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The image. What image? It’s not an image. It’s a cold hard fact, a black fact, set in concrete.

Well, you need a spade or two to “set concrete”.

The image…the fact…is that if you hold more spades, you are going to play more contracts and be successful more of the time.

“So, why do we open the lower of two four card suits?” It’s a waste of time if your higher suit is spades! You have them. Bid them!

(I will only accept correspondence about this matter from advocates of 4 card major openings. Criticism is not sought!)

You want proof? Check round 6 from the recent Wellington Main Centre Teams.

10 board matches were in play and at one table, the trump suit was spades nine times, four times at the game level, once at the one level, and the other four times in between.

The side playing spades either picked up imps or lost no more than 2 imps in each of the deals. When North-South forgot themselves and played 3, they lost 8 imps, the biggest swing of the match!

You may well say that a sample of 10 boards may not be big enough and you may well be right. How many matches have you played in the last 10 years where the vast majority of boards were played in clubs? The case for spades rests.

Thanks, Rex Benson, for the information about the match.

And you thought that “The All Blacks” referred to a rugby team? No, a hand full of spades! (Shhh…clubs are black too. I know!)

 Richard Solomon

 

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