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The standard played globally in bridge clubs and over the internet.
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If you hold a license to use this online book, a hard copy may be printed for personal reference U.1, but the document is really long!!! and it is not guaranteed the document will format and print correctly on your system. In addition, if you print a hard copy now you will not have updates unless you come back and print the document again, and again, and again. It is best to select and print sections or tables you want to read and/or review via hard copy and work with the complete document over the internet. ______________________________ U.1 Copyright © 2006 by Fred E. Ferguson, The Ferguson Group, Hilton Head Island, SC USA. All rights reserved. License holders may print a hard copy of this document for personal use only, but no part may be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form electronic or mechanical without written permission from Fred E. Ferguson.
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Overview of Standard American SAYCStandard American SAYC is generally a natural method of bidding. There are few conventions in use and no complex bidding systems. According to ACBL there should be few Alerts and Announcements.
Opening suit bids and responses are natural, meaning that a bid shows length in a suit and a willingness to play in that suit. Opening notrump bids show a balanced hand and a willingness to play in notrump. The conventions and system bids, bids with a defined meaning and not intended as a willingness to play in the suit bid, are primarily in response to 1Nt opening bids.
Few bidding sequences are defined in the later rounds of auctions and players are free to assign forcing, invitational or non-forcing meanings to natural calls in such sequences. Players may still exercise their bridge judgments for example, SAYC, normally a 5-card majors approach, can withstand an occasional deviation such as deciding to open a 4-card major in third seat. However, players who routinely open a 4-card major in third seat or use light initial actions are not adhering to the spirit of SAYC. Psychs are very rare! A totally unexpected psych is not illegal, but players who wish to psych with any degree of frequency should not be playing a standard SAYC card.
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Standard American SAYC | ©2006 Fred E. Ferguson | The Ferguson Group | fred@onent.com |
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.Make point count your servant, not your master. ―Terence Reese . Chapter 1: Hand Valuation.
In contract bridge partnerships first auction, via competitive bidding, to
determine which partnership will undertake a contract to win a required number
of tricks. During the auction each partnership works together to reach
their optimum contract to play the hand of bridge. Through bidding, the
partnership decides the
level
to which they can afford to bid (how many tricks they can take) and the
denomination or
strain (
In Chapter 1: Hand Valuation we focus on how partnerships determine the strength of their hands. Beginning in Chapter 2 we focus on how partnerships communicate, through bidding, the strength and shape (distribution) of their hand using the Standard American SAYC system.
Point Count MethodTo determine the strength (or total value) of a hand, features are first given a relative point value that allow partnerships to communicate strength.
Tricks are taken one of three ways: with high cards (A, K, Q, J and 10), with long suits where even low cards (2, 3, 4, 5, and 6) can win tricks, and by playing a trump card (trumping or ruffing) when a player can't follow suit. Winning tricks by trumping requires two concurrent features in one hand: first, a short suit and second, enough cards in the trump suit to ruff losers in partner's hand. When doing our initial hand valuation (there has been no bidding) we do not know the trump suit or if there is a fit with partner, thus, valuing shortness for trumping before it is known if the partnership has a fit does not work. Short suits without trumping power do not take tricks!!! Re-evaluating hands to consider shortness will be discussed later in this class.
When doing our initial hand valuation we do know tricks are taken with high cards and long suits.
· High Card Points: Tricks are taken with high cards, thus, a relative point value is awarded to the four highest honor cards in a suit . The Ace ("A") is assigned 4 points, the King ("K") - 3 points, the Queen ("Q") - 2 points and the Jack ("J")- 1 point (some argue that the 10 card should be awarded ½ point).1.1 These points are referred to as high card points ("hcp"). Authorities recognize that the 4-3-2-1 count has some deficiencies and many recommend some corrections1.2, but the simplicity of this approach to valuing a hand has lead to its universal acceptance.
· Distribution Points: Goren supplemented the original point count system with valuation for shortness (distribution). But, as has already been discussed, short suits, in and of themselves, do not take tricks. However, extra cards in long suits do take tricks, thus, distribution points are awarded for length in the initial hand valuation. One point is awarded for each card over 4 in a suit.1.3 A 5-card suit is awarded 1 point (for one card more than 4), a 6-card suit - 2 points (for two cards more than 4), a 7-card suit - 3 points, a 8-card suit - 4 points, etc. These points are referred to as distribution points ("dp") or length points in the initial hand valuation..
· Hand Value: By adding together the high card points ("hcp") and the distribution points ("dp") the total points ("points") represents the strength or relative value of the hand. .
. Strategic Issues: There are also strategic issues that impact the value of a hand. For example, you hold ♣KJxx. The point count method says this suit has 4 hcp, but winning more than one club trick could be difficult. Either the ♣A or ♣Q could take one of your honors or the clubs might not be played four tricks or someone could ruff in on clubs before you can score your ♣J. If partner initially bids clubs or supports clubs, you can probably count on partner to have an honor, now the ♣KJxx opposed to partners ♣Q10xx or ♣A10xx gives you a nice combined suit holding of ♣AKJ10xxxx or ♣KQJ10xxxx and ♣J looks to take a trick. If however, it is your left hand opponent that bids clubs (and will be playing after you in the play of the cards sequence) he may have ♣AQ10x sitting behind your ♣KJxx and your 4 points may be worthless.
. . ______________________________ 1.1 The point count system of high card valuation was first introduced by Bryant McCampbell in 1915 and publicized in America by Milton Work, after whom it was named, but was not in favor in America until publicized by Fred Karpin and Charles Goren (Point Count Bidding 1949). 1.2 The points assigned to hand features can be refined or modified. For example, a Queen in a suit holding of Qxx may never take a trick and is not worth 2 points, but combine the Qxx with another honor such as AQx, KQx or QJx and the Queen has real value and may be worth more than 2 points. 1.3 According to the Encyclopedia of Bridge, the distributional point count system of adding points for length (Karpin Count) was popularized (1947) by Fred Karpin. Throughout the years noted bridge authorities have continued to support length points. In 1964 Terence Reese in his book Bridge for Bright Beginners (p.24) uses length distribution points to back into opening bids: 13 points with no long suit, 12 points with a 5-card suit and 11 points with a 6-card suit or two 5-card suits. In modern bridge era, as early as 1986 in his book Commonsense Bidding (p.2) William Root assigned value for long suits. In 1990 Audrey Grant made this method of valuing long suits standard for new bridge players with the publishing by the ACBL of Volume 1: Bidding - The Club Series (p.30). And, in 2000 Max Hardy has continued this method of initial hand valuation adding points for length in his 2/1 book Standard Bridge Bidding for the 21st Century (p.9). ___________________________________________________________________________________
Standard American SAYC | ©2006 Fred E. Ferguson | The Ferguson Group | fred@onent.com |
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Bidding ... the fundamentals of the game.
Remember, through bidding the partnership decides the level to which they can afford to bid (how many tricks they can take) and the denomination (♣, ♦, ♥, ♠ or notrump) the partnership prefers. Chapter 1: Hand Valuation focused on how partnerships determine the strength or value of their hands to make bidding decisions.
The commitment of making a required number of tricks is what distinguishes Contract Bridge from all previous forms of the game. In Auction Bridge there was no incentive to bidding higher once you had won the auction. Contract Bridge, however, provides bonuses for bidding and making a game contract or a slam contract (discussed later). To understand the bidding process, we need to understand the game bonus levels. To make game in a notrump contract (3Nt) requires the partnership to take 9 tricks (6 book + 3 odd tricks - the level to which the partnership bids) and experience tells that to fulfill this contract will require 25 (or 26)2.1 combined points. To make game in a major suit (4M or 4♥ or 4♠) requires the partnership to take 10 tricks (6 book + 4 odd tricks - the level to which the partnership bids) and experience tells that to fulfill this contract will require 26 combined points. To make game in a minor suit (5m or 5♣ or 5♦) requires the partnership to take 11 tricks (6 book + 5 odd tricks - the level to which the partnership bids) and experience tells that to fulfill this contract will require 29 combined points. .
. Chapter 2: General Approach and Opening Bids begins to focus on how partnerships communicate, through competitive bidding, the strength and shape (distribution) of their hands.
. . Roles of the Partnership Opener: The opener is the first person to bid at the table. The opener does not yet know anything about partner's hand. The opener begins the process of describing his hand by telling partner about the strength and distribution of his hand. (see Opener) Responder: The responder is the opener's partner. Responder bids to describe her hand to opener. But responder has the advantage of having heard opener's first descriptive bid. Responder knows more about the combined holding of the partnership and has the initial responsibility of the auction (captaincy) of guiding the partnership to the best contract.
The responder has to evaluate What Level? and What Denomination (suit or notrump)? to which the partnership should commit. (see Responder) What Level?: The responder must estimate the combined strength of the two hands and determine whether the partnership belongs in a partscore, game, or slam contract. What Denomination?: The responder must also estimate the combined distribution of the partnership to determine whether the partnership should play in a suit or in notrump.
When one partner opens the bidding a communications process begins. The opener is the first person to bid at the table and there is only one opener per auction.
Opening Notrump: Opening in notrump (1Nt, 2Nt or 3Nt) is a special bid. Remember, the opener is the describer and begins the bidding process by describing his hand to partner. The opening bid should give as much information as possible to partner about the strength and distribution of opener's hand. One of the best descriptive opening bids is the notrump opening bid. To understand the uniqueness of notrump it is important to first understand the concept of balanced and unbalanced hands.
· Balanced vs. Unbalanced Hands: A balanced hand does not have disproportional shortness and/or length in any one suit. Shortness in a suit is considered to be a void (no cards in a suit), a singleton (1 card in a suit) or a doubleton (2 cards in a suit). A balanced hand will have no voids, no singletons, and not more than one doubleton and by inference this also means a balanced hand will not have a 6-card suit and not more than one 5-card suit. Balanced hands will have a shape of 4-3-3-3 ("square hand") or 4-4-3-2 or 5-3-3-2. All other shapes are unbalanced.
Since notrump hands cannot trump in side suits, notrump contracts must guard against all suits. In addition, since a notrump hand has no trumping (ruffing) value, notrump hands requires more strength (total points) to take the same number of tricks as a suit bid at the same level. To make game in a notrump contract (3Nt) requires the partnership to take 9 tricks (6 + 3 the level to which the partnership bids) and experience tells that to fulfill this contract will require 25 (to 26) combined points.
Since a notrump contract requires more strength to take the same number of tricks it therefore takes more points to open in notrump than a suit contract. To open 1Nt requires 15 to 17 points.2.2 Because the notrump bidder will have a balanced shape, the notrump bidder will not have a 6-card suit and not more than one 5-card suit. This means the minimum points the 1Nt bidder can have is 14 hcp + 1 dp - more than the requirement to open one of a suit. .
. Opening One of a Suit: To open one of a suit (1♣, 1♦, 1♥ or 1♠) requires a minimum of 13 but no more than 21 points combining high card points and distribution (length) points. Players who routinely use light initial actions are not adhering to the spirit of SAYC.
Since often what doesn't happen at the table is just as important as what does happen at the table. It is imperative to open all 13 point hands. If you have 13 points and don't open partner will never know the strength of your hand. If you have 13 points find a bid!!!
If you have as much as 22 points and a hand that should be opened in a suit, you have too many points to open one of a suit. This bid requires a special bid to communicate the strength of your hand. Strong and forcing 2♣ opening bids will be discussed later in this class.
· Major Suits: You need 5 or more cards to open the bidding in a major suit (1♥ or 1♠), thus, a "5-card major suit" system. Opener wants to describe his hand, both strength and shape, as accurately as possible. While not as descriptive as an opening 1Nt bid, when opener starts the bidding with 1♥ or 1♠, the bid describes a hand that has at least 13 points and at least 5-cards in the major suit bid. To make game in a major suit (4♥ or 4♠) requires the partnership to take 10 tricks (6 + 4 the level to which the partnership bids) and experience tells that to fulfill this contract will require about 26 combined points.
· Minor Suits: You have 13-21 points and do not have a 5-card major you have to open a minor suit. With no 5-card (or longer) major and a hand not suitable to opening 1Nt, bid your better minor (1♣ or 1♦) - generally your longer minor. To make game in a minor suit (5♣ or 5♦) requires the partnership to take 11 tricks (6 + 5 the level to which the partnership bids) and experience tells us that to fulfill this contract will require about 29 combined points. .
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Standard American SAYC
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with 4-4 in the minors and 1
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