rse immediately ceases to exist, and
the entire structure of informative bidding thereby drops to pieces.

The system of suit declarations above outlined, and upon which all that
is hereinafter suggested in relation to bidding is based, must be
followed by players who wish to give their partners accurate data, and
while it may be tempting at times to depart from the conventional, the
more frequently such exception is made by the Dealer in his bid, the
more often does misunderstanding between the partners ensue.

VARIOUS IDEAS OF THE TWO SPADE BID

Every game of the Whist family has some point upon which experts
disagree, and which, consequently, produces apparently interminable
discussion.

In Auction, it is the two Spade bid, and no less than four recognized
factions have widely divergent views concerning it. These views may be
briefly stated as follows:--

(_a_) With the border-line No-trumpers now in vogue, a hand not
strong enough to bid No-trump is too weak to warrant any call but
one Spade. The two Spade bid is, therefore, useless and should
never be made.

(_b_) The two Spade bid should be used as a No-trump invitation
with any hand not quite strong enough to justify a No-trump call.
Having this meaning it does not matter whether the hand contain any
Spade strength.

(_c_) The two Spade bid should be used as a No-trump invitation,
but must also give the additional information that the hand
contains at least one trick in Spades.

(_d_) The two Spade bid should be used to tell the partner that
the hand has the high-card strength to bid one Royal, but not
sufficient length. It thus becomes either a No-trump or Royal
invitation.

All these systems have their advocates, most of whom refuse to see
merit in any plan but their own. It is only fair, however, before
reaching a definite conclusion to accord to all a fair and
dispassionate consideration.

(_a_)

The argument that, as long as light No-trumpers are conventional, any
hand not sufficiently strong to call No-trump is too weak to justify
declaring more than one Spade, has considerable force. Beyond question,
many followers of plans "_b_" and "_c_" call two Spades when their
holdings do not warrant such action, but the fact that a declaration is
at times abused is far from being a sufficient reason for wiping it off
the Auction map, and saying to those who