The second player (by which is meant the player on the dealer's left) is quite certain that the bidding will come round to him again; therefore he never opens his mouth unless he is sure that it is to his advantage to do so. All that the dealer has done, therefore, is to shift on to his partner's shoulders the onus of opening, which is disadvantageous for the double reason that the new opener is debarred from One Spade, and that the second player has been given an unnecessary option.
The exceptional cases in which, under the convention, it is agreed that the dealer shall make a genuine call are (1) when he has a moderate or "guarded" No-trumper, when he is to declare One No-trumps; (2) when he has a strong suit to the ace, king, of Spades or Clubs, when he is to declare two in the strong suit as an invitation to partner to make a No-trumper.
Now, as it is conceded that to call first under such
circumstances is an advantage, why give second player the option of enjoying the same advantage, which he might not otherwise have had?
By this convention, if it be adopted, the limitation of loss, under Law 51, is voluntarily annulled.
General Remarks.
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
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.