Italian Asking Bids

In honor of playing with my Precision partner again, I decided to post something about Precision, specifically "MG Precision." For me to decide what is worth writing about, I ask myself, "what about this system is so unique and interesting?" The opening bids are, certainly, but I've already discussed them. 1C in particular is really fun because of the numerous ways to reach a slam. So, how about Asking Bids? Yes.

C.C. Wei, when he created the Precision Club system had incorporated 3 different asking bids: Trump Asking Bid, Ace Asking Bid, and Control Asking Bid (asking partner if he has control of the suit). When the Italian Blue Team, consisting of Giorgio Belladonna, Pietro Forquet, Benito Garozzo, Walter Avarelli, Camillo Pabis-Ticci, and Massimo D'Alelio, decided to take up Precision, they added a few more asking bids. Here's what Meaghin and I play today:

TAB (Trump Asking Bid) - After a positive response to 1C opening (1H/1S/2C/2D), opener can bid the intended major or raise the bid minor to ask for the length and quality of responder's suit. Responses to the TAB are in steps as follows:

1st step: 0 of the top 3 honors (AKQ) in the trump suit
2nd step: 1 of the top 3 honors, 6 or more cards
3rd step: 2 of the top 3 honors, 6 or more cards
4th step: AKQ of the trump suit
5th step: 1 of the top 3 honors, exactly 5 cards
6th step: 2 of the top 3 honors, exactly 5 cards

A re-ask (bidding the trump suit below game) asks for clarification in steps. For example, if after the 1st step showing no top honors opener asks again, responder will show his or her length starting with 5 cards, 6 cards, 7 cards, etc. Or if after the 3rd step showing 2 of the top 3 honors opener asks again, responder shows which honors in order of bad to good (KQ, AQ, AK).

CAB (Control Asking Bid) - After a positive major-suit response to 1C (either 1C-1H or 1C-1S), bidding 1NT asks partner to show Aces and Kings by bidding "controls." In this scheme, Aces = 2 controls and Kings = 1 control.

1st step: 0-1 controls
2nd step: 2 controls
3rd step: 3 controls
4th step: 4 controls, etc.

After a positive major-suit response to 1C, you can bid either a CAB or a TAB first. If you bid a CAB first and responder answers, you can then bid a TAB by bidding the intended trump suit. However, if you bid a TAB first, you CANNOT ask for controls with a CAB. Also, you can TAB after a positive minor-suit response to 1C, but no CAB exists for that response.

SAB (Support Asking Bid) - After a positive suit response (1C - 1H/1S/2C/2D) or after a response to CAB, any suit bid by opener besides responder's suit shows 5 or more cards and asks responder for good support and controls. Good support can usually be described as 4 or more cards or 3 cards with at least an honor. Responses go:

1st step: poor support, 0-3 controls
2nd step: poor support, 4+ controls
3rd step: good support, 0-3 controls
4th step: good support, 4+ controls
5th step: xxxx support, 4+ controls

I've found that sometimes knowing if partner has 4 small cards in your suit helps determine if slam is on, hence the 5th step. After the 1st or 2nd step, bidding reverts to natural (just continue to describe your hand by bidding your suits or supporting partner's when appropriate).
After the 3rd, 4th, and 5th steps, rebidding the suit asks for further control clarification (in steps) and any new suit is SCAB (see next).

SCAB (Side-Control Asking Bid) - After any response to TAB or a positive response to SAB, a new suit is asking for control of the new suit. This bid was one of the original asking bids by Wei. Responses are:

1st step: no control of suit (Jxx(x) or worse)
2nd step: 3rd round control of suit (Qxx or doubleton)
3rd step: 2nd round control of suit (Kx or singleton)
4th step: 1st round control of suit (A or void)
5th step: AQ or AK of suit

Rebidding the suit asks for clarification (steps: 1 - length, 2 - strength). Any new suit from here is another SCAB for that suit as long as it's below game.

mTAB (modified Trump Asking Bid) - After responder has shown exactly 4 cards in a major (via 1C - 2M or 1C - 1NT - 2C - 2D/2H), raising the major asks responder to tell more about his 4-card suit. Responses go like this:

1st step: No top honor (A, K, or Q)
2nd step: 1 top honor
3rd step: 1 top honor AND Jack of Trumps
4th step: 2 top honors
5th step: 2 top honors AND Jack of Trumps
6th step: AKQ of trumps

After any response, opener can bid a new suit for SCAB or sign-off in game.

DAB (Delta Asking Bid) - After a positive response to 1C, a jump-shift by opener says he's got a pretty serious suit for trumps and he would like to know about responder's Aces (particularly for the Ace of trumps). Responses are as follows:

Cheapest trump suit: NO Ace of trumps
Lowest new suit: Ace of Trumps
New suit (non-lowest): Ace of Trumps AND Ace in skipped suit(s)
Cheapest NT: Ace of Trumps and NO Aces in skipped suit(s)

A lot to memorize for bids that don't happen that often. But these are the best exploratory bids for slam besides a relay system (which I can't play). And you don't have to use all of these by no means! I would recommend using TAB and SCAB first, then add others as you feel more comfortable with them.

System Archetypes

Hey, it's been a while. Since I don't have a very large audience, I don't think I'll get too many complaints. Over the years, I've played only two or three systems: SAYC, 2/1 GF, and Precision. When I played Standard, my very patient partner and I would add convention after convention until we had almost a completely different system than SAYC. Same thing with Precision, only you get to create more with that system since not as many people write about it.

I have read about more systems than that, though, some of them ACBL-illegal (they're pretty strict on what you can and can't bid). Since there are too many systems to explain each one of them, I will list out and describe the basic archetypes of bidding systems of the world.

1. Natural - any system where all of the 1-level openings indicate one of your suits falls in this category. Examples include SAYC, 2/1 GF, Kaplan-Sheinwold, ACOL (played in Britain), and Bridge World Standard. Some non-traditional systems include Fantunes (a system played by Claudio Nunes and Fulvio Fantoni of Italy), Ambra, and ETM (everything that matters).

2. Strong Club - any system that incorporates hands of all shape with an unlimited range (typically 16 or more HCP) into the 1C opening. This frees the 2C opening (where all the strong hands are opened in natural systems) to represent hands you used to open 1C. Examples include Precision, Blue Team Club, Superprecision, Power Precision, Caroline Club, Nightmare Club, and Blue Grover.

3. Strong Diamond - like the Strong Club except all the stronger hands are opened with 1D and the hands that used to open 1D are put in another bid (typically divided between 1C, 1NT, and 2D). Examples include Burgay Diamond, Magic Diamond, Liu Hong's Green Card and Simplified Blue Card.

4. Relay - any system where after the opening bid, responder (or opener on the rebid) bids the next step to ask for more information and keeps doing this until the full shape of one of the hands is known. Typically used with a Strong Club system, examples include Viking Precision, Symmetric, Toad Club, and The Way Forward. These are not legal in most ACBL-sanctioned games. Your club director may allow it, though, at the club level.

5. Ambiguous Club - any system that uses the 1C opening to mean any strong hand OR another type of weaker hand. Examples include Polish Club, An Unassuming Club, Roman Club, Tangerine Club, and Swan Club. I always thought any of these would be extremely fun to play, and they're completely legal!

6. Red - any system that incorporates transfer openings at the 1-level. Examples include SCREAM (Strong Club Relay Excessively Accentuating Majors), Red Grover, Crimson Death, and Moscito (very popular). These are not legal in most ACBL-sanctioned games as well.

7. Forcing Pass - any system where hands that are normally opened are passed as an opening, and hands that are normally passed are opened at the 1-level. Now, this kind of system is 180 degrees from what most people play, and it is an interesting concept to me, but ACBL bans this kind of bidding completely. If you're interested, though, some of the systems include Suspensor, MAJOR, Superlambda, T-Rex, SPREAD, and Tres Boof.

8. Unique - these systems don't fit into any archetype as they having opening bids very different. One such system is called the Captain system where each of the opening bids describes, in steps, the general shape, then rebids clarify points or more on shape, completely artificial openings and responses. Another unique system is called Janus, where all of the opening bids mean 2 different things, and opener clarifies which on his rebid.

So, if you don't like the fact that you have to learn defenses to systems like Precision and its ilk, be thankful you don't have to deal with Red systems or Forcing Pass systems. If you're interested in any of the above systems, I would be happy to send you a copy of the notes on them. There are other systems out there, being created by mad-scientists the world over, and if you have an interesting system, send it to me. I love that stuff.

Defense to Strong 1C

So, you're playing at a local club where all the good folks there play SAYC or even the occasional 2/1 the big shots play. All of a sudden, this couple from out-of-town comes to play. They look like early twentysomethings, eager with something fierce behind their eyes. You can bet your last dollar that those two crazy kids are playing some new-fangled system, probably Precision. That means they'll have a weak 1NT opening, a natural 2C opening, and a strong 1C opening that doesn't promise anything in clubs. Sheesh! Crazy kids and their bidding...

Ok, you need some kind of defense for these bids. All the overcalls and takeout doubles as you know them are used against Standard bidders, but they don't take into account these new bids. Here are some suggestions:

Weak 1NT - This one isn't too bad. You probably have a defense for a 15-17 1NT opening, so use that. I suggest Cappelletti if you don't already play it. In this system, double is for business (you're balanced with more than 14 HCP), 2NT is for the minors (like Unusual NT), and 2C is bid to show any 1-suited hand worth an overcall at the 2-level (you're partner will bid 2D automatically, then you can bid your suit naturally as long as those precision folk don't bid). The other 2-level bids (2D/2H/2S) are used to show 2-suited hands (typically 5-5).
2D = MAJORS (H + S)
2H = HEARTS & a minor suit
2S = SPADES & a minor suit

Natural 2C - Here you want to bid like they opened 1C in Standard bidding, but you should have about 2 HCP more than you normally would. So, double is for take-out, suit bids are natural, and 2NT shows a 15-17 NT (to show a bigger balanced hand, double first, then bid NT).

Strong Artificial 1C - This bid is low for a reason: to have the maximum amount of space in which to explore each other's hands. So, it's imperative you interfere when you can. A simple defense would be to bid naturally directly after 1C (or after 1C - 1D which is also artificial) with less than opening values and a decent suit, and PASS with an opening hand or better. This may be counter-intuitive, but if you have an opening hand, you will get to overcall on the second time around (responder to 1C opening MUST bid something other than pass).
Here's a different option:
With 1-suited hands, bid them at the 2-level (even clubs). This way you take up more space and makes things hard for these young'uns. That leaves double and the 1-level bids for 2-suited hands (5-5 or even 5-4 in this situation). Here's what I mean:
Dbl = C+H
1D = D+H
1H = majors
1S = S+minor
1NT = minors
You can play a similar system over 1C - 1D, but you change double to mean the majors, and 1H to show hearts and a minor (like 1S).

So, the next time those Precision players come in looking to bid all over you, just wink at your partner and throw a wrench in the works (they should know better).

MG Precision Handbook

It is finished!

I have self-published "MG Precision Handbook" a system played by Meg and myself through lulu.com. The cover might need work, but no one will buy it except maybe me, Meg, and a few friends who like to support accomplishments. Not worried, though. It's like the guy at Master Point Press told me, "It's a system book, which doesn't sell anyway, and you're not Eddie Kantar, so it definitely won't sell." Very true. So, if you would like to read my book, I have the pdf available here. Enjoy!

MG Precision

So, I've decided to write a book (more like a booklet) on the system Meaghin and I play which I've called MG Precision. It has gone through various changes, but when we first started to learn something other than SAYC, I convinced Meaghin that Precision would be fun to try. She told me, "Just get me complete notes on any system you want, and I'll try to learn it." The first one I gave her was Key Lime Precision.

When I first read systems, a lot of them assumed you knew what certain things were like "natural continuations" or "good suit." So, I turned my attention to a more complete description of a precision system called The K-Club written by Ken Allan from Kingston, Ontario. Meg and I played that system to the letter for a long time, and it has helped our game immensely (I think). Over time, I've tweaked and experimented (always bugging Meg about it before changing things) changing the responses to 1C a little, adding almost all of the Italian Asking Bids (giving them their American names rather than the names Alpha, Beta, etc.), changing the responses to 2C a little, etc. So, the base system is K-Club, with elements of Meckwell Precision (the Precision system played by Jeff Meckstroth and Eric Rodwell), Viking Precision, and Marshall Miles's system, the Unbalanced Diamond (responses to 1M mostly).

I find that it is very difficult to invent a system that A) is original, B) works well, and C) is allowed in ACBL GCC (for some reason they are trying to look out for the folks who can't spend all their time reading different systems and coming up with defenses to them). So, most systems nowadays are amalgams of various systems that they've experienced or read about, and this system is no different.

A little about it. I have on this blog the openings for this system (fairly normal Precision openings except for the NT ranges). The features of MG Precision are the Micro NT (10-12 HCP 1NT in 1st and 2nd seat, regardless of vulnerability), Transfer Major Positives after 1C opening, Positive Canape responses to 1C opening, 20-21 HCP 2NT (like Standard, less to learn), Italian Asking Bids, and a non-forcing 1NT response to 1M opening. I think the most fun I have with this system is the Micro NT. We have a great runout scheme for the times opponents like to double such bravado, so it hasn't really bitten us on the butt just yet.

So, I've got about 2 more chapters to write (all defensive bidding chapters), and then I'll look to publish. I'll have to ask my trademark attorney wife/regular partner if I'll be able to, though. I'll keep you updated.

A New System

So, in our little town of Oxford, MS, we have a pretty small duplicate bridge club (about 4 tables, 1 day a week). I've enjoyed playing with my regular partner Meaghin (who is also my wife), as she is very patient when it comes to all the bidding system nonsense I spew at her. Recently, I've become director at this club, and in attempts to up the numbers, Meg has volunteered to be a partner to a new and budding bridge player, and so I am now playing with a partner who actually introduced us to this game all of 4 and a half years ago.

We have been playing 2/1 GF in a very loose sense of the word, but he has shown an interest in playing a new system. This system is called The Unbalanced Diamond, the brainchild of Marshall Miles (known for books like How to Win at Duplicate Bridge and Modern Constructive Bidding). In the book, he calls this "The System," so you know it's good.

So the opening bids are a little different from either Standard bidding or Precision.
1C = 15-19 HCP, any shape
1D = 12-14 HCP, unbalanced hand without 5 or more card in a major
1H = 10-15 HCP, 5 or more hearts
1S = 10-14 HCP, 5 or more spades
1NT = 12-14 HCP, balanced (no 5 card major and sometimes 5422 shape)
2C = 20+ HCP, at least one 5+ card major
2D = 20+ HCP, no 5+ card major OR 22-23 HCP, balanced
2M = Weak 2 Bid
2NT = 20-21 HCP, balanced (may have a 5-card major)

This is how I usually write the opening summary when learning a new system. A few notes about this system:
1. The HCP requirement for each bid is flexible. If you have good major suits, then you would upgrade and if you have scattered values without a long major suit, then you would downgrade.
2. The 1C opening is much like Precision but with an upper limit. As those of you who have played Precision know, when you open 1C you are in this range anyway. It's a rare thing to have the bigger hands.
3. The 2C/2D Strong Bids are an interesting twist on Standard. I actually came up with this kind of idea when I played with a local player Sylvia H. I'm glad to see that someone far better than myself mastered the concept.
4. The 1D opening is NON-FORCING, even though the opener could conceivably have absolutely no diamonds.
5. Weak NT is the trend, folks; get on board! Important to have a run-out scheme, though.
6. The upper limit for opening 1H and 1S are different. Not sure why yet, as the book hasn't come in the mail yet. All of this info was read on Google book preview (yes, they have bridge books too).

David and I may debut this system next Tuesday, so we'll see how it does against all the Standard bidders. Until then, keep up the good bridge!

More Bridge: or How to Answer Your Partner When He Bids 1M

So, I opened a huge can of problems trying to tackle this issue. Responding to 1 of a Major is one of the most talked about parts of bidding I've ever come across. Everyone has their own opinion it seems like, but I think I've boiled it down to 2 major philosophies: 1NT NF (SAYC), 1NT Forcing or Semi-forcing (2/1, most Precision).

What I mean is that there are a number of conventions and whatnot that you and your partner can play like Jacoby 2NT, Bergen Raises, MGQ (convention created by me and my regular partner, the wifey), etc., BUT whether or not 1NT response is forcing defines a system of responses.

In a non-forcing 1NT response system, any bid at the 2-level lower than the opening major is forcing BUT not necessarily to game. They include invitational value hands, game-forcing hands or bigger. The big plus to this is that you can play 1NT more often (which in MP play is the most likely part-score to be top at a small club), and you get to bid very naturally given you have the points to bid at the 2-level to begin with. Meg and I play this system as it is what we started with and we haven't been convinced that the other philosophy is superior. Here's a summary of what we play today:
1H - 1S = 4+ spades, F1
---- 1NT = 6-9 HCP, no 4+ spades or 3+ hearts, NON-FORCING
---- 2C/2D = 10+ HCP, 5+ cards in bid suit (may have 3 card support)
---- 2H = 6-9 pts, 3+ hearts
---- 2NT = 10-12 HCP, balanced
---- 2S/3C/3D = MGQ (Game-forcing, good heart support, and 1st round control of bid suit)
---- 3H = 10-12 pts, 4+ hearts
---- 3NT = Choice of game (balanced with 3 hearts)
---- 3S/4C/4D = Splinters
---- 4H = To play

In this system, you bid fairly naturally with 10+ HCP hands without support, and the raises are standard. The only way to game-force is by use of the MGQ with good support for opener or bid 2 of a minor, then keep forcing (we use 4th-suit-forcing to game).

On the other hand, 1NT Forcing (or Semi-forcing, which means opener can pass with a balanced bare-minimum) allows for more scientific bidding. What happens is that since 1NT is forcing for 1 round, you can allow all kinds of hand types to be shoved into one bid to be described more clearly on the 2nd bid. This in turn, frees up some of the higher bids to mean other things. Take this response system for example:
1H - 1S = 4+ spades, F1
---- 1NT = Forcing (could be 5-7 pt. heart raise OR invitational balanced hand OR invitational 3-card raise OR any other hand that is 7-11 HCP with no heart support)
---- 2C = Game-forcing, balanced OR 5+ clubs, unbalanced
---- 2D = Game-forcing and natural (5+ diamonds)
---- 2H = 8-10 pts, 3+ cards (a constructive raise, much harder for opponents to get into it)
---- 2S = 5-9 HCP, 6+ spades
---- 2NT = 10+ pts, 4+ hearts (or 3 hearts if unbalanced)
---- 3C/3D = 10-12 HCP, 6+ card suit (no heart support)
---- 3H = 7-9 pts, 4+ hearts (a kind of mixed raise for those of you who are fans of Bergen)
---- 3NT = Choice of game (balanced with 3 hearts)
---- 3S/4C/4D = Splinters
---- 4H = To play

This system is I think what Jeff Meckstroth and Eric Rodwell used to play in their Precision system (they might still. I'm not sure as they won't publish their very desirable bidding system). Of course, their system, like almost all experts' systems, are a lot more involved with bids being defined 3 or 4 bids in. But they get to Game-force early at the 2-level, and use all those higher bids for more specific, invitational hands. I especially like the use of 2NT to include invitational hands with support, leaving the weaker hands to raise and jump-raise depending on the number of trump support.

Well, chew on that for a little while, then decide what is best for you and your partner. There are pluses and minuses in both, so don't feel like one camp has it all over the other. If you want to hear about more bizarre response systems, drop me a line. I'm shouting to the wilderness, for pete's sake.