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.

BUSINESS DOUBLES

12I

that you failed to contest. If your overbids to save
the first games of those other four rubbers did not
cost you i8oo points, your overbids saved points
for you, and in general you will find that any overbid costing you less than 500 points to save the first
game of a rubber will save you something. An
overbid of 3 tricks doubled will cost you 400 points,
which is a justifiable loss. An overbid of 4 tricks
doubled will cost you 600 points, which is not justified. On his side, the player able to win a certain
first game cannot afford to accept less than 600
points to let you play the hand.
Next, suppose that on four occasions when you
are a game behind you overbid to save a certain game that opponents can win. They are already I200 points ahead; you will win the second
game of two of those four cases, giving you a credit
of 600 points. You will lose the second game of
two of the four, costing you in each instance 600
points, or I200 points total. You will win the
third game of one of the two rubbers whereof you
won the second game, crediting you 600 points; you
will lose the third game of the other rubber, costing
you 600 points. The opponents make a net score
of 800o points. Had you not overbid your opponents would have won all four rubbers, winning
3600 points. Anything that your overbids cost you
less than I8oo points was a gain for you. As on
the first games, you could afford to overbid 3 tricks
doubled, costing you 400 points each time, but the
adversary with certain second games could not
afford to let you play the hand unless you overbid 4