Nicolae Sfetcu

Canapé is a bridge convention which refers to a system of bidding where the second suit bid is always longer (or at least as long) as the first. With a minimum 5-4 it may be necessary to bid the first suit twice before the short suit. It is often found in European systems such as Blue club. The chief advantage is that with a moderate 2 suiter, you often get to bid a short major, which has marked preemptive value.

Invention of the concept is attributed to early French master Pierre Albarran.

Acol is a bridge bidding system. It is the name of a road in Hampstead, London, where there was a bridge club in which the system started to evolve in the 1930s. It was popularised in Britain by Iain Macleod in his book "Bridge is an Easy Game", published in 1952. The Acol system is continually evolving but the underlying principle is to keep the bidding as natural as possible. It is common in the British Commonwealth but rarely played in America.

Bidding system structure

The choice between a weak 1NT opening (12-14 points, balanced) and a strong 1NT (15-17 points, balanced) influences much of the rest of the system.

There are several possible classifications of squeezes, depending on the position. Most common ones are named, some involving a combination of factors:

A variation of the convention, known as Roman Blackwood, was popularized by famous Italian Blue Team. In Roman Blackwood, the responses are even more ambiguous, but more space-conserving. The basic outline of responses is:

2/1 game forcing (Two-over-one game forcing) is a bidding system in modern contract bridge, where a non-jump two-level response to a one-level opening bid commits a partnership to at least the game level. It is based on Standard American bidding and has largely superseded it; the principal difference is that a full opening bid is required for a response at the two level to an opening bid of one of a major. Thus, the response of 1NT to 1♥ or 1♠ opening is forcing or semi-forcing.

Squeeze play (or simply squeeze) is a play in contract bridge that often occurs late in the game and involves the play of a card (often, but not necessarily, a winner) which forces an opponent to discard a vital card from his hand, thus giving up a trick (or two in some cases). The discarded card can be either a winner or any card that solidifies defender's defensive position.

Although the squeeze was already discovered and described in whist, its use was best described and perfected in contract bridge.

The squeeze operates on the principle that, in a n-card ending with n-1 combined winners, the two hands can have one potential trick (threat card) each, but there's no room in single defender's hand to cover both of those. In order for a squeeze to work, the victim might not hold any "idle" cards, but all his cards must be "busy", covering some sort of menace.

In bridge, a Golden Fit occurs when one partnership has at least eight cards in one suit. Often, a partnership having a golden fit in one suit will bid their contract in that suit; however, partnerships with golden fits in minor suits may prefer to play in no-trump, as they will earn more points for each trick and in some cases, can bid a more reliable game contract in no-trump than in the minor suit.

The Blackwood convention is a popular bidding convention in contract bridge that was developed by Easley Blackwood Sr.. It is intended to be used in cases where the combined hands of a partnership are so strong that a slam is a possibility. It allows one partner to gain information on the number of aces, and possibly the number of kings, in the other partner's hand.

1. Natural systems in general have the following features:

• Level-1 suit bids denote at least 4 or 5 cards in a major suit, and 3 or 4 cards in a minor suit, with strength of about (11)12-20(22) high card points. The suit bid is generally the longest. The former criterion inflicts further classification into four-card major and five-card major systems.
• Bid of 1NT always presents a balanced hand in a narrow high card points range. The common ranges are 15-17 or 16-18 HCP ("strong notrump") and 12-14 ("weak notrump").
• Bid of 2♣ typically presents a very strong hand (23 HCP up).

The following terms are used in Contract bridge, Duplicate bridge, and Auction bridge. Some of them are also used in Whist, Bid whist, and other trick-taking games.

Links

• Comprehensive bridge glossary at Bridge Guys

The Principle of restricted choice is used in bridge to guide a player (usually the declarer) into finding the best line of play in certain situations. It is closely tied to the Monty Hall problem.

The principle can be expressed in several different ways; one of them is:

When a defender freely plays an important card (over declarer's lead), assume that it had to be played rather than it was result of a particular choice; adjust the subsequent play accordingly.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the game of contract bridge is the numerous ways that exist to establish extra tricks.

In the game of contract bridge, a convention is an agreed-upon meaning for a call (a bid, double or redouble, or a pass) during the auction phase of the hand. Often, the inventor of the convention gives it a name; some widespread conventions got a name after their (perceived) authors.

Conventional opening leads and discards may also be used. The term, however, usually denotes just a bidding convention.

Partnerships must agree on conventions beforehand, and must disclose all conventions to their opponents. If they fail to do so, this can be considered an illegal transfer of information.