Rex Bridge

Last updated

Rex Bridge (Swedish : Rexbridge) is a version of contract bridge developed in Sweden in 1959 by Sten Lundberg. [1] [2] It gained some followers in Scandinavia but few elsewhere.

Features

Apart from its scoring system (which is slightly different on penalties but otherwise very similar), it introduced a sixth kind of bid, known as Rex (Latin for "king"). Bids in Rex come between Spades and No Trumps, and the play is equal to ordinary No Trump with the difference that Aces become the lowest cards in all suits. All other cards move one step up, and the King becomes the strongest card in each suit. (Provided the contract remains in Rex).

Example of a hand, normally suitable for a 1 notrump (1 NT) opening bid:

K Q 7
K J
K J 10 2
A 10 9 5
Counting 17 HCP

In Rex, the same hand is equivalent to a notrump holding of:

A K 8
A Q
A Q J 3
J 10 6 2 (the Ace above is now a two, all other cards has increased one step each)

The hand now counts 21 HCP (the degradation of A is offset by the "promotion" of three Kings to Ace-strength) and might be worth an opening bid of 2 Rex. Naturally depending on the bidding system. And as soon as any other suit (or notrump) is likely to become the contract, the valuation of the hand is again counted according to the Contract Bridge practice.

A second major difference is the possibility to bid a level 8 and 9. This may seem awkward, as it would take 14 or more tricks to make a contract at level 8 or higher. Even if the declarer takes all 13 tricks, he will still incur a one trick penalty. However, the payment for a made grand slam can still outweigh several doubled penalties. How many depends on vulnerable or not.

Consciously bidding higher than what the cards says sometimes also occurs in normal bridge, and can at occasions stand to reason. A somewhat "classic" such situation is when a 4 game contract, becomes overcalled by a 4 contract by the opponents. If both bids are reasonable, due to wrench distribution, doubling will not be profitable. However a 5 bid and contract with a single (doubled or not) penalty pays the opponents a smaller score compared to letting them make a game. In Contract Bridge, 7 cannot be overcalled in this manner, but Rex Bridge allows impossible contracts like 8.

There is no clear practice in using bids in Rex in connection with conventions. For instance the Stayman convention, or the partner after an opening bid 1 NT, asks for 4 cards in the majors (/) by the 2 ? bid, can naturally be used also after a 1 Rex opening. Equally can Charles Gorens 4? question for number of Aces after a 1 NT opening be used after a 1 Rex opening, but the reply must then be telling the number of Kings instead. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Contract bridge</span> Card game

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 it at the regional level.

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.

Standard American is a bidding system for the game of bridge widely used in North America and elsewhere. Owing to the popularization of the game by Charles Goren in the 1940s and 1950s, its early versions were sometimes referred to simply as 'Goren'. With the addition and evolution of various treatments and conventions, it is now more generally referred to as Standard American. It is a bidding system based on five-card majors and a strong notrump; players may add conventions and refine the meanings of bids through partnership agreements summarized in their convention card. One standardised version, SAYC, is widely used by casual partnerships and in online bridge.

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 a natural system using four-card majors and, most commonly, a weak no trump.

In the card game of bridge, the unusual notrump is a conventional overcall showing a two-suited hand. It was originally devised by Al Roth in 1948 with Tobias Stone, to show the minor suits after the opponents opened in a major.

A bridge convention is an agreement about an artificial call or a set of related artificial calls. 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".

The Jacoby transfer, or simply transfers, in the card game contract bridge, is a convention in most bridge bidding systems initiated by responder following partner's notrump opening bid that forces opener to rebid in the suit ranked just above that bid by responder. For example, a response in diamonds forces a rebid in hearts and a response in hearts forces a rebid in spades. Transfers are used to show a long suit, usually a major, and to ensure that opener declare the hand if the final contract is in the suit transferred to, preventing the opponents from seeing the cards of the stronger hand.

Preempt is a bid in contract bridge whose primary objectives are (1) to thwart opponents' ability to bid to their best contract, with some safety, and (2) to fully describe one's hand to one's partner in a single bid. A preemptive bid is usually made by jumping, i.e. skipping one or more bidding levels. Since it deprives the opponents of the bidding space, it is expected that they will either find a wrong contract of their own, or fail to find any. A preemptive bid often has the aim of a save, where a partnership bids a contract knowing it cannot be made, but assumes that, the penalty will still be smaller than the value of opponents' bid and made contract.

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, typically containing a long suit. It may be deployed within any system structure that offers a forcing artificial opening to handle hands of (eg) 20+ points, or an expectation of 8 or more tricks. It is form of preemptive 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.

Cappelletti is one of many defensive bridge bidding conventions used in the card game contract bridge to compete or interfere in the auction when an opponent has opened one notrump (1NT). 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. Cappelletti can show a variety of one- and two-suited hands while retaining the penalty double for stronger hands.

In contract bridge, various bidding systems have been devised to enable partners to describe their hands to each other so that they may reach the optimum contract. Key to this process is that players evaluate and re-evaluate the trick-taking potential of their hands as the auction proceeds and additional information about partner's hand and the opponent's hands becomes available.

Bridge bidding systems that incorporate a strong 2 clubs opening bid include modern Standard American, standard Acol, 2/1 game forcing and many others.

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 or protective overcall.

In the game of contract bridge Fantunes is a natural bidding system initially developed Carlos Mosca and popularized by Fulvio Fantoni and Claudio Nunes - two players that were later found to be cheating and were banned from play by many bridge federations

EHAA is a highly natural bidding system in contract bridge characterized by four-card majors, sound opening bids, undisciplined weak two-bids in all four suits and a mini notrump, usually of 10–12 high card points.

Inverted minors refers to a treatment introduced by the Kaplan–Sheinwold (K–S) bidding system for the popular card game bridge. The original structure of Precision, another bidding system, also employed inverted minors over a 1 opening. However, the treatment is no longer restricted to users of these bidding systems. although partnerships that use a Short club system tend also to use the convention only after a 1 opener.

In contract bridge, an asking bid is a convention used to seek a slam accurately. There are two types - suit asking bids and notrump asking bids. Constructed by bridge pioneer Ely Culbertson in the 1940s, they have been superseded by other methods; however, one remaining commonly used asking bid is the 5NT Grand slam force.

References

  1. Swedish encyclopedia "Nationalencyklopedin" also known as NE2000 on DVD, article "Rexbridge", also available at
  2. "Bridge", Edited by Alvar Stenberg, Hans-Olof Halldén and Einar Werner, p895-896, Published by Svensk Bridgelitteratur, Malmö, Sweden, 1960 (no ISBN)
  3. "Bridge", same pages