BridgeHands

Google BridgeHands

 HOME  Encyclopedia  Newsletter  Laws  Products  Services  Reviews  Tournaments  Blog  Training  Practice   HELP
 You are at:

 

ACBL LIMITED CONVENTIONS

(May be used in games with an upper limit of 20 or fewer MPs)

CLUBS:

Club management shall determine the conventions permitted in club games with an upper limit of 20 or fewer masterpoints.

LOCAL & HIGHER EVENTS:

The sponsoring organization of local and higher rated tournaments may determine the conventions permitted in games with an upper limit of 20 or fewer masterpoints.

OPENING BIDS:

  1. A 1C  opening bid may be both artificial (says nothing about clubs) and forcing (partner must respond at least once), but opener must have at least 10 HCP. A negative 1D  response may be used.

  2. A 2C opening bid may be artificial and strong. It may be balanced (a hand stronger than a traditional 2NT opening) or unbalanced (a hand with which you would open a strong two-bid if playing that way). Further bidding will describe the hand.

  3. A 3NT opening bid may show a hand with a long, solid suit (Gambling).

RESPONSES AND REBIDS:

  1. A jump shift of one or more levels (into a suit or into notrump) may be used either to force to game or to show a raise of partner's suit.

  2. Any meaning may be given to the responses and rebids after an opening bid of 1NT. Exception: if the 1NT opening has a point range which exceeds 5 HCP, or if the 1NT opening has an agreed lower limit of fewer than 10 HCP, responses and rebids may not be conventional — they must be natural.

  3. Any meaning may be given to the responses to and rebids after an opening bid of 2C or higher. Exception: if the opening bid is a weak two-bid with:

    1. an agreed point range of more than 7 HCP,

    2.  an agreement that the bid suit can contain fewer than five cards, or

    3. an agreement that the hand can contain fewer than 5 HCP, responses and rebids may not be conventional - they must be natural.

  4. Any call may be used to ask partner or to respond to partner about aces, kings, queens, singletons, voids or trump quality with the exceptions noted above.

COMPETITIVE AUCTIONS:

  1. Any meaning may be given to a double or a redouble.

  2. A notrump overcall or jump overcall may be use to show a two-suited hand (at least 5_4 distribution in the two suits). At least one of the suits must be known. The second suit may be known or unknown.

  3. Any meaning may be given to the cuebid of an opponent's suit.

  4. Any meaning may be given to calls used to defend against opponents' conventional calls or opening bids of 2D or higher.

  5. Any meaning may be given to calls used to defend against natural notrump opening bids or overcalls except that direct calls other than double and 2C must have at least one known suit.

DISALLOWED:

  1. Conventions and /or agreements with a primary purpose of destroying the opponents' methods are not allowed (e.g., a bid telling nothing about the bidder's hand, made simply to use up bidding space).

  2. Agreements allowing the partnership to open the bidding at the one level with fewer than 8 HCP are not allowed. This does not preclude a psychic opening bid.

  3. Psyching of artificial opening bids or conventional responses to artificial opening bids is not allowed..

  4. Psychic controls (bids designed to determine whether partner has psyched or to clarify the nature of the psych) are not allowed.

  5. Relay systems (one player tells nothing about his own hand while interrogating partner about his hand through a series of conventional calls) are not allowed.

CARDING:

A discard (a card played while not following suit) can convey a message to partner. The message can pertain to the length of the suit of the card discarded, to the attitude toward that suit (desire to have partner lead that suit) or to another suit (no information about the suit of the card discarded). A pair may decide to attribute the attitude message (good-bad) to the cards on either a higher-to-lower basis (a higher card is more positive than a lower card) or a lower-to-higher basis (a low card is more positive than a higher card).

A discard may carry more than one message, but only at each defender's first discard of the deal. Dual-message discards are not permitted as second or subsequent discards. Encrypted signals (the order and /or message is based on information known to the other defender but not yet to declarer) are not allowed at any time

 

HOME  Encyclopedia  Newsletter  Laws  Products  Services  Reviews  Tournaments  Blog  Training Practice Links HELP
Contacts: Sales  Support  Reviews  Q&A    Disclaimer    Privacy    © 2005 BridgeHands   Updated 01/22/11