List of bidding systems

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This is a list of bidding systems used in contract bridge. [1] [2] Systems listed have either had an historical impact on the development of bidding in the game or have been or are currently being used at the national or international levels of competition.

Contents

Bidding systems are characterized as belonging to one of two broadly defined categories:

Nevertheless, each contains elements of the other given the number and variety of treatments and conventions that have been developed by bridge bidding theorists.

Natural four card majors systems

Natural five card majors systems

Strong club systems

Artificial one club systems

Strong diamond systems

Weak opening systems

Artificial systems

Losing trick count systems

Other systems

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.

Precision Club is a bidding system in the game of contract bridge. It is a strong club system developed in 1969 for C. C. Wei by Alan Truscott, and used by Taiwan teams in 1969. Their success in placing second at the 1969 Bermuda Bowl launched the system's popularity.

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.

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.

Canapé is a bridge bidding method in which the second suit bid may be longer than or at least as long as the first. The name Canapé is the french word for "an appetizer".

A bidding system in contract bridge is the set of agreements and understandings assigned to calls and sequences of calls used by a partnership, and includes a full description of the meaning of each treatment and convention. The purpose of bidding is for each partnership to ascertain which contract, whether made or defeated and whether bid by them or by their opponents, would give the partnership their best scoring result.

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.

Jacoby 2NT is a bridge convention in which a bid of 2NT over partner's opening bid of one heart or one spade shows a hand with both

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

Ben Cohen (1907–1971) was an author, publisher, and distributor of contract bridge books and stationery supplies. He pioneered duplicate bridge in the UK in the early 1930s and helped develop the Acol bidding system in the mid-1930s. He and the young Terence Reese wrote the first, and for a long time the only, textbook of the Acol system, The Acol Two Club (1938). He also contributed to newspapers and journals in South Africa, India, and Japan as well as the UK. Cohen was from Hove.

Slam-seeking conventions are codified artificial bids used in the card game contract bridge. Bidding and making a small slam or grand slam yields high bonuses ranging from 500 to 1500 points. However, the risk is also high as failure to fulfill the slam contract also means failure to score the bonus points for a game (300-500). Conventions have been devised to maximise the opportunity for success whilst minimising the risk of failure.

A reverse, in the card game contract bridge, is a bidding sequence designed to show additional strength without the need to make a jump bid; specifically two suits are bid in the reverse order to that expected by the basic bidding system. Precise methods and definitions vary with country, bidding system and partnership agreements.

Roman Club is an artificial bridge bidding system devised in the 1950s by Giorgio Belladonna and Walter Avarelli of Italy's Blue Team. They used it to win twelve WBF World Teams Championships, three Olympiads and numerous European and National titles. A variant, Little Roman or Arno, was played by their Blue Team-mates Massimo D'Alelio and Camillo Pabis Ticci.

Walsh is a convention used in the card game of bridge in response to an opening bid of 1. The convention has its origins in the Walsh System developed by Richard Walsh.

John Charles Hubert Marx, known as Jack Marx, was a British international bridge player who was instrumental in developing the Acol bidding system.

In contract bridge, a strong two-bid is an opening bid of two in a suit, i.e. 2, 2, 2 or 2 . It is a natural bid, used to show a hand that is too strong to open at the one level. Commonly used in the early days of bridge, most expert players converted after World War II to the now more common weak two bid retaining only 2 as a strong opening suit-bid and changing its meaning to artificial and forcing holding any suit. This was done on the basis that the weak two-bid would occur much more frequently.

References

  1. Francis, Henry G.; Truscott, Alan F.; Francis, Dorthy A., eds. (2001). The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge (6th ed.). Memphis, TN: American Contract Bridge League. p. 44. ISBN   0-943855-44-6. OCLC   49606900.
  2. Lindkvist, Magnus (2002). Bridge, Classic and Modern Conventions. Bucharest, Romania: Arta Grafica. ISBN   978-91-631-1099-3. OCLC   82178176.
  3. "Mirror Diamond". Archived from the original on 2018-08-15. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  4. Lynch, Sean (2017). IMPERSPICUITY A Losing Trick Count Bridge Bidding System. Kindle Book: Amazon.
  5. MMMMajor Bridge Bidding System