Correct contract bridge / by E.V. Shepard ; including the official Laws of contract bridge adopted by the Whist Club, New York, and by all the leading clubs in America.

INFORMATORY DOUBLES

93

RESPONSES TO NO-TRUMP
DOUBLES
Responses to no-trump doubles average to be less
satisfactory than bids made in answer to an informatory double of a suit make; in the first instance it is unlikely that the doubler holds strength
in all four suits and it is not probable that his
lengths of suits are alike; an informatory double of
a suit ordinarily means that the doubler can soon
ruff leads of that suit and that the doubler holds
some strength in any suit in which his partner responds.
Unless your proper course is to defeat the
doubled no-trump, you must respond as if the
doubled declaration happened to be your weakest
suit. For example: your partner doubles i-No
Trump; you hold the following hand; reply with
2-Diamonds, just as if your partner had doubled
i-Spade.
4 32 V K85 4 1653 0 Q974
When your hand is worth practically the same
number of tricks at its best suit as at no-trump, an
informatory double of i-No Trump offers three alternatives:
I. At love score to let the double stand in case
you have about 3 defensive tricks total, rendering it
more probable that you will collect a penalty than
that you can go game in case you assume a higher
no-trump declaration;
2. In case 2-No Trumps will give you game
when your hand is worth three tricks total you may