It will be noticed that, if the player of Dummy fulfils his contract, his
reward increases as in ordinary Bridge with the value of the declaration.
If he fails, however, by the same number of tricks, he loses no more on a
declaration of No-trumps than on a declaration of Spades, the penalty for
failure being always 100 or 50 per trick, according as the opponents have,
or have not, doubled. Assuming that your chance of winning tricks is the
same, it is always better to play a high call than a low one. Conversely,
it is very frequently wiser to leave the opponents to play out a black
call, which you think you can defeat, than to incur risk of failure
yourself by overbidding.
Do not forget that to double a call is to warn the opponents of their
danger and to drive them to make another call which may not suit you so
well. If dealer declares One No-trumps, and you, being second player, have
eight clubs to tierce major, and you keep your mouth shut, and let
No-trumps be played, you may be pretty sure of 100 above for two tricks
"under." If you double, and they make it Two Hearts and win the odd trick,
you are 50 points to the bad. A high declaration (Four, or even Three, in a
red suit), which the opponents cannot get out of, may be doubled more
freely, though the penalty under Law 58 must be borne in mind. Such doubles
are often advisable on {255} high-card strength in the plain suits, even
when weak in trumps. Still more politic is what is known as a "free"
double, that is, the double of a call which in any case will give the
opponents game if they fulfil their contract. Conversely, a double which
gives the opponents a game that they would not otherwise have secured is
the worst double of all.
The most important point of all in the game is to remember that, in the
majority of cases, it is more profitable to let your opponents fail than to
score below the line yourself. The efforts of the skilled player are being
always directed to driving the other side into a contract which they cannot
bring off, and then _leaving them to play it_. It is in this kind of
strategy that the Poker-player is pre-eminent: to know when to "bluff" the
enemy into an indiscretion, and when to avoid a similar snare set for
oneself, are gifts of nature not to be acquired from a book.
Suppose you have a strong hand, and call Two No-trumps, and win the first
game from love with four by cards, and score 30 Aces, you have won 66
points, and have improved your chance of winning the 250 points for the
rubber. If we reckon your chance of the rubber as 5 to 3 on (it certainly
is not more), it is worth about 63 points more--say 130 in all.
This you may think a great success. But if you can get the opponents to
overbid your Two No-trumps with Three Hearts, and you see that they can
only get the odd trick, you will be better off if you double and let them
play, even if they score 16 for honours. For 200 less 16 leaves you 184
points--and you are still 54 to the good.
As player of Dummy, aim first at fulfilling your {256} contract. When this
is accomplished, you may try for game.
As player against Dummy, aim first at saving the game. When there is no
risk of that being lost, devote yourself to defeating the dealer's
contract.
* * * * *
{257}