Bridge convention
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- This article concerns Contract Bridge and uses terminology associated with the game. See Contract bridge glossary for an explanation of unfamiliar words or phrases.
In the game of contract bridge, a convention is an agreed-upon meaning for a call (a bid, double or redouble, or a pass) during the auction phase of the hand. Often, the inventor of the convention gives it a name; some widespread conventions got a name after their (perceived) authors.
Conventional opening leads and discards may also be used. The term, however, usually denotes just a bidding convention.
Partnerships must agree on conventions beforehand, and must disclose all conventions to their opponents. If they fail to do so, this can be considered an illegal transfer of information.
Conventions may make use of natural or artificial bids. A natural convention, for example, is the one notrump opening (showing a balanced hand and 10-13, 11-14, 12-14, 15-17, 15-18 or 16-18 high card points, depending on the partnership and perhaps other factors). An example of an artificial convention is the Stayman convention, in which the responder's 2♣ response to a 1 NT opening says nothing about the clubs in responder's hand. (In this case, the convention asks opener for further information on his major suit holdings.) The term "treatment" is often used for a "natural convention" and reserve the term "convention" strictly for an artificial bid or response.
The most widely-known and used conventions are Blackwood and Stayman. Other popular conventions are Drury, Jacoby transfers and the strong 2♣ opening. In the strict sense, takeout double is also a convention, but its use is so old and widespread that it's considered an integral part of the game.
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[edit] Classification
Bridge conventions can be classified according to their purpose into:
- Opening bid conventions
- Strong opening bids are used for hands stronger than the "normal" opening bid range (12-20 points in natural systems, 12-15/17 points in artificial systems)
- Strong two clubs in natural systems denote hands of 23+ points
- Strong one club in strong club systems systems denotes hands of 16-17+ points
- Weak opening bids are used for hands weaker than the normal opening bid range, but with preemptive value:
- Other opening bid conventions:
- Strong opening bids are used for hands stronger than the "normal" opening bid range (12-20 points in natural systems, 12-15/17 points in artificial systems)
- Fit-seeking conventions are used in constructive bidding, in order to find a fit—a suit suitable for trumps
- Slam-seeking conventions are used in constructive bidding so that a partnership can investigate possibility of making a slam
- Defensive conventions or interventions are used to show a specific type of hand after opponents have opened a bidding
- Takeout double
- Various defenses over 1 NT
- Two-suited overcalls, like
- Michaels cuebid
- Unusual notrump
- Ghestem
- Raptor convention
- Roman two-suiters
- Leaping Michaels
- Counter-interventions present a countermeasure after opponents' conventional and natural interventions:
- Negative double
- Negative free bid
- Lebensohl
- Rubensohl
- Unusual vs. unusual
- Other:
Note: The above list presents an overview and is necessarily incomplete; see the category for a more comprehensive list.
[edit] Regulations
Under the rules of the sponsoring organization (national federations such as ACBL, zonal organizations, or World Bridge Federation for international events), certain conventions are alertable, meaning that the partner of the player making a conventional call or play must say "alert" before the right-hand opponent calls or plays. The right-hand opponent may ask the alerter about the meaning of the convention, or can simply proceed as usual. If the right-hand opponent does not ask about the convention, her partner may do so when it is her turn. In ACBL, a few conventions are also announced, such as Jacoby transfers and 1NT openings. When a player uses a Jacoby transfer, his partner simply says, "transfer". When a player opens 1NT, the partner announces the high card point range.
Sponsoring organizations can require players at all or some levels of competition to have a convention card. The convention card is a form which must be properly filled in by the partnership, and contains general notes of the system, and bidding, leading and discarding conventions. In ACBL-sanctioned games, all pairs are obliged to have it, and both members of a partnership must have identical ones. On the ACBL convention card, alertable conventions are shown in red and announced conventions are shown in blue.
Sponsoring organizations may also ban usage of certain conventions or restrict them only to certain levels of competition. The rationale is that, although rules of the game do enforce full disclosure of partnership's agreements, it is difficult or impossible for opponents to effectively bid over conventions which they're not familiar with (especially if their purpose is primarily obstructive, e.g. if they're bid with weak shapely hands with ambiguous suits, in order to disrupt opponent's bidding). WBF classifies most "strong pass" and "either-or" methods into so-called HUM (Highly Unusual Methods) and brown sticker conventions, and restricts their usage on WBF-sponsored events.[1] Other zonal and national organizations often do the same. In general, ACBL tends to be more restrictive in allowed usage of conventions than European organizations.
