September 2008 - 54

ADVANCED PLAYERS

Bidding Matters

Karen Walker
www.kwbridge.com

The 12 Habits of Highly
Effective Bidders
7. They strive to be sensible, not
brilliant. (continued)
Many pairs' bidding systems are
perpetual works in progress. They
constantly add and discard agreements that seem valuable or just fun
to play, including conventions - and
sometimes entire systems - they
invent themselves.
It's usually easy to add an established convention, especially one that
makes use of an idle bid in a specific
auction. More difficult is an agreement that changes a bid's current
meaning, which often affects other
parts of your system. An idea that appears to be a brilliant solution for one
situation may create problems in others, so you'll want to think through
all the consequences before making a
major change.
"Pre‑tests" for new agreements
Is it legal? If you've created your
own convention, your first responsibility is ensuring that it's legal. Events
at clubs, sectionals and regionals
usually permit methods on the ACBL
General Convention Chart (GCC),
but clubs have the right to impose
their own restrictions. Higher-level
events may allow treatments on the
ACBL Mid-Chart or SuperChart.
54

Most bids that are natural and
constructive are allowed at all levels.
Examples of agreements that are not
permitted on the GCC and Mid-Chart
are forcing-pass systems, weak
two-bids that show two-suiters, and
opening bids that can systemically be
fewer than 8 points.
Convention charts are on acbl.org
(under the "Play" menu). The language is very technical, so if you
have doubts about the legality of your
methods, check with a tournament
director.
Is it compatible with the rest of our
system? Even simple gadgets can
turn your system into the proverbial
three-legged table, where one change
requires another and another, plus
some you may not discover until they
come up in actual play. Before you
add a convention, consider its impact
on auctions where you don't use it.
If you assign an artificial meaning
to a natural bid, for example, how
will you describe the hand that bid
formerly showed? Will your new
slam-try tool take away a bid that's
needed for finding the best game?
What can go wrong? Try to anticipate situations that might cause
confusion or complications. Define
the auctions where the new meanings
are "on," then consider the variations.
If you use a convention for opener's
rebid, will it apply in a similar sequence that starts with an overcall?
Do you need a different set of meanings if the opponents compete? Write
your agreed uses into your system
notes, then add "when-in-doubt"
guidelines that will apply to all undiscussed situations.
Bidding practice can help you
identify other potential pitfalls. One
exercise is using dealer software to
create and print pairs of hands that
match your requirements. If you want
to practice 2-over-1 auctions, for
example, you can set the software to

deal opener 13 or more points and
five or more cards in a major, then
deal 12 or more points to responder.
Another popular - and free - option is the partnership bidding rooms
on Bridgebase.com. You and partner
can set deal parameters, bid an unlimited number of hands and use the chat
feature to discuss your auctions.
The best test drive
Years ago, two college students at
my local club, Scott and Brandon,
asked my permission as director to
play a new system they had devised.
It was "out there" (ultra-light opening
bids, zero-point overcalls) and not
legal by the letter of the law. They
were so anxious to try it, though, that
I said they could use it until someone
made a legitimate objection.
I didn't get a single complaint.
Their opponents were too happy with
the penalties they collected from
the garbage overcalls and the games
Scott and Brandon missed when they
happened to hold "real" values. A
few weeks later, Scott informed me
they had decided to give Standard
American another try.
Of all the ways to test new bidding
methods, none is more helpful than
putting them into action against humans. Scott and Brandon had written
up detailed notes and practiced with
computer hands, but there were no
opponents to interfere or make penalty doubles in their practice auctions.
They couldn't judge all the ramifications until they encountered them at
the table and saw how their contracts
scored in a typical field.
A good laboratory for the
four-player test is the relaxed atmosphere of a local duplicate or online
club, where it's easier to experiment
and cope with mistakes than in a
tournament. If you're comfortable
with how your system works there,
it's ready for permanent addition. r
Bridge Bulletin
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2008
