you will soon learn) an opening bid of one no-trump is a code message saying: ‘I have a balanced hand, partner, with no long suit, some high-card strength in at least three of the four suits, and from 16 to 18 points.’ (North has exactly 16 points—4 points in spades, 5 points in hearts, and 7 points in diamonds.) South also has a balanced hand and, deciding to stay in no-trumps with his partner, South now counts his points for no-trump bidding—4 points in hearts, 3 points in diamonds, and 4 points in clubs; a total of 11 points. Of course South cannot possibly know which specific cards North holds; but South does know that North has at least 16 points; and 16 plus 11 gives the partnership a combined count of 27 points. So what does South now bid? South at once raises his partner to three no-trumps and game!

Who said bridge bidding was difficult to learn? Why, bridge is easy, and fun to learn by this new Culbertson point-count way.

How to Value Your Hand for Suit-bidding

The value of a bridge hand for suit-bidding depends upon two factors: first high cards (as in no-trump bidding); and second, distribution (the length of the suit you are naming as your trump suit, and the fact that you may or may not have more than one long suit). So we give the same 4-3-2-1 count to our face cards, and then add certain points to take care of distribution, as follows:

The Culbertson Rule of Four and Three

¹

It may seem strange that we give an extra one-point valuation to the fourth card of a side suit, but no extra valuation to the fourth card of a trump suit. However, until we hear from our partner and find out if he can support our trump suit, we have to be very conservative in our valuation of that suit; because in suit play, the strength and length of the trump suit is the most important factor. In fact, unless the trump suit is strong enough and long enough to draw out the opponents’ trumps, all the low cards of side suits will be worthless.

So, in valuing your hand for suit-bidding:

1. Count your face cards—4 points for each Ace, 3 points for each King, 2 points for each Queen and 1 point for each Jack (4-3-2-1).

2. If you have more than four cards in the suit you are bidding (your trump suit), add 1 point for each card over four.

3. If you have one or more side suits (suits you are not bidding) containing more than three cards, add 1 point for each card over three in each side suit.

The Other Side of the Penny

We might call the above Culbertson Rule of