Poor Hearts.  Mom always liked Spades best.

Yesterday, Rich and Marj Talbott rolled out a new wrinkle to even the playing field a little.  Playing 2/1, and holding 5 Hearts and a game forcing hand, Marj bid 2C over Rich's 1D opening, which Rich alerted.  Neither I nor Jim Somma had ever seen this bid, and were at a loss what to do.  I'd like Marj or Rich to comment on it.

But it got me to thinking.  Why do the bridge gods so favor Spades over Hearts, and to a lesser extent Diamonds over Clubs?  Is this "fair" to Hearts and Clubs?  They're just as good looking, and work just as hard, but no matter what they do, they're always second class to Spades and Diamonds.

NT gets an even better deal, but at least NT has to work harder.   And of course Diamonds and Clubs, being minors, don't score as well as the adults.

What can be done about this injustice?  I came up with a subtle little change in the scoring that would help.  In a fashion similar to NT getting 40 points for the first trick, the scoring could be changed to give Spades only 20 for the first trick, and give Clubs 30 for the first trick.

Thus 3NT would score 100, 4S 110, 4H 120, 5D 100, and 5C 110.

The change is small, but the effect would be large, changing the game in many subtle ways.  I like it, but of course it will never happen.

We'll need a campaign slogan.  Any ideas?