In the game of contract bridge, CRASH (an acronym for Color-RAnk-SHape) is a defense against a strong 1♣ or a 1NT opening that first appeared in 1976 in an article by Kit Woolsey in The Bridge World. [1] Within the CRASH framework, intervening calls after the 1NT opening denote either (a) two-suited hands of the same color (black or red), the same rank (major or minor), or the same shape (pointed or rounded) [2] or (b) a natural one-suited hand (hearts or spades).
Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions of people play bridge worldwide in clubs, tournaments, online and with friends at home, making it one of the world's most popular card games, particularly among seniors. The World Bridge Federation (WBF) is the governing body for international competitive bridge, with numerous other bodies governing bridge at the regional level.
Kit Woolsey is an American bridge and backgammon player.
The Bridge World (TBW), the oldest continuously published magazine about contract bridge, was founded in 1929 by Ely Culbertson. It has since been regarded as the game's principal journal, publicizing technical advances in bidding and the play of the cards, discussions of ethical issues, bridge politics and leading personalities, and reports of major tournaments.
Over a 1NT opening, the following CRASH overcall structure applies:
Opener | Intervenor [3] | |
Call | Meaning | |
1NT | Double | two suits of the same color, i.e. either the black suits (♠+♣) or the red suits (♥+♦) |
2♣ | two suits of the same rank, i.e. either the majors (♠+♥) or the minors (♣+♦) | |
2♦ | two suits of the same shape, i.e. either the rounded suits (♣+♥) or the pointed suits (♠+♦) | |
2♥ | a natural heart suit | |
2♠ | a natural spade suit |
Following the two-suited overcalls, advancer will bid taking into account that out of the two possible two-suited hands of intervenor, the likely holding is in advancer's shortest suits. The responses are therefore convertible. For instance, following a CRASH double, an advancer holding ♠ 1075 ♥ Q9842♦ KJ6 ♣ K3 will start from the assumption that intervenor holds length in the black suits in which advancer's maximum length is three cards, rather than in the red suits in which his maximum length is five cards. Advancer will therefore bid 2♠, his best black suit. Intervenor will pass holding the black suits, or bid 3♦ holding the red suits. In case of the latter, advancer will correct to 3♥ since that is his best red suit.
In the card game bridge a pass-or-correct bid, is a non-forcing bid that asks partner to pass or bid differently based on her/his holding. Pass-or-correct bids are generally used as responses to multiway bids.
Other defenses similar to CRASH, with the bids in a different order, include KOSHER and SHAKER.
In the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) General Convention Chart, [4] the double and the 2♣ overcall are allowed, but the 2♦ overcall must promise at least one known suit. In these events, pairs may use a CRASH variation with 2♦ showing the majors, such as either "CHASM" (color, shape, majors) or "SCUM" (shape, color, majors).
The American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) is the governing body for contract bridge in the United States, Mexico, Bermuda and Canada and is a member of the World Bridge Federation, the international bridge governing body. It is the largest such organization in North America having the stated mission "to promote, grow and sustain the game of bridge and serve the bridge-related interests of our Members." Its major activities are:
Stayman is a bidding convention in the card game contract bridge. It is used by a partnership to find a 4-4 or 5-3 trump fit in a major suit after making a one notrump (1NT) opening bid and it has been adapted for use after a 2NT opening, a 1NT overcall, and many other natural notrump bids.
Acol is the bridge bidding system that, according to The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge, is "standard in British tournament play and widely used in other parts of the world". It is basically a natural system using four-card majors and, most commonly, a weak no trump.
The forcing notrump is a bidding convention in the card game of bridge.
Calls made during the auction phase of a contract bridge game convey information about the player's card holdings. Calls may be "natural" or "artificial". A bridge convention is an agreement about an artificial call or a set of related artificial calls.
The Meyerson convention is a defensive bidding convention to an opponent opening bid of one notrump. Double shows at least four cards in a major and at least four cards in a minor, with both suit lengths totalling at least nine cards. A 2♣ bid shows at least four cards in each major. The other suited 2-level bids are natural; they simply show cards in the bid suit.
These terms are used in contract bridge, using duplicate or rubber scoring. Some of them are also used in whist, bid whist, the obsolete game auction bridge, and other trick-taking games. This glossary supplements the Glossary of card game terms.
The weak two bid is a common treatment used in the game of contract bridge, where an opening bid of two diamonds, hearts or spades signifies a weak hand with a long suit. It is used in combination with the strong two clubs bid and is a form of preemptive bid. The term refers to an opening bid, and is not to be confused with the "weak jump overcall", which denotes a similar type of hand, but is bid over an opponent's opening bid.
In the card game contract bridge, a takeout double is a low-level conventional call of "Double" over an opponent's bid as a request for partner to bid his best of the unbid suits. The most common takeout double is after an opponent's opening bid of one of a suit where the double shows a hand with opening values, support for all three unbid suits and shortness in the suit doubled. Normally, the partner of the doubler must bid his best suit but may pass if (a) his right hand opponent intervenes or (b) on the more rare occasions when his hand is such that he wishes to convert the takeout double to a penalty double.
In the card game contract bridge, DONT is a conventional overcall used to interfere with an opponent's one notrump (1NT) opening bid. DONT, an acronym for Disturb Opponents' Notrump, was designed by Marty Bergen, and is therefore also referred to as "Bergen over Notrump". Although the method is often criticized for being too nebulous, it remains fairly popular. The convention was first published in the September/October 1989 issue of Bridge Today.
Developed by Oswald Jacoby, Jacoby 2NT is a bridge convention in which a bid of two notrump (2NT) over partner's opening bid of one heart or one spade shows a hand with both
Cappelletti is a bridge bidding convention for the card game contract bridge, primarily used to interfere over opponent's one notrump (1NT) opening. Usually attributed to Michael Cappelletti and his longtime partner Edwin Lewis, origin of the concept is also claimed by Fred Hamilton, John Pottage and Gerald Helms.
Landy, named after its inventor Alvin Landy is the first of several conventional defenses created to compete against an opponent's one notrump (1NT) opening. Landy is a 2♣ overcall of the opponents' 1NT opening to show at least four cards in each of the major suits; all other bids are natural. Requirements for the overcall vary from partnership to partnership: some require 5-5, some 5-4, and yet others only 4-4. The partner can take a preference to either major or make a non-forcing bid of a suit; 2NT is used as a forcing query.
The Raptor 1NT overcall over an opposing 1-level suit opening is a contract bridge convention that indicates a two-suited hand with exactly four cards in the unbid major and a longer suit in an unbid minor.
In contract bridge, an overcall is a bid made after an opening bid has been made by an opponent; the term refers only to the first such bid. A direct overcall is such a bid made by the player seated immediately to the left of the opener, i.e. next in the bidding rotation; an overcall in the 'last seat', i.e. by the player to the right of opener, which is made after two intervening passes, is referred to as a balancing overcall.
Suction is a contract bridge bidding convention used to intervene over an opponent's 1NT opening. Using the suction convention, a suit overcall of a 1NT opening is conventional and denies the suit actually bid. It shows either:
Devised by Kit Woolsey, the convention is a defense against an opponent's one notrump opening; especially used at matchpoints. Initial bids are as follows:
The Rosenkranz double and Rosenkranz redouble are elements of a bridge bidding convention invented by Dr. George Rosenkranz, collectively known as the Rosenkranz double. It is a double made by the advancer in an auction where opener, overcaller and responder have all bid different suits. It is used to describe the advancer's top honor card holdings in the overcaller's suit.
In the card game bridge, CoCa or Comfy Canapé is a conventional defense against opposing 1NT openings. When playing CoCa, over a 1NT opening of the opponents, both a double as well as a 2♣ overcall are conventional and establish spades and hearts, respectively as anchor suits. Higher overcalls can be either natural, or conventional.
Astro is a contract bridge bidding convention used to intervene over an opponent's one notrump (1NT) opening bid. The name is derived from the initials of the surnames of its inventors - Paul Allinger, Roger Stern and Lawrence Rosler.
Aspro is a contract bridge bidding convention devised by Terence Reese as a British variant on the Astro convention to intervene over a 1NT opening bid.