Who was Ely Culbertson? To the younger generation his name may only be familiar as an indication on the convention card of some elderly couple. They may not be aware of the fact that he was an iron dictator who, from his U.S. headquarters, in the thirties and forties, promulgated his laws which prescribed how one ought to play, and especially, how to bid.  Did he deserve the enormous awe in which he was held by our parents and grandparents? That's what we will try to determine in this four-part series on the basis of a record of the 300-board match played in 1933 by him and his wife, Josephine, with their respective partners Theodore Lightner and Michael Gottlieb. They faced a representative English squad, selected by a committee of bridge writers. The names of the selected players, Lt. Col. Henry Beasley, Lady Doris Rhodes, Sir Guy Domville, Graham F. Mathieson, G. Morris, and P.V. Tabbush, don't mean anything to us today, but at the time they were regarded as the cream of the English bridge crop. Consequently, the match virtually assumed the status of a world championship.

What was the level of the top players in those days? The play and defense were of reasonable calibre. Bidding, on the other hand, was primitive and hit-and-miss in nature, even though already then Culbertson proclaimed his system to be the gospel.
So as not to devalue the result of the match, he described all his opponents as 'fine players' (despite the occasional jibe), but, as he pronounced with great pride, the match was won owing to his superior bidding system. As we shall see, that was far from true. Too often, poor results were obtained - curiously, not through lack of bidding discipline, but rather, through too tight a straightjacket in which one could hardly move.

The value of a hand was expressed in terms of 'honor tricks':
 

1. Open and respond only with a biddable suit - at least KQ10x, Kxxxx or QJxxx, any six-card suit;
2. Don't bid notrumps if you have a biddable suit;
3. Partner's response in a new suit is not forcing; opener requires extra values to rebid;
4. All two-level openings are gameforcing;
5. 4NT is a slam invitation and promises three aces, or two aces plus the king in a bid suit.

With some regularity, a suit with some picture cards was bid while a longer suit lacking the required honors remained unbid. As a consequence, one did learn something about the highcard strength of partner's hand,  but his distribution was shrouded in mystery. This series of articles presents a rather haphazard selection of deals from the famous match in which the bidding system was responsible for the ensuing disasters. In some cases, although teetering on the brink, total disaster was narrowly avoided.

On the deal below, Morris (West) opened with 1NT, after which his partner, Tabbush, showing little enterprise, couldn't think of anything better than 2. And that was that: making four and missing a game. Behold the auction by Culbertson and Lightner at the other table:
 

West/both	7 4 2  9 4  K 9 5  J 9 5 4 2			WEST    Culbertson    Pass(!)    2(!)    3NT    Pass	NORTH  Beasley  Pass  Pass  Pass  Pass	EAST  Lightner  1  3(!)  4	SOUTH  Domville  Pass  Pass  Pass
Q 9 6 3  A J 3  A J 2  A 7 3		K J  Q 10 7 6 5 2  Q 7  Q 10 6
-	A 10 8 5  K 8  10 8 6 4 3  K 8

The unbiddable major suits were often the poor cousins of the bidding system, as these two examples show.
 

S/EW	A J 7 4  A  K J 9 4 3 2  10 7			WEST    Morris    Pass    Pass    Pass	NORTH  Josephine  1  3NT	EAST  Domville  Pass  Pass	SOUTH  Gottlieb  Pass  2NT  Pass
Q 9  Q 7 5  10 7 5  A J 8 6 4		K 3 2  K 10 9 4 3 2  Q 8  9 2
-	10 8 6 5  J 8 6  A 6  K Q 3 2

E/EW	K 10 7  K 9 8 7 4  4  6 5 4 3			WEST    Culbertson    -    2    3    4	NORTH  Beasley  -  2  3  Pass	EAST  Lightner  1  Pass  3NT  Pass	SOUTH  Domville  1  Pass  Double  Pass
J 5 4 2  6  Q 7 6 3  A Q 9 7		Q 8 6 3  A 3  A K J 9 5  J 10
-	A 9  Q J 10 5 2  10 9 2  K 8 2

 Often, one didn't have the foggiest idea of the strength of a bid.
 

E/NS	10 8 7 4  A 9  K Q 6 5 2  9 8			WEST    Morris      Pass    Pass    Pass	NORTH  Josephine  -  1  2NT  Pass	EAST  Tabbush  Pass  Pass  Pass  Pass	SOUTH  Gottlieb  1  1NT  3NT
J 9 3  Q 8 7 4 3  A  10 6 3		A Q 2  J 6  J 9 7 4 3  J 7 2
-	K 6 5  K 10 5 2  10 8  A K 5 4

* The Americans won by 11,110 points, and at stake was the Schwab Cup, which, from 1962 on, is the prize of the World Pair Olympiad.  This cup, originally presented to the winner of this match by Charles M. Schwab, was later donated to the World Bridge Federation by the Culbertson heirs.  return to text
** The requirements for opening 1 NT were 3 H.T., spread over at least three suits, and a 4-3-3-3-distribution. To open 2 NT, one had to hold 51/2 - 61/2 H.T., distributed over all four suits, with a stopper in each suit.  return to text

 To Part 2