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 overcaller has one or more of the following objectives:
In most bidding systems, an overcall in an unbid suit is natural, denoting length and strength in the suit bid. The common requirements include:
The rule of thumb is that the weaker a hand is in high card points, the better the bid suit should be (i.e., longer or with stronger honors).
According to modern bridge theory, the following hands warrant a 1♥ overcall over an opposing 1♣ or 1♦ opening:
♠ 632 ♥ AKJ96♦ 8752 ♣ 4
♠ A32 ♥ AKJ96♦ 752 ♣ 104
♠ A3 ♥ AK986♦ KQ5 ♣ 742
Stronger hands such as ♠ A3 ♥ AK986♦ KQ5 ♣ Q42 are considered too strong for an overcall, and should be bid via a takeout double followed by the most economical rebid in hearts.
Notrump overcalls at the one-level normally indicate 15-18 HCP in a balanced hand, with at least one stopper in opponent's suit. [1] Usually, Stayman is on but transfers are off.
The hand ♠ KJ63 ♥ AQ2♦ A84 ♣ Q93 is suitable for a 1NT overcall over any opening bid, as well as a 2NT overcall over an opponent's weak two bid.
Jump overcalls are made by skipping one level of bidding, e.g. 1♦ – (2♠).
Jump overcalls are classified according to strength of hand as weak, intermediate, and strong. In the United States weak jump overcalls are currently considered normal, while intermediate and strong overcalls are not expected by the opponents and those treatments of the bid by partnership agreement require that the opponents be alerted to the meaning of the bid.
The Four Aces team (David Burnstine and others) introduced the weak, "preemptive jump overcall" in the U.S. late in 1933, but the strong treatment was standard for decades, following the popular authorities Ely Culbertson and Charles Goren whose bidding systems incorporated the strong. Goren adopted the weak treatment in May 1955, two months before the ACBL introduced its first convention card, with "Pre-emptive single jump overcalls and responses" one of ten pre-printed items to be marked if applicable. [2]
According to The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge , published by ACBL, the definitions of the three bids are as follows:
Thus, a weak jump overcall of 2♠ would be made with ♠ KQJ653 ♥ J53♦ 432 ♣ 3, while an intermediate jump overcall of 2♠ would be closer to or including opening bid values, like ♠ QJT532 ♥ AK3♦ J43 ♣ 3 or ♠ AKJ432 ♥ 3♦ 43 ♣ K432.
Strong jump overcalls are not commonly used in today's game except over a weak preemptive bid by an opponent. After 2♦(weak), a jump overcall of 3♠ would reflect a hand such as ♠ AKQ543 ♥ AQ3♦ K94 ♣ 5.
Some partnerships utilise more exotic overcalls. An example are the canapé overcalls used by the Italian top pair Norberto Bocchi and Giorgio Duboin. In canapé overcalls the suit bid typically contains a three card, whilst the hand contains a five card in another suit.
Conventional overcalls, such as Michaels cuebid, Unusual notrump and Raptor, denote specific hand types.
The partner of the overcaller is called the Advancer. In response to partner's overcall, Advancer typically bids as follows: (Players may agree to slightly different methods)
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.
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 forcing notrump is a bidding convention in the card game of bridge.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Lionel is a contract bridge bidding convention used in defense against an opposing 1NT openings. Using Lionel, over a 1NT opening of the opponents:
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.
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.
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.
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:
Bridge base basic, also known as BBO basic, is a bidding system for the game of bridge based on the Standard American Yellow Card (SAYC). It is simplified, suitable for beginners, and widely used in internet bridge, particularly on Bridge Base Online. It is taught in Fred Gitelman's educational software called Learn to Play Bridge that is available as a free download from the American Contract Bridge League's website.