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.

32 CORRECT CONTRACT BRIDGE

TWO-SUITERS
About I in 20 hands contains two suits having
five or more cards in each, called a "two-suiter."
Allowing partner a choice of two suits doubles his
chances to strongly support the one selected as
trumps.
The requirements for dealer or second hand to
open the bidding on a two-suiter are:
I. Two sure tricks held in the hand;
2. Each suit bid worth three probable tricks as
trumps.
The fact that you offer partner a choice of suits
justifies slightly shading the requirement of holding
three probable trump tricks, as illustrated in the
hands given below. The first hand justifies bidding both hearts and clubs. The second is a permissible i-Heart hand, rather than i-No Trump,
but the third hand calls for I-No Trump instead
of the secondary club declaration justified by the
two-suiter make-up of the first hand.
4 A8 v A i 84 3 4 K I 7 5 2 0 4
A A8 <P A 8 4 3 * K I 7 5 0 42
A8 A Io 8 4 * K Io 7 5 2 0 42
Only in case partner has opened the bidding with
no trump and has then bid 2-No Trumps over the
display of your best suit are you justified in even
considering showing an impotent second suit. It
is then a close question whether the hand shown
below should be bid 3-Hearts or 3-No Trumps,