Bridge Conventions

Bridge Conventions

A bridge convention is a system of calls made during the auction phase of a contract bridge game which conveys a coded meaning about the players' card holdings. The calls may be "natural" (that is, show a feature of the named denomination, such as the length of a suit) or "artificial" (show a feature unrelated to the named denomination).

Contract bridge is a trick-taking card game played by four players in two competing partnerships in which a sequence of bidding, also known as the auction, precedes the play of the cards. The purpose of this bidding is for players to inform their partners of the content of their hand and to arrive at a suitable contract at which to play the hand. Although bidding is often "natural" (i.e., it describes a hand by simple reference to possession, shape, and strength of the named suit), players may also bid using conventions, which impart very specific information to certain bids, particularly at the more advanced levels of competitive play. Bill Root defines convention as: "A specific agreement between partners to give an unusual meaning to a bid".

Conventions are named after their ostensive author (e.g., the Drury convention), their promulgator (e.g., the Stayman convention), or something about the methodology itself (e.g., the Strong two clubs convention).

The term conventional is also used to describe certain opening leads, discards and signals that have specific agreed meanings.

Conventions to be played must be agreed by partners before play begins and must be disclosed to their opponents, either in advance by the use of convention cards or by alerts, announcements, and answers to questions about one's partner's bids once bidding has begun. Generally, this disclosure also must include negative implications of choosing the bid over another alternative. Failure to reveal fully the existence and meaning of a convention generally constitutes an illegal communication of information between partners.

Perhaps the most widely known and used conventions are Blackwood, which imparts information about the number of aces and kings held, Stayman convention, used to discover a 4-4 fit in a major suit following a no trump bid, Jacoby transfers, used to find a 5-3 fit in a major suit, and strong two clubs to show a very strong hand (usually at least 22 HCP). It could be argued that takeout doubles are conventional but their usage is so widespread that it is considered a natural bid.