Fantunes

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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 Fantunes is a natural bidding system that was invented and played by Fulvio Fantoni and Claudio Nunes, a rising pair of Italian superstars in international bridge.

The central feature of the Fantunes system is that a bid of one in a suit is natural but forcing. Such a one-level bid is typically made on hands containing at least 14 high-card points. An exception is made for an opening bid of 1♠ or 1♥ which can be opened with as little as 11 HCP when holding five cards in the bid suit, and four cards in the other major. The following hand is an example of just such a "light" opening bid they made in a major ♠AJ853 ♥JT852 ♦9 ♣KQ. On this hand, Claudio Nunes opened second seat at both vulnerable 1♠ and alerted it as 14+ HCP or 11+ with 4+♥ (he meant and 5+♠ as well). Of course, their 14+ HCP range for an opening one bid is just a guideline, a hand with a lot of "playing strength" can be opened one of suit with less HCP. Here are three example hands they opened one of suit without 14 hcp.

♠8 ♥AQJT82 ♦AJ72 ♣64 → Opened 1♥
♠QT982 ♥64 ♦AKQJT7 ♣– → Opened 1♦
♠AT76 ♥7 ♦AKQ532 ♣T3 → Opened 1♦

A 1NT opening bid signifies a (semi-)balanced hand and 12-14 HCPs. Key in the Fantunes system are the intermediate 2-level bids. In the first and second seat, two level opening bids denote 10 - 13 HCP and at least a 5-card suit. Such 2-bids occur with a high frequency, and put a lot of pressure on the opponents. In third seat the two level opening bids, particularly in the majors, have a much wider range, and can be as few as 6HCP. On the Bridge Base Online they are alerting such 3rd seat opening bids as 6-13 HCP.

The following is a link to the system card used by Fantoni and Nunes for the 2005 Bermuda Bowl http://bridgenz.co.nz/resources/files/fantoni-nunes.pdf?PHPSESSID=79f9a0f1b6c3884ece701c979da3cc5f