BriJ Conventions
Your Convention Card:
Acol (Standard English Level 2, e.g. for EBU students) style
Opening bids
Balanced
Unbalanced (or balanced with too many hcp for 1NT)
- 1 of a suit: 12–19 high card points and
losing trick count (ltc) of at most
7.
- BriJ may open with 2 fewer high card points depending on vulnerability,
playing position and the aggression level you have specified (currently Medium)
Opening suit bids at the 2 level
Benji not chosen - 2♣ is strong (the strongest bid, not necessarily specifying a good club suit) (23-40 high card points )
- 2♦ is strong (20-23 high card points )
- 2♥ is weak (high card points 5-10)
- 2♠ is weak (high card points 5-10)
Opening suit bids at the 3 and 4 level
- A 3-level opening
bid in any suit is weak (5–10 high card points ) with a 7 card suit
- A 4-level opening
bid in any suit is weak (5–10 high card points ) with an 8 card suit
5-Card Majors not chosen
Response Bids
Stayman
After 1NT with potential high card points for game and a 4-card major, bid 2♣
asking for majors
- With a major, the opener then bids 2♥ or 2♠ to show their lowest-ranked
major or
- 2♦ to deny a major
Puppet Stayman after 2NT not chosen
'Normal' Stayman after 2NT is a selected option
3♣ asks for 4 card majors with partnership strength for
game.
Responses:
- 3♦ shows no 4
card major
- 3♥
or 3♠ shows a specific 4 card major
- 3NT also denies
a 4 card major
Baron after 2NT opener asking for 4-card suit not chosen
Transfers
After 1NT, transfer to a major is a selected option:
With 5 cards in a major,
- 2♦ asks opener to transfer to 2♥
- 2♥ asks opener to bid 2♠
- After 1NT doubled, transfer to any suit, including: redouble→
2♣ and 2♣→ 2♦
'Transfer to a minor' is not chosen
After 2NT, direct opening or strong Benji rebid is a selected option
- 3♦ requests a transfer to 3♥
- 3♥requests a transfer to 3♠. 3♠ signifies a holding of 4 hearts and 5 spades
Truscott 2NT major suit support is a selected option
- 2NT after partner's 1-suit opener is doubled, signifies good suit support to the 3 level
'Jacoby 2NT' support for partner's 1-suit opener is not selected
'Ogust' to partner's weak 2 opener is not selected
Splinter with a double jump showing singleton or void and suit support is a selected option
- A double jump bid after partner's 1-suit opener (not overcalled or doubled) signifies game-going suit support with a singleton or void in the suit bid
'Inverted Minors' is not selected
Roman Key-card Blackwood (RKCB) is not chosen
Blackwood is selected (alternative to RKCB)
- 4NT asks for aces count:
- respond 5♣ = 0, 5♦ = 1, 5♥
= 2, 5♠ = 3, 5NT = 4 .
(Used after a suit fit is found)
- Asking for Kings is not currently implemented in BriJ
Gerber is not chosen
Quantitative 4NT is selected
- 4NT asks partner to bid 6NT when holding a maximum NT opening
hand
(ensuring 33+ high card high card points for the partnership and therefore at most one ace
in opposition hands); otherwise, pass with fewer hcp
Overcalls
Normal suit overcall
- Over 1 suit opener shows 5 good cards and 8 – 15 high card points (10 hcp
or very good suit at the 2 level)
- Jump overcall if strong (12-16 high card points )
with a good 6+ card suit, but beware of 3 clubs if ELH is on your Convention Card!
Unassuming Cue Bids- Bid the opponent's suit to show strong support for a suit overcall.
This asks partner to jump bid to show strength (13-15 Hcp and/or few losers)
Normal suit overcall over 1NT
- 2♥ and 2♠
similar to suit overcall at the 2 level, i.e. 10+ hcp and a 6 or
good 5- card suit
- Similarly in the minors as ASPTRO is not used
ELH 2-suited overcall is not chosen
ASPTRO 2-suited overcall over 1NT is not chosen
Doubles and redoubles
- Over 1NT with 15+ high card points double is for penalties. Partner
should try to take out into
a long suit with a very weak hand with fewer than 5 high card points
- Over suit openers, including weak preempts, double is for takeout. Later
in the auction, double over a bid higher than 2♠ (Acol convention chosen)
is for penalties
- A negative double or redouble
denies partner's opening suit and (usually) offers major(s)
(with balance of points)
- A responsive double may follow partner's
takeout double, suggesting any suit will do
Finding NT contracts
- With enough high card points in the partnership (22 for 2NT, 25 for 3NT),
BriJ bids suits to show cover. The contract
ends with the 'least bad' suit if there is no cover from either partner
in a particular suit
Showing a strong hand
- BriJ observes the usual conventions
of reverses (bidding over the barrier corresponding
to a simple raise of my last bid), jumps in the same suit
(showing 6 cards),
jump shifts (bidding over the barrier in a new
suit).
All these bids show extra strength beyond a normal opening
hand, typically an additional count of 2 - 6 high card points and a reduction of 1 or 2 in the losing trick count
Playing conventions
Defence leads (in rough order of preference)
- Top of touching honours: a sequence of 2 or more in a suit contract; a sequence
of 3 or more in a NT contract
(In BriJ, ‘touching’ takes account
of cards already played and can also take account of cards seen in dummy)
- 4th down from an honour card
- Singleton or Top of doubleton (in a suit contract)
- 3rd down from an honour
- Middle-up-down or trump lead if nothing better
Signalling
- Count: high-low = even
- Count: low-high = odd
Discards
- No special methods as yet
Some jargon you need to understand when you feel ready
- Points, strictly "high
card points" (hcp), are one measure of how strong your hand is. Count 4 for
each ace, 3 for each king, 2 for each queen and 1 for each jack. A hand
with 10 points is average because the whole pack has 40 points. An opening
hand usually has 12 points.
In BriJ the point count is automatically adjusted
to allow for your playing position, e.g. to "add a king" in the take
out seat and "get in the way" of opposition bids under some circumstances
- A doubleton is a
suit from your hand with just 2 cards
- A singleton is a
suit from your hand with just 1 card
- A void is a
suit from your hand with no cards present
- A balanced hand is
one with no voids, no singletons, at most one doubleton and (usually)
no 5 card major
- The losing trick count (ltc) assesses hand strength in a suit contract,
created by its shape.
BriJ uses a standard technique to estimate
how many tricks a particular hand will lose:
Look at ace, king, queen and jack in each suit and count losers up
to a maximum of 3 per suit.
For example count 1 loser for Ax (x is just a non-picture card). After 2 rounds
are played, you can ruff (trump) the 3rd
round so we assume just the 1 loser. In a bit more detail, count:
* A void = 0 losing tricks.
* A singleton other than an ace = 1 losing trick.
* A doubleton AK = 0; Ax or Kx = 1 losing trick;
xx = 2 losing tricks.
* A three card suit AKQ = 0 losing tricks; AKx, AQx
or KQx = 1 losing trick.
* A three card suit Axx, Kxx or Qxx = 2
losing tricks; xxx = 3 losing tricks
The total count for all the suits in your hand is used to help in
bidding. Typically a suit opening hand will have 7 losing tricks and
a NT hand will have 8 losing tricks. Think in terms of game if
you and your partner have a combined losing trick count less than
15.
- No trumps (NT) describes
a contract where no trump suit has been selected
- A jump bid is one
where a lower bid in the suit would have been legal. A jump by
opener signals strength
whereas in an overcall, it often signals weakness in combination
with a long suit
- Aggression level determines whether BriJ exaggerates
the strength of a hand it is bidding. The effect can be an assumption of increased
high card points (e.g. add a King in the take-out seat)
and / or a reduction in the losing trick count (e.g. when the opposition has doubled your partner's opening bid and we have a fit). The extent of the effect
depends on vulnerability and the hand's position in the bidding round as well as the aggression level you set.
Level 1 makes few adjustments. level 3 uses maximum aggression
- A game in bridge is an
auction that reaches the 4 level in a major suit contract, the 5 level
in a minor suit contract or the 3 level in NT. Typically the partnership
needs 25 hcp for a NT game, but game in a suit contract often depends
more on shape than high card points . After a limit NT bid such as a 1NT or 2NT
opener, partner can assess there is potential for game by making use af
partner's maximum possible hcp
More to come....