BOOK 4
BRIDGE a new way to think—through play
This is the four volume of a FOUR-BOOK SERIES devoted to a complete study of the auction using the SAYC and Two-Over-One systems, guiding players from beginner fundamentals to advanced competitive bidding.
THE TWO-OVER-ONE SYSTEM
As is well known to players who learned bridge before the development of the 2/1 system, an opening bid of one of a major shows at least 12 HCP, and a non-jump new-suit response at the two level without interference shows 10+ points. Under these conditions, it becomes extremely difficult for the Opener to determine whether the Responder holds the additional 3 or 4 points required to reach game.
As we shall see in our detailed study of this system, when the Responder bids a new suit at the two level without a jump after a one-major opening, it shows 13+ HCP and is game forcing.
The great strength of this approach is that from Responder’s very first bid, the partnership already knows that game is guaranteed.
Recognizing the importance of this system, I introduced its fundamentals in Book 1 for Beginners, and its basic development in Book 2 for Intermediate players.
In my judgment, any player who claims to compete at an advanced level must have a thorough command of this system.
1NT FORCING
When we open one of the majors with a minimum balanced hand of 12 HCP and the Responder bids 1NT showing 6 HCP, the partnership is often forced to search for a safe part score at the two- or three-level, with limited chances of success.
On the other hand, there may well be a major fit with sufficient combined strength to reach game — or even slam — or adequate controls in all suits to play 3NT. It may also turn out that a suit contract is superior to 1NT.
The complete system presented in this book allows us to minimize risk in the first scenario and reach the optimal contract in the second.
To demonstrate its effectiveness, we analyze a wide range of hands with different point counts and distributions, along with the full spectrum of possible bidding sequences by both Opener and Responder.
ROBERTO NEWMAN is an expert Bridge player with over 50 years of experience, and the creator of a teaching methodology successfully applied to students from beginner to advanced levels.