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DUPLICATE CONVENTION CARDS

The Convention Card is a vital part of every duplicate bridge player’s toolkit.

Looking at the card and reading what follows here about its completion may make it seem complicated. That’s not true: most players can fill out a convention card in just a few minutes, because many sections are left blank or only need a word or two or a check mark as you start to play Duplicate. It is a form available at every ACBL sanctioned game, where players indicate how they treat a variety of situations during the bidding and play of a hand. Your convention card is for the benefit of your opponents at the table. It’s also for you and your partner to record your agreements and conventions between sessions so they are not forgotten or miss-used in play. Most advanced players have several Convention Cards that they use with different partners.

The Laws of Bridge require that your partnership always has 2 identically filled-out convention cards on the table for opponents’ inspection.

Also, if you and your partner don’t have any partnership understanding about a convention card section, just leave it blank.

The ACBL Convention Card has 18 sub-sections, each of which is described in the pages that follow. Details include the Conventions or Partnership Agreement names that are commonly used in each Section. When there are multiple Conventions or Agreements described, your partnership must pick one or more, and agree on it / them before play and document it / them on your Card.

We are not going to start the Season using all the Agreements or Conventions shown in this document. We are going to gradually work toward using it all by early May or so.

The weekly posted assignments will detail what we are adding that week.

The Card itself has some Rules attached that are not documented here. Read the Convention Card Rules posting on-line for details.

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This portion of the convention card tells opponents about your general approach to bidding. Failure to Alert or Announce in a timely manner entitles your opponents to call the Director on you for an adjustment: don’t fail to do so immediately as partner makes her bid.

This condensed description of your style lets opponents understand 90% of the bids you might make and precludes a need for them to examine your whole card in detail, which would take far too much time.

In the ACBL, Standard American and Two Over One styles of bidding are overwhelming favorites.

Specifically, you must indicate what your strong, forcing opening is: typically, it is 2♣. There are also choices for 1 Club, Other or even strong “natural” 2 level openings, [2♠ …], as was played 40 years ago.

Two Over One styles may be game forcing in all cases or game forcing except when the suit is immediately rebid, in which case the game force may be cancelled. This choice is printed on the ACBL convention card as you see above.

There are many such Agreements or Conventions in Duplicate. We will start with Two Over One Game Forcing Except When Suit Rebid, Very Light Preempts and 2♣ Forcing Opening.

None are indicated in Red on the Card, so none are alerted.

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Here is where you tell opponents about your NT openings and responses. It is the single most likely section of your card to be looked at by opponents, and you should do that when playing vs. a new set of opponents, i.e., look on each round.

1NT. This sub-section has two lines: one for your normal 1NT opening HCP range. Most always use 15 to 17 HCP, as do we. It must be announced as “15 to 17” immediately when your partner opens and before the next player bids.

Common transfers we use are Jacoby Transfers to 2♥ and 2♠ and Texas Transfers to 4♥ and 4♠. Each must be Announced as “Transfer” by the partner of the bidder. Stayman is not Announced or Alerted.

Direct jumps to 3♣, 3♦, 3♥ and 3♠, if you bid them, are also included here and alerted if they mean anything but a natural bid. We will Alert 3♣ and 3♦ at first, as we play them as 8- or 9-point Invitations to 3NT to our 1NT opener and Game Invitations or Game Forces with 3♥ or 3♠ responses.

“Stolen Bid Doubles” means that if an opponent makes a bid we were going to make, like 2♦ (Jacoby Transfer to 2♥) , we then Double, not for penalty, but to tell partner we were going to make such a transfer, but our bid was taken away.

If you use Smolen, Lebensohl, Puppet or other special conventions in response to partner’s opening bid, you must indicate that fact here and alert them when used by you or your partner. We don’t use any of these conventions at first.

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In this section you tell your opponents how you bid 1 of a major opening and your initial responses. Expected Min. Length is always 5 in all seats. 5 card majors is standard in modern bridge, meaning we don’t open a major suit with only 4 cards, no matter how strong it is. We respond with a 4-card major, but never open with one. Double Raise is a jump raise, [1♥ – P – 3♥ …], for example. These are called Limit Raises, and are almost always Inv. (Invitational), showing 3 or 4 trumps and 9 to 11 dummy points. Years ago, a jump to the 3-level showed opening hand strength with good trump support. (i.e., a Game Force) but not nowdays. This response is without competition, i.e., assuming a pass by 2nd seat. After Overcall: This response asks for your definition of a 3♥ or 3♠ jump response when there was an intervening bid, as in [1♥ – 1♠ – 3♥ ...]. Again, the choices are Forcing (Strong), Inv (Invitational) or Weak. Weak is probably the most common use nowdays for a jump response after an overcall: it is what we use. 2NT and 3NT: these sections let you describe what such bids mean in response to a 1♥ or 1♠ opening. If bid naturally, they show 10 to 12 HCP (2NT invitation) or 13+ HCP (Game) both without 3+ trump support and no 5+ card suit strong enough to bid at the 2-level. They are meant to play, as neither is forcing.

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Some Conventions use these bids with different meanings, and therefore must be Alerted. Jacoby 2NT* is a common alerted convention where a 2NT* response to a major opening is game forcing with 4+ trump: that is what we use. It must be alerted as “A Game Forcing Raise . . Jacoby 2NT.” [1♠ - P - 2NT*...] (* always means “alerted”.)

Splinter ❑ is another game forcing raise that shows a void or singleton in the bid suit and strong trump support. [1♠ - P - 4♣*...]. It is alerted as “Game forcing with 0 or one Club”. Drury ❑ asks about your treatment of a [P – P – 1♥ – P ??? …] auction, where 3rd seat opens one of a major suit when light: 8+ HCP. Rebids by dealer are conventional if they support opener and are alerted. 2♣* means a 9 to 11 point, 3-trump raise and 2♦* means a 9 to 11 point, 4-trump raise. Other rebids, for example (P - P - 1♠ - P 1NT] or [P - P - 1♠ - P 2♠ …]) are natural and not alerted.

We won’t play Drury as we start our class: our 3rd seat major openings are the same Strength and Shape as our 1st or 2nd seat openings: 12+ HCP with a 5+ card suit. All our responses are normal, given that the dealer has passed to start the bidding: there are no game-forcing bids by a passed hand.

Some play Drury major suit openings in the 4th seat too, but not us. There are several different considerations, as a weakish hand in 4th seat can pass the hand out and maybe win it rather than open it weak and go minus for the hand.

Pg. 5


This section tells your opponents how you handle openings of 1♣ or 1♦ and your responses to them, with or without competition. Above are the choices we use. Collectively, they are called “Inverted Minors.”

On your card, you must indicate if you open 1 of a minor with 3, with 4 or an Alerted, conventional opening with less than 3. Notice that the card says “Expected Min. Length”, meaning that this is what your partner expects if you open in a minor suit. We always have at least 3 of a minor to open it. If we have 3 or 4 of both minors, we always open 1♣, to make bidding easier for partner, who may be forced to bid 1NT with 6 HCP and no stoppers if we open 1 Diamond. Responses tell your opponents how you treat Double Raises [1♣ – P – 3♣ …] and how you treat them over an intervening bid; we play them both as weak and preemptive, denying any 4+ card major response. Then whether you would skip a 4-card Diamond suit to bid a major or 1NT over 1♣. We do skip a 4+ card Diamond suit because we always respond in a 4+ card major: if we don’t, we simply don’t have one. The raise responses to a minor suit opening are “inverted”, meaning a single raise is strong-ish and a jump raise is weak, showing less than 10 points. All 2-level or 3-level minor suit raises show 5 card trump support, as opener will frequently hold only 3 of a minor. We bid weak raises over any interference: it’s not Alerted.

2- LEVEL OPENINGS

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2♣ is usually treated as strong, artificial and game forcing, as we do. Responses to 2♣ vary considerably. Indicate your choices in the appropriate boxes. Our conventional responses tell opener if we have any Aces or Kings: not “points” per se, but slam-making high honor cards.

Openings of 2♦, 2♥ and 2♠ are usually weak, meaning a preemptive suit of 6+ cards with less than opening hand strength. That’s how we will play them. Virtually no duplicate player makes “Strong Two Bids” anymore.

In the Responses / Rebids sub-section, a bid of 2NT is usually a conventional forcing bid asking some question of the 2♦/♥ /♠ bidder, such as “Do you have an outside entry, so I can bid NoTrump?”.

If opener can pass a new suit bid by her partner, that must be indicated in the New Suit NF box and alerted during the auction. [2♥ – P – 3♣* …] This 2♥ opener will pass 3♣, as we play it. It means responder cannot stand opener’s weak suit and has a better alternative (maybe!)

Conventional meanings for 2♦ (Mini Roman) and 2♥ (Flannery) opening bids are played by some pairs. Not us this Season.

Pg. 7


This section asks you to explain how you treat some “other bids”, specifically New Minor Forcing, Weak Jump Shifts and 4th Suit Forcing bids. It describes if they are forcing to game or for just one round, and whether or not you use other special bids the opponents are entitled to know about. We don’t play 2-Way NMF.

New Minor Force is an alerted convention that says when responder bids a major suit after opener’s minor, then opener rebids NoTrump, then responder bids the “other minor”, it is alertable and asks opener for 3-card support. With 4-cardsupport, opener would automatically raise responder’s major.

[1♣ – P – 1♥ – P 1NT – P – 2♦* …] 2♦ is New Minor Forcing, showing 5 Hearts and 10+ HCP. With 3 Hearts, opener raises partner’s Hearts to some level. Without 3, any other bid is made, as the NMF is forcing.

If responder makes a Jump Shift: [1♣ – P – 2♠ …] is it weak or strong? It’s always weak nowdays.

[1♦ – P – 1♠ – P 2♣ – P – 2♥* …] Normally, the bid of the 4th suit (Hearts in this example) is redundant, as one would bid NoTrump if holding the 4th suit. If that call has a special meaning, such as a force to game or a 1-round force, it must be indicated on the Convention Card and alerted.

On the line below the pre-printed words, indicate any other conventional calls not shown elsewhere on the card. One that we use is “All direct raises in competition can be weak”. Another is Western Cue, asking for a stopper in opponent’s bid suit.

Pg. 8


In this section, tell your opponents what doubles you respond with that aren’t for penalty. If you would Penalty Double a direct overcall, indicate to what level you would do so and Alert it. We do not make this bid: few Duplicate players do. Negative. A Negative Double is an artificial bid showing the unbid suits and is considered normal or Standard. “thru ” tells how high in the bidding your use of Negative Doubles goes. For example, in [1♦ – 4♥ - Dbl…]. Is this double by responder for penalty or does it still show a Negative Double, meaning both unbid suits? A Negative Double is not alertable and it denies a 5+ card majorbut promises 4 of any unbid major: Spades in the example above. Responsive. A Responsive Double is an alertable double in 4th seat showing a hand of some value but unable to bid a suit after partner in 2nd

seat doubled the opener, as in [1♣ – Dbl – 2♣ – Dbl* …]. This double means “Partner, I don’t have a suit to bid but I have points and can support any suit you bid.” We use it – rarely. As in the case of the Negative Double, you must tell opponents how high the Responsive Double goes. Over that limit, it is for penalty. [1♣ – Dbl – 4♣ – Dbl* …] This double would be for penalty using the Special Doubles section, as 3♠ is listed as our limit for showing a Responsive Double. Support Double and Redouble. A rebid of Double or Redouble by opener after responder has bid 1 of a major and 4th hand interferes. It shows exactly 3-card support of the major suit. [1♣ – P – 1♥ – 1♠ Dbl* …] Dbl* shows exactly 3 Hearts. Alertable and used thru some upper limit, like Negative Doubles.

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Overcalls at the One Level A 1-level overcall promises a good 5-card suit and 8+ HCP; ♠KQTxx, for example. There’s no promise to bid again. They are also lead directing, so do not make an overcall with a suit like ♠Q8xx. You can open it but do not overcall with it.

Raise responses to One Level Overcalls Whenever possible, responses should be raises and not new suits, even with as little as Kx or any 3-card support and 6+ HCP,They are all “weak” up to 9+ HCP. Above that, they may be Cue Bid Limit Raises.

- All direct raises of an overcall are weak and preemptive. The weaker you are, the higher you might bid. [1♣ – 1♥ – P – 3♥ . . .] 4 Hearts - not 3 - with “a few” HCP.

- Hands of Limit Raise value (10 to 12 dummy points) cue bid opener’s suit.

[1♣ – 1♥ – P – 2♣ . . .] 2♣ is a 3+ Heart Cue Bid Limit Raise of Hearts. Not Alerted.

- 1NT is a good competitive call if you have stoppers in opener’s suit and cannot raise. [1♦ – 1♥ – P – 1NT . . .] Not forcing or alerted.

NFConst Responses. If you cannot raise partner or bid NT, we play you can bid another suit with a good 5+ card suit and a decent 8+ HCP hand. It is not forcing, but is “constructive”, meaning partner – the overcaller – can pass or rebid her longer suit or another suit or bid NoTrump, etc. Not Alerted. There are also Forcing and Not Forcing choices that we do not use.

Pg. 10


This is the section where you explain to opponents if you make Jump Overcalls and Preempts. [1♣ – 2♥ – P – ???. . .] A Jump Overcall or [ P - 3♣ - ??? . . .] A Preempt. With a 6+ card suit and 10 HCP or less, consider a Weak Jump Overcall as a preemptive tactic, especially when not vulnerable. WJO’s can be at the 2 or 3 or even 4-level. The weaker you are, the higher you might bid. [1♣ – 3♠ . . .] Not Alerted.

2-Level Overcalls.Although not listed in this or any other section of the ACBL Convention Card, a 2-level overcall – not a jump overcall - shows a good suit in an opening strength hand. [1♠ – 2♥ . . .]. This 2♥ bid shows a good Heart suit: not ♥J8763, but ♥KJT98 or better. It’s not forcing, and it may end up being the final contract, so it cannot be a trashy suit as an opening 1♥ bid could be.

Pg. 11


A Direct Cuebid is a cue bid of an opponent’s suit right after she opens: [1♣ – 2♣ …] or [1♥ – 2♥ …]. It is never a Strong T/O any more as it was 40 years ago, nor is it ever an actual offer to play in that suit. Such bids usually show 2-suited hands, and are centered on the major suits, using conventions such as Michaels, as shown above. Cue bids are not alerted in Duplicate, except for a very rare “natural” overcall as shown above by the red checkboxes.

There are differences when cue bidding a major or a minor suit.

For example, a cue bid in either minor as a Michaels Cue Bid shows both majors as described above, but a cue bid in a major suit means “Partner, I have the other major suit and a minor suit”. This is how we would bid it: [1♥ – 2♥ …]. It shows Spades and an unknown minor. Our partner can “ask” us what our minor is by responding 2NT*: [1♥ – 2♥ - P – 2NT* …] “Partner, what minor suit do you have?

[1♠ – 2♠ – P – 2NT* P - 3♦ …] This Michaels bidder has Hearts and Diamonds. Since direct cue bids are not alerted, you should ask your opponent what any cue bid means when it is your turn to bid. Don’t assume it’s always Michaels Cue Bids.

Pg. 12


In this section, tell your opponents what ace-asking conventions you use, such as Gerber, Blackwood, or Roman Key Card (1430) Blackwood, and what conventions you use, if any, when your slam bidding is interfered with: [… 4NT – 5♦ - ???] We will start by using 1430 Key Card Blackwood as responses to our partner’s 4NT Ace asking bid: the “14” part of 1430 means we respond 5♣ with either 1 or 4 Aces, counting the King of trump as a 5th Ace. [… 4NT – P - 5♣ - ???]. The “30” part of 1430 means we respond 5♦ with either 3 or zero of the 5 Aces. With 2 “Aces” but not the trump Queen, we respond 5♥; with 2 and the Queen, it’s 5♠: [… 4NT – P - 5♠ …]

If partner then bids 5NT, she is interested in Kings, other than the trump King, and she guarantees all 5 “Aces”: [… 4NT - P - 5♠ - P 5NT – P - ??? …]. After a 5NT “ask”, we respond not with the number of Kings we have (max 3), but with the lowest ranking suit holding a King: [… 4NT - P - 5♠ - P 5NT - P - 6♦ …]. This responder has the ♦K, but not the ♣K. Partner can then bid her lowest King or place the contract.A direct bid at the 6-level after a 4NT RKCB bid means the 4NT bidder is placing the final contract and does not want to ask responder about any side-suit Kings.

After Interference. […4NT – 5♥ – Dbl…] an interfering 5♥ lead-directing bid by our opponent: Dbl here is D0P1 (“Dopey”) showing 0 (zero) Aces by the responder to the 4NT bidder over the 5♥ interference bid. Another bid is DEPO, “Double with an Even number of Aces and Pass with an Odd number” […4NT – 5♥ – Dbl…] could be DEPO showing 0 or 2 Aces by the responder. R0P1 means “Redouble shows 0 (zero) and Pass shows 1 Ace”. […4NT – Dbl – ReDbl…] showing 0 Aces by the responder. In the D0P1 and R0P1 conventions, the responder bids the next higher suit with 2 Aces, the 2nd higher with 3 Aces, etc. […4NT – 5♥ – 5♠ …] 5♠ shows 2 Aces if playing D0P1.

Pg. 13


In this section, tell your opponents how you lead against NoTrump and suit contracts.

They might be different, although we play them the same, seeing no reason to be different – that’s just more places to forget something.

“Standard” leads from a variety of holdings are printed on the left side above, with the ACBL standard in bold type. If you systemically lead differently than indicated by this chart, you must circle it.

Pg. 14


Defensive Carding (Signals and Leads and Discards) include Suit Preference, Lavinthal, Odd-Even or Upside Down First Discards, Count and Attitude signals and Standard leads.

Initially, we’ll go with all “Standard leads and Signals: Hi-Lo for even count; Lo-Hi for odd count, Hi for positive Attitude and Lo for negative attitude; Leads from 4th best or an honor heading a 3+card honor sequence: K from KQJx, for example.

Always lead partner’s bid suit unless you have an honor sequence or the Ace from AK. If you’ve supported partner’s suit, lead Low with something; Hi with nothing; We call that “Boston” meaning Bottom with Something, Top with Nothing.

Your First Discard tells partner the suit you want led if she gets in.

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Direct : 15_ to 18_ . Here is where you tell your opponents how you treat an overcall bid of 1NT by your partner in Direct Seat, as in [1♣ – 1NT – P - ??? . . .] This is a “direct” NoTrump overcall. Normally, it is the same strength range you use to open 1NT, with the added assurance that you have the opponent’s suit (Clubs, in this example) well stopped.

Systems On ❑, When checked, it means we play Stayman, Jacoby Transfers and other treatments for responses to a 1NT overcall just as we would have bid if partner had dealt and opened 1NT. For example, [1♦ – 1NT – P – 2♥# . . . ] (# means the bid is “announced” as a Transfer.) This 2♥# is a Jacoby Transfer to Spades - not a Heart bid. Ignore Conv. ❑.; We only play Systems On. Balancing:__12__ to _14_ answers the question “How do you handle a sequence such as [1♥ – P – P – 1NT …]: i.e., a 4th seat 1NT overcall? Is it the same as a Direct 1NT overcall or something different in terms of HCP strength? Most play that a 1NT 4th seat overcall of a one-of-a-suit bid, especially a minor suit, is not as strong as a direct NT overcall. Common usage is a range of 10 to 14 HCP - not 15 to 18 HCP. Here’s why it’s called “balancing”: 2nd and 3rd seats didn’t bid, so your partner in the 2nd seat was possibly blocked and couldn’t bid, even though she has HCP. Bring her into the auction with her 13 HCP and 5 Hearts in this example auction, for example.

Jump to 2NT: ❑ Minors or ❑ 2 Lowest is where you tell opponents what your bid of 2NT means over their opening bid of 1NT or one of a suit means. Our Unusual 2NT means 5 – 5 distribution in the two lower unbid suits, as it does to most duplicate pairs. Some play it always means the minor suits. It’s not alerted.

Partner bids her longer implied suit; not necessarily the stronger one. Why? Because then you have more trump.

Pg. 16


In this section, tell your opponents how you compete over their 1NT opening.

If you leave it blank, it means you bid naturally; so if you bid 2♦ over a 1NT opening by your opponent, you have Diamonds and are offering to play in that suit. And that’s how we’ll play it to start. Later, we’ll learn the Hamilton convention as shown above.

Many players use conventional bids showing one long (6+) suit or two 5-card suits over 1 NT openings. Conventions such as DONT, TONT, Hamilton/Cappelletti, and Brozel are common.

Pg. 17


This is where you tell your opponents how you bid after they double your partner’s major opening for takeout. [1♥ – Dbl – ??? …]. This Dbl is a T/O. For example, in [1♥ – Dbl – 1NT …] Is 1NT forcing? (1 level?). Is [1♥ – Dbl – 2♣ …]Is 2♣ forcing? We play all 1-level and 2-level new suits are forcing over a takeout double by opponents; in other words, we just ignore the interfering double. What does our bid of 2NT mean here: [1♥ – Dbl – 2NT …]? Forcing? Preemptive? Is a Jump Shift Weak? Invitational? Forcing? (e.g., [1♥ – Dbl – 2♠ …]) Jump responses are usually played as weak, as we do, but however you play them, indicate it here. Again, we ignore the interfering double. The Jordan 2NT* Convention can be used to show a Limit Raise after a double of a major opening, when direct raises are played as weak in competition as we do. [1♥ – Dbl – 2NT* …]

This is a Limit Raise available using the Jordan 2NT* Convention after a double of partner’s major suit opening. It shows 4 trump and 9 to 11 points. Alerted.

It is not a Limit Raise if all direct raises in competition are played as weak as we do. [1♥ – Dbl – 3♥ …]. 4 trump and “a few HCP”, depending on vulnerability.

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