Valuation, systems, openings, responses, and every convention switch.
Bidding is a conversation in a language of about forty words, and the first thing you say is how much your hand is worth. The standard measure:
| Card | Points |
|---|---|
| Ace | 4 |
| King | 3 |
| Queen | 2 |
| Jack | 1 |
Forty points in the pack, ten in an average hand. As a rough map: 12+ is an opening hand; 6+ is enough to respond to partner's opening; 25 or so between two hands is enough for game in no trumps or a major; 33 for a small slam; 37 for a grand.
Shape matters as much as points. High-card points measure tricks won by force; length and shortage win tricks by exhaustion and ruffing. Two adjustments cover most of it:
Beware of quacks: queens and jacks in short suits, unsupported by higher honours, habitually take fewer tricks than their four points suggest. Aces and kings are worth slightly more than their count, especially at the slam level, which is why ace-asking conventions exist at all.
A bidding system is a set of agreed meanings. The app offers two, chosen in Settings, and the robots — plus every hint, explanation and review comment — follow whichever you pick.
American Standard 2/1 — the mainstream American approach.
ACOL — the British standard, and the natural home of rubber bridge.
Neither is better. 2/1 is more precise on game-forcing hands; ACOL is more natural, quicker to find major fits, and its weak no-trump makes life hard for opponents. Switching systems in Settings resets the convention switches to that system's defaults — and if you switch mid-auction, the app restarts the auction rather than let a hybrid conversation happen.
With 12 or more points, you open. The choice of opening bid follows a short priority list.
Balanced hands in the no-trump range. If your shape is flat (4-3-3-3, 4-4-3-2, 5-3-3-2) and your points fall in the 1NT range — 15–17 in 2/1, 12–14 in ACOL — open 1NT. This single bid describes the whole hand in one call and is the backbone of both systems. 2NT shows the next balanced range up (20–21, or 20–22 in ACOL).
Otherwise, open your longest suit. With two suits of equal length, the general rule is the higher-ranking of two five-card suits, and the lower of two four-card suits — though system detail differs.
Minor-suit openings. In 2/1, with no five-card major you open the better minor: 1♦ with four-four, 1♣ with three-three. The alternative switch, short club, promises four diamonds for a 1♦ opening and lets 1♣ be as short as a doubleton.
Strong hands: 2♣. In both systems 2♣ is the artificial strong opening — roughly 23+ points, or a hand that can nearly make game on its own. It says nothing about clubs and forces partner to respond.
Other two-level openings are set by the Two-level Openings switch:
Asking about a weak two. Five to ten points is a wide range, so partner needs a way to find out. 2NT asks, and the Responses to Weak Twos switch decides what the answer means:
Ask on about 14–16 with a fit — the range where opener's answer decides between a part-score and a game. With more, just bid the game; with less, raise to make life awkward for the opponents and leave it there.
The switch also has an Off setting, which makes 2NT natural again and leaves responder to place the contract on their own hand. The whole row only appears while two-level openings are set to Weak — there is nothing to ask about otherwise.
Preempts at the three level and higher show a long suit and little defence. The classic guide is the rule of two, three and four: bid to within two tricks of your hand's playing strength when vulnerable against non-vulnerable, three when equal, four when non-vulnerable against vulnerable. In rubber bridge, preempting when the opponents are close to a game is particularly profitable.
Partner has opened. Your first duty is to keep the auction alive if there is any chance of a game, and to stop it cheaply if there is not.
With 0–5 points, pass. There is no game and no point describing a hand that cannot contribute.
With 6–9 points, make one cheap, limited call: raise partner's suit to the two level with support, bid a new suit at the one level, or bid 1NT. Then, unless partner shows extra strength, stop.
With 10–12 points, invite: jump-raise partner's major to the three level, or bid 2NT, saying "we have a game if you have more than a minimum."
With 13+, game is on somewhere. In 2/1, a new suit at the two level is the game-forcing tool; in ACOL, you bid naturally and force with a jump shift or a bid in a new suit at your second turn.
Raising partner's major is the most important decision in bridge. An eight-card fit is what turns 25 combined points into ten tricks. If you have four-card support, say so at once — Jacoby 2NT (a 2/1 switch) exists purely to show four-card support with game values while leaving room for slam investigation.
Opener's rebid completes the picture: a minimum rebid shows 12–15, a jump rebid or a reverse shows 16–18, a jump to game shows 19+. A reverse — bidding a second suit higher-ranking than the first at a higher level, e.g. 1♦ then 2♥ — always shows extra values, because it forces partner to the three level to return to your first suit.
Whenever you are unsure of any of this at the table, tap a call in the panel before placing it: the app tells you exactly what the call means in your chosen system, and 💡 tells you what the engine would bid and why.
Because 1NT describes a hand so exactly, the auctions after it are the most scientific in bridge. Two conventions do nearly all the work, and both are on by default in both systems.
Stayman (2♣). Over partner's 1NT, 2♣ is artificial and asks "do you have a four-card major?" Opener answers 2♦ (no), 2♥ or 2♠ (yes, this one). You use it with the values to be interested in game and at least one four-card major of your own — the point being to find a 4-4 major fit, which usually takes one trick more than no trumps.
Jacoby Transfers (2♦ / 2♥). Over 1NT, 2♦ says "bid 2♥" and 2♥ says "bid 2♠". You then pass with a weak hand, or bid on to describe a stronger one. Two things are gained: the strong hand becomes declarer, so the opening lead comes up to it rather than through it; and weak hands with a long major get to play in the right suit at the two level instead of struggling in 1NT.
Two further switches extend the structure — both off by default, since they occupy bids that are otherwise natural:
Gerber (4♣), an ACOL default, asks for aces directly over a no-trump bid, since 4NT over no trumps is more useful as a quantitative invite ("bid six if you are maximum") than as ace-asking.
A small slam needs about 33 combined points, a grand about 37 — but points are the smaller half of the question. What actually defeats slams is missing two aces, or an ace and the trump king. Ace-asking conventions exist to check that before committing.
Blackwood (4NT), in its regular form, asks for aces:
| Reply | Shows |
|---|---|
| 5♣ | 0 or 4 aces |
| 5♦ | 1 ace |
| 5♥ | 2 aces |
| 5♠ | 3 aces |
Roman Key Card Blackwood counts five key cards — the four aces and the king of trumps — and also tells you about the trump queen. It is markedly better, because the trump king is exactly as important as an ace when you are twelve tricks deep. Two response schemes are offered; both use the same 5♥/5♠ answers:
| Reply | 1430 | 3014 |
|---|---|---|
| 5♣ | 1 or 4 | 0 or 3 |
| 5♦ | 0 or 3 | 1 or 4 |
| 5♥ | 2 without the trump queen | |
| 5♠ | 2 with the trump queen | |
2/1 defaults to 1430, ACOL to regular Blackwood; both are changed from the Blackwood selector in Settings, which also has an Off position that makes 4NT natural or quantitative.
In rubber bridge, be a little more willing to bid a slam than a duplicate player would when it is likely and you are vulnerable — 750 is a large fraction of a rubber. But be less willing to explore one when the exploration might push you past a safe game: a game made is a game towards the rubber, and 4♠ making beats 6♠ down every time.
When the opponents open, you are not obliged to be silent. But the risks are different: your partner has not promised anything, and a bad overcall doubled can be the most expensive call in the game.
Overcalls show a decent five-card suit or longer. At the one level, 8–16 points is a normal range; at the two level, expect a good suit and opening values. A jump overcall is preemptive: a long suit and little else. The purposes are to suggest a lead, to find your own fit, and to steal the opponents' room — in that order.
Takeout doubles show an opening hand with support for the unbid suits — classically short in the opponents' suit and at least three cards in each of the others. Partner must bid, choosing their best unbid suit, and a jump response shows extra values. This is the single most useful competitive call in bridge and is on by default in both systems.
Negative doubles handle the awkward case where partner has opened, the opponent has overcalled, and you have the unbid suits but not the strength to bid them at the level now required. The double shows those suits rather than a wish to penalise. The trade-off is that you can no longer make a cheap penalty double in that seat — which is why it is a switch.
Michaels cue-bids handle the two-suited hands that a simple overcall describes badly. Bidding the opponents' own opening suit — 2♦ over 1♦, 2♥ over 1♥ — cannot be natural, so it is used to show two suits at once, at least 5-5:
The gain is describing five-five in one call where 1♠ would show one suit and hide the other. The cost is that partner is obliged to answer however weak they are — so the app's robots read an advance of a Michaels cue as showing nothing at all, and only a jump above the cheapest level promises values.
Landy (2♣) over an opponent's 1NT opening shows both majors, at least 5-4. It gives you a way into an auction where the opponents have just described a strong balanced hand — particularly useful against a weak no-trump.
Balancing. When an opening bid is followed by two passes, the fourth player is bidding with partner's values borrowed: you may act on about three points less than you would in the direct seat. In rubber bridge, where letting the opponents play a comfortable part-score can cost the rubber, this light protective bidding is a steady earner.
A double of a 1NT opening is for penalties, not takeout. It shows a hand at least as strong as the opener — about 15+ HCP (more against a strong no-trump). Partner should normally pass and defend: 1NT doubled going two or three down is one of the best-paying results in rubber bridge.
Advancer pulls the double only when very weak (0–4 points) with a long suit — with nothing to contribute in defence, bidding a five-card suit at the two level is safer than watching 1NT doubled make.
Escaping when your 1NT is doubled — the wriggle. When you open a weak 1NT and the next hand doubles, responder with a weak hand should not sit and suffer:
The key principle, as teachers like Andrew Robson stress: doubled undertricks grow quickly — two down doubled (300, or 500 vulnerable) often costs more than the opponents could have scored, so a weak responder should wriggle towards any playable trump fit.
Every switch on the System & Conventions screen, what it does, and which system offers it. Changing one changes the robots' bidding, the meanings shown when you tap a call, the 💡 suggestion, and the Analysis screen's verdict on your auction — they are all the same engine.
| Switch | Meaning | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Stayman | 2♣ over 1NT asks for a four-card major | On, both |
| Jacoby Transfers | 2♦/2♥ over 1NT transfer to ♥/♠ | On, both |
| 2♠ range ask / minors | 2♠ over 1NT asks opener's range or starts a minor takeout | Off, both |
| 2NT transfer to ♦ | 2NT over 1NT is a weak transfer to 3♦ | Off, both |
| Two-level openings | Weak twos / ACOL strong twos / off | Weak in 2/1, Strong in ACOL |
| Responses to weak twos | 2NT asks: off, Ogust, or feature-showing. Only offered when two-level openings are Weak | Ogust, both |
| Blackwood | Off, regular, RKCB 1430 or RKCB 3014 | 1430 in 2/1, regular in ACOL |
| Landy | 2♣ over their 1NT shows both majors | Off, both |
| Michaels cue-bids | Cue-bidding their opening suit shows a two-suiter | On in 2/1, off in ACOL |
| Jacoby 2NT | 2NT over 1♥/1♠ shows 4-card support, game values | On in 2/1 only |
| Negative doubles | Double of an overcall shows the unbid suits | On, both |
| Takeout doubles | Double of an opening asks partner to bid | On, both |
| Gerber | 4♣ over a NT bid asks for aces | On in ACOL only |
| Minor-suit openings | Better minor, or short club | Better minor (2/1) |
| Signalling | Attitude, or reverse attitude, on partner's lead | Attitude |
| Discards | Attitude, reverse attitude, or McKenney | Attitude |
The two carding switches at the bottom are defensive agreements rather than bidding ones — they tell the robots how to read your spot cards, and how to signal to you. They are described in the Card Play chapter.
Rase plays a full rubber, scores it the traditional way, and grades every bid and card afterwards.
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