Bridge Conventions

What each one means, which are worth playing, and which Rase deals you.

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What a Convention Actually Is#

A convention is a bid that has been agreed to mean something other than what it says. When you open 1♥ you are talking about hearts; when you respond 2♣ to partner's 1NT playing Stayman, you are not talking about clubs at all — you are asking a question about majors.

They exist because the auction is a very narrow channel. You have perhaps four or five calls to describe thirteen cards to somebody who cannot see them, and the natural meanings do not use that space efficiently. A convention takes a bid that would rarely be useful naturally and spends it on a question that comes up often.

The cost is real and is usually understated. Every convention you adopt is a natural bid you have given up, a sequence you and partner must both remember under pressure, and a new way to have a disaster when only one of you does. A convention you half-remember is worse than the natural bid it replaced.

The right number for most players is small, and the right order to learn them in is the order below: the ones that answer questions you are actually being asked.

The Conventions Rase Plays#

Thirteen switches, each one on or off independently, under System & Conventions. The defaults differ between the two systems — American Standard 2/1 and ACOL — because the systems disagree about which questions matter. The robots bid to whatever you choose, and so does the engine that suggests your calls.

Convention	What it does	Default
Stayman	2♣ over 1NT asks for a four-card major.	On, both
Jacoby transfers	2♦ and 2♥ over 1NT make opener declare your major.	On, both
Blackwood	4NT asks for aces — or, as RKCB, for five key cards and the trump queen.	RKCB 1430 in 2/1, regular in ACOL
Gerber	4♣ asks for aces over a no-trump bid, leaving 4NT free to be quantitative.	On in ACOL only
Jacoby 2NT	2NT over 1♥/1♠ shows four-card support and game values, with room below game.	On in 2/1 only
Takeout doubles	A double of an opening asks partner to name a suit.	On, both
Negative doubles	A double of an overcall shows the unbid suits rather than a wish to punish.	On, both
Michaels cue-bids	Bidding their suit shows two suits of your own.	On in 2/1, off in ACOL
Landy	2♣ over their 1NT shows both majors.	Off, both
Ogust	2NT asks a weak two whether the hand is good and whether the suit is.	On when two-level openings are weak
2♠ range ask / minors	2♠ over 1NT asks opener's range, or starts a minor-suit takeout.	Off, both
2NT transfer to ♦	2NT over 1NT is a weak transfer to 3♦.	Off, both
Minor-suit openings	Better minor, or a prepared short club.	Better minor in 2/1

Two more switches are carding rather than bidding — your signalling method and your discards — and they tell the robots how to read your spot cards as well as how to signal to you. The bidding chapter's switch table lists all of them in the app's own words.

Other Conventions You Will Meet#

These are not in Rase, and you will run into all of them in books, columns and at a club. Knowing what a name means is most of the benefit; you do not have to play it.

Convention	What it does
Splinter	A double jump in a new suit agreeing partner's, showing a singleton or void there and enough for game.
Fourth suit forcing	Bidding the one unbid suit artificially, to force and ask for more description rather than to play there.
Lebensohl	A 2NT relay used after an opponent interferes, to separate weak hands from invitational ones.
Drury	A passed hand's 2♣ response to a third- or fourth-seat major opening, showing a real fit and asking whether the opening was light. Two-way, or reverse, Drury uses 2♦ as well to say which.
Jordan (Truscott) 2NT	2NT over an opponent's takeout double, showing a limit raise or better in partner's suit.
Bergen raises	3♣ and 3♦ as two different strengths of four-card major raise, keeping the natural raise for something else.
Smolen	After 1NT–2♣–2♦, jumping in your four-card major to show five of the other one.
XYZ	After three bids at the one level, 2♣ becomes a relay to 2♦ for weak hands and 2♦ becomes game-forcing.
Unusual 2NT	A 2NT overcall showing at least five-five in the two lowest unbid suits.
Cappelletti (Hamilton), DONT, Brozel, Woolsey	Four rival schemes for competing against a 1NT opening, each assigning the two-level bids and the double to different shapes. Landy is the simplest member of the family.
Unusual versus unusual	A way of answering a two-suited overcall, using cue-bids to distinguish which suits you have.
Namyats	Opening 4♣ or 4♦ to show a strong preempt in hearts or spades, leaving the direct 4♥/4♠ for the weaker version.
Wolff signoff	3♣ after opener's 2NT rebid, used to stop low rather than to bid clubs.

The list is not exhaustive and cannot be — conventions are invented continually, and most of them are played by the people who invented them. If you meet a name that is not here, it is almost certainly a variation on one that is.

Three Things That Are Not Conventions#

Worth separating, because they are constantly listed as conventions and are not. Each is a piece of natural bidding judgement that happens to have a name.

A reverse. Bidding two suits in an order that forces partner to the three level to give preference — 1♦ then 2♥ — and therefore promising extra strength. Nothing is artificial about it. It is a natural sequence that costs room, so it has to show the values to pay for the room.
A limit raise. A raise that shows a specific range and invites, rather than forcing or signing off. Again natural: it means what it says, and the name describes the kind of bid rather than a code.
Balancing. Bidding in the pass-out seat on less than you would need in direct seat, because partner's silence is known to contain some values. A judgement, not an agreement.

The distinction matters at the table because a convention has to be discussed with partner in advance and these three do not. They are just bidding well.

How Many You Actually Need#

Four, to begin with, and in this order:

Stayman and transfers, because 1NT is the most common opening you will hold and without them you cannot find a major fit opposite it.
Takeout doubles, because without them a double means penalties and you will pass out far too many hands the opponents should not have been allowed to play.
Blackwood, because the slam you bid missing two aces costs more than every convention on this page saves.

Everything else is refinement, and refinement is worth less than it looks. The gap between a player with four conventions and good judgement and a player with twenty and poor judgement is not close, and it does not favour the twenty. The bidding chapter is about the judgement.

Common questions#

What is the difference between a convention and a bidding system?

A system is the natural framework — what an opening bid promises, how many cards a major shows. Conventions are agreements bolted onto it, each replacing one bid that would otherwise mean what it says.

How many bridge conventions do I need to know?

Four are enough to play properly: Stayman, Jacoby transfers, takeout doubles and Blackwood. Every one after those buys less than the last, and each is a natural bid given up and a sequence to remember.

Do both partners have to agree a convention beforehand?

Yes, always. A convention one player is using and the other is not is worse than no convention at all, because the natural meaning has been given up and nothing has replaced it.

Is a reverse a convention?

No. A reverse is a natural sequence — two suits bid in an order that costs partner room — which is why it promises extra values. Nothing about it is artificial and it needs no agreement.

Which conventions does Rase support?

Thirteen switches, including Stayman, Jacoby transfers, Blackwood and RKCB, Gerber, Jacoby 2NT, Landy, Michaels, Ogust, and negative and takeout doubles. Each can be turned on or off under System & Conventions.