Back around 1900, a typical middle-class breakfast was a leaden meal that should have put people in a coma. Pig trotters in aspic, rice-and-meat croquettes, roast chicken in gelatin. Platters of seasonal veggies.
During WWI, under the guidance of Fannie Farmer (I still have my Fannie Farmer cookbook!) people ate fried hominy with maple syrup, often with fried vegetables and sliced peaches.
And how about this from 1922? Grapefruit, codfish cakes and bacon muffins. During the depression in the 30s, folks ate hot cereal and creamed codfish on toast.
It wasn't until the 50s that breakfast evolved into something we might actually eat today.
And interestingly, it was during the 50s that our game of bridge began to evolve into something we would recognize today, under the guidance of Charles Goren and others. Do you think our bids today would pass muster? Let's see if we can find the perfect contracts.
Friday we looked at how useful a cuebid can be when Pard overcalls. We saw that since Pard's overcall can be anywhere between 7 and 17 pts, we as Advancer need a tool to differentiate between our merely having a fit with a weak hand and our having a NICE hand with a fit with the overcaller.
We saw that a cuebid response to an overcall promises a fit and 10-plus pts. The cuebid requires that we bid again showing our point count.
Today we move to the other side of the table. We overcalled and Pard cuebid, demanding to know more about our hand. Here are the responses to a cuebid. So simple. If we overcalled with a less-than-opening hand (7 to a ratty 11-ish), we rebid "our" suit at the cheapest possible level.
With 12-14 pts (a minimum opening hand) we jump one level or show something else about our hand. This is invitational over what could be the cuebidder's just 10 pts.
With 15-17 pts, we go to game. Remember, Pard's cuebid promised 10-plus pts. We have game, so bid it. Here we go...
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