Should the opponents redouble the contract, conventional wisdom recommends running like a "stripe-tailed ape" to a sacrificial contract.
Examples of the scoring difference between a doubled game contract (making an overtrick) versus a small slam:
Contract | Vulnerable | Result | Score |
---|---|---|---|
5![]() ![]() |
Not vul. | Made 6 | 650 |
6![]() ![]() |
Not vul. | Made 6 | 920 |
5![]() ![]() |
Vul. | Made 6 | 950 |
6![]() ![]() |
Vul. | Made 6 | 1370 |
4![]() ![]() |
Not vul. | Made 6 | 790 |
5![]() ![]() |
Not vul. | Made 6 | 750 |
6![]() ![]() |
Not vul. | Made 6 | 980 |
4![]() ![]() |
Vul. | Made 6 | 1190 |
5![]() ![]() |
Vul. | Made 6 | 1050 |
6![]() ![]() |
Vul. | Made 6 | 1430 |
The following deal comes from a team game during the 1997 ACBL Fall Nationals. It was originally reported by Phillip Alder, 1 now the New York Times bridge columnist.
Vul: None | Dummy | |||
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West | ![]() | East | ||
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ||
![]() | ![]() | |||
![]() | South | ![]() | ||
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ||
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At one table, the bidding proceeded as follows:
West Dbl 5 ![]() |
North 4 ![]() 6 ![]() |
East 4 ![]() Dbl |
South 1 ![]() 5 ![]() All Pass |
6 made for +1210 for North-South. At the other table, East-West did not compete over
,
-X
The late American expert and bidding theorist John Lowenthal is credited with devising the stripe-tailed ape double.
1 Alder, Phillip (1997, November 05). Amherst Firecracker. Gadsden Times, p. B5.
Takeout Double
A conventional double that asks partner to bid one of the unbid suits.
2023 © Jeff Tang. All Rights Reserved.