Rubinsohl (also referred to as Rubensohl) is a bridge convention that can be used to counter an opponent's intervention over a 1NT opening bid. After opponent's two-level overcall, all bids starting from 2NT are transfer bids to the next strain.
The concept was introduced by Bruce Neill [1] of Australia in a Bridge World magazine article in May 1983. [2] Because he had based his concept on earlier work by Jeff Rubens on Rubens Advances [3] and on Lebensohl, [4] Neill named the treatment Rubensohl. However, from the fifth edition in 1994 onwards, The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge notes that Ira Rubin of the United States had devised similar methods earlier to replace Lebensohl and "...so Rubinsohl seems the appropriate name". [5]
When playing Rubinsohl, the following applies after an opposing 2♦ (natural) overcall over partner's 1NT opening:
1NT - (2♦) - ??
Similar schedules apply following a natural two-level overcall in any of the other suits.
Unlike Lebensohl, the partner of the 1NT opener can always indicate his long suit at the first bid; this can be advantageous in competitive auctions.
The same transfer schedule can also be used following a conventional overcall over 1NT as long as this overcall indicates an anchor suit. For instance: following an Asptro 2♣ overcall (showing ♥ and another suit) over partner's 1NT opening, the bids 2NT, 3♣ and 3♥ would be transfers to the next strain, whilst 3♦ would be an asking bid.
Partnerships that have agreed to use Rubinsohl often extend its use to include responses to partner's takeout double over an opposing weak two opening. For instance:
(2♥) - dbl - (pass) - ??
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 a natural system using four-card majors and, most commonly, a weak no trump.
Polish Club is a bridge bidding system which was developed in Poland, where it is the most popular bidding system, and which is also used by players of other countries. It is a type of small club system.
A game try in the card game of bridge is a bid that shows interest in bidding a game and asks partner to help in making the decision.
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.
Zar Points (ZP) is a statistically derived method for evaluating contract bridge hands developed by Zar Petkov. The statistical research Petkov conducted in the areas of hand evaluation and bidding is useful to bridge players, regardless of their bidding or hand evaluation system. The research showed that the Milton Work point count method, even when adjusted for distribution, is not sufficiently accurate in evaluating all hands. As a result, players often make incorrect or sub-optimal bids. Zar Points are designed to take many additional factors into consideration by assigning points to each factor based on statistical weight. While most of these factors are already implicitly taken into account by experienced players, Zar Points provides a quantitative method that allows them to be incorporated into bidding.
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.
Lebensohl is a contract bridge convention whose variants can be used in the following situations:
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.
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.
Lionel is a contract bridge bidding convention used in defense against an opposing 1NT openings. Using Lionel, over a 1NT opening of the opponents:
In the game of contract bridge, CRASH 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. Within the CRASH framework, intervening calls after the 1NT opening denote either (a) two-suited hands of the same color, the same rank, or the same shape or (b) a natural one-suited hand.
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.
The Kaplan–Sheinwold bidding system was developed and popularized by Edgar Kaplan and Alfred Sheinwold during their partnership, which flourished during the 1950s and 1960s. K-S is one of many natural systems. The system was definitively described in their 1958 book How to Play Winning Bridge and later revised and retitled to The Kaplan-Sheinwold System of Winning Bridge in 1963.
The Useful Space Principle, or USP, in the game of contract bridge was first articulated in a series of six articles in The Bridge World, published from November 1980 through April 1981. The USP is expressed succinctly in The Bridge World glossary as "a partnership's assigning meanings to actions so that the remaining bidding space matches the needs of the auction."
New Minor Forcing (NMF), is a contract bridge bidding convention used to find a 5-3 or 4-4 major suit fit after a specific sequence of bids in which opener has rebid one notrump. The convention is triggered by responder at his second turn by an artificial bid of two in an unbid minor; it requires that he hold five cards in the major he has previously bid and an unlimited hand ranging in value from at least game invitational strength to that sufficient to have interest in slam; he may also hold four cards in the other major. Accordingly, there are six bidding sequences in which the New Minor Forcing bid may be applied:
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.
Rubens advances constitute a bridge bidding method that can be used by a bridge partnership to respond to overcalls. The method was devised by Jeff Rubens and published in The Bridge World.
The Carrot 1NT is a contract bridge convention, in which a 1NT opening bid shows a balanced hand 13–17 HCP. With 13–14 HCP, the opener may not have a 4-card major. With 15–17 HCP, all balanced hands may be opened 1NT.
XYZ is a bidding convention in contract bridge.