Understanding bidding systems

WHENEVER someone new wants to learn to play Bridge, the most difficult part is understanding a bidding system.

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.

Each bidding system ascribes a meaning to every possible call by each member of a partnership and presents a codified language which allows the players to exchange information about their card holdings

Let’s look at two systems, Acol and standard American.

Acol is the bridge bidding system that is pretty much standard in British tournament play and widely used in other parts of the world. It is basically a natural system using four card majors and, most commonly, a weak no-trump. It is named after the Acol Bridge Club, previously located on Acol Road in London where the system started to evolve in the early 1930s. As a bidding system, Acol has the following characteristics:

It is a natural system: Most opening bids, responses and rebids are made with at least four cards in the suit bid, and most no trump bids are made with balanced hands.

It makes extensive use of limit bids: Limit bids describe the hand so closely, in terms of high card points (HCP) and shape, that the one who makes the limit bid is expected to pass on the next round, unless partner makes a forcing bid.

Standard American is a bidding system used in North America and now elsewhere. Owing to the popularisation of the game by Charles Goren in the 1950s and 1960s, its earliest 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 modern standard American. It is a natural bidding system based on five card majors and a strong no trump. Players may add conventions and refine the meanings of bids through partnership agreements summarised in their convention card. The essential common elements of modern standard American systems are:

• A hand-strength requirement of at least 12 to 13 points to open one-of-a-suit.
• Five card majors – opening a major suit promises at least a five-card holding in that suit.
• Weak two bids – two diamond, heart or spade openers are made with a sound six-card suit in a hand.
• Strong two clubs – all unbalanced hands too strong to open at the one-level are opened with an artificial 2? call.
• Pre-emptive opening bids: all suit openings above the two level are pre-emptive, promising a long and strong suit.

Results for this week:

Tuesday, 9 October:

• First Eric and Diane Smith 64.35%,
• second Mike and Elizabeth Caine 56.48%.

Wednesday, 10 October:

• First Betty Venter and Des Crawford 60.97%,
• second John Aldhouse and Mike Helfrich 59.95%.

Toti club welcomes visitors, call Diane or Eric on 031-903-2684, 072-035-3586, or 083-234-6877. Sessions commence on both Tuesday and Wednesday at 12.45pm.