Standard
American is a widely used
bidding system for the game of bridge in North America
and elsewhere. Owing to the popularization of the game by Charles Goren in the
1950s and '60s, 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 notrump; players
may add conventions and refine the meanings of bids through partnership
agreements summarized in their convention card.
"Standard American" was the label given to the bridge bidding system developed by Charles Goren and his contemporaries in the 1940s. This system was the first to employ the point-count method to evaluate the strength of a bridge hand. Most bids had fairly specific requirements regarding hand strength and suit distribution. The Goren point-count system became so popular that nearly all bridge players in theUnited States
Modifications began to appear from the 1960s forward. By the year 2000, some completely new bidding systems had evolved, including "Precision Club" and "2/1 Game Forcing" which, although still relying on point-count rules for hand evaluation, are otherwise substantial departures from early Goren methods. Most tournament pairs now assemble their own system from a variety of new treatments and conventions that have evolved. The nearest thing to a common system in tournament play is the "Standard American Yellow Card" (SAYC) promulgated by the American Contract Bridge League. SAYC is widely used in internet bridge play, but only rarely in on-site tournament play.
There is no longer a universally recognized standard for social/rubber bridge players. However generally they follow the rules described in Standard American 21, TheRubber Bridge
The essential common elements of modern Standard American systems are:
"SAYC" is an acronym for Standard American Yellow Card, which is a specific set of partnership agreements and conventions, using Standard American as a base. Some of the specific agreements in SAYC that elaborate on basic Standard American are:
SAYC is a very specific collection of agreements, which can, of course, be modified and augmented by partnership agreement. In practical use, the term is often mis-used to refer to Standard American in general, or it could refer to a system that used SAYC as a base and made additional augmentations or changes to the base agreements.
Bridge bidding changes the mental wiring and the methodologies of the player who becomes competent at it. And those bidding conventions are still being refined and improved.
Role of Bidding Systems
The purpose of
bidding during the auction phase of each deal is to exchange information with
one's partner in order to arrive at an optimal contract while concurrently
contending with the opponents' attempts to do likewise. A bidding system is a
set of agreements about the meanings of the different bids that the players can
make. Each bid provides information about the hand's high-card strength and
suit distribution based upon hanbd evaluation techniques.
History
"Standard American" was the label given to the bridge bidding system developed by Charles Goren and his contemporaries in the 1940s. This system was the first to employ the point-count method to evaluate the strength of a bridge hand. Most bids had fairly specific requirements regarding hand strength and suit distribution. The Goren point-count system became so popular that nearly all bridge players in the
Modifications began to appear from the 1960s forward. By the year 2000, some completely new bidding systems had evolved, including "Precision Club" and "2/1 Game Forcing" which, although still relying on point-count rules for hand evaluation, are otherwise substantial departures from early Goren methods. Most tournament pairs now assemble their own system from a variety of new treatments and conventions that have evolved. The nearest thing to a common system in tournament play is the "Standard American Yellow Card" (SAYC) promulgated by the American Contract Bridge League. SAYC is widely used in internet bridge play, but only rarely in on-site tournament play.
Most Common Elements
There is no longer a universally recognized standard for social/rubber bridge players. However generally they follow the rules described in Standard American 21, The
The essential common elements of modern Standard American systems are:
- A hand-strength requirement of at
least 12-13 points to open 1-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 without enough
overall strength to open 1 of the suit.
- Strong two clubs: All unbalanced
hands too strong to open at the one-level are opened with an artificial 2♣ call, as well as
balanced hands stronger than 22 HCP (unless opener has the right strength
for a 3NT opening bid).
- Pre-emptive opening bids: All suit
openings above the two level are pre-emptive, promising a long and strong
suit.
- Limit Raises: A jump-raise of the
opener's suit by responder, in the absence of opponent interference, is
invitational to game. In Goren's system, this was a strong game-forcing
raise.
- Notrump openers show a balanced hand,
with the following common point ranges:
- 1NT = 15-17 HCP
- 2NT = 20-21 HCP
- 3NT = 25-27 HCP
- Common notrump follow-up conventions
include Stayman, Jacoby transfers and Gerber.
SAYC
"SAYC" is an acronym for Standard American Yellow Card, which is a specific set of partnership agreements and conventions, using Standard American as a base. Some of the specific agreements in SAYC that elaborate on basic Standard American are:
- A 2♣ response to a 1 NT opening is
specified as the "non-forcing" version of the Stayman
convention.
- A 2♠ response to a 1 NT opening forces the
opener to bid 3♣,
so that the responder may play there or bid 3♦, which the opener is expected to pass.
- Straight Blackwood is used, and not
the "Roman Key-Card" or other variation.
- In response to a 2♣ opening, the 2♦ response is the "waiting"
version of that response.
- In response to a weak-two opening,
RONF ("Raise Only Non-Force") is used.
- The Jacoby 2NT is used to show a
game-forcing raise of a major suit with four-card support.
- Negative doubles are used through the
level of 2♠.
- Fourth suit forcing is used.
- Michaels cuebid and Unusual notrump
are used.
- Conventions are specified as being
"off" in response to a 1NT overcall, except that 2♣ is still Stayman.
SAYC is a very specific collection of agreements, which can, of course, be modified and augmented by partnership agreement. In practical use, the term is often mis-used to refer to Standard American in general, or it could refer to a system that used SAYC as a base and made additional augmentations or changes to the base agreements.
Afterword by the Blog Author
The advances in Standard American bidding since 1960 have
represented a startling and professional series of advances in Contract Bridge. The game is cleverer than it used to be, and
it is still advancing technically. The
SAYC was developed, in part, to save the game by encouraging strangers to play
as partners over the Internet. Internet
play is now allowed to accumulate a percentage of master’s points by the
American Contract Bridge League. Most
new bridge players develop their knowledge and engage in practice on a computer.
Bridge bidding is not mere use of rules but involves a
special sort of game theory logic in that the bids represent a logical series
of conventions which, when used together, allow for intelligent decisions (contracts)
to be made based on incomplete information.
Bridge bidding changes the mental wiring and the methodologies of the player who becomes competent at it. And those bidding conventions are still being refined and improved.
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