Conventions? The primary improvements in Two Over One are in a number of bids called 'conventions', which are used in special bidding situations. You already know some conventions -- Blackwood and Stayman, for example. You'll be exposed to dozens of newer conventions in this series.
As you read the conventions in the sections that follow, the conventional bids will seem straightforward enough -- but remembering them at the table is another thing. That you'll learn over time with practice.
Slow and Easy. Don't try to adopt everything you read here at once. Try the conventions one at a time and be comfortable with each one before you move on to another one. If you don't like it, don't use it. It's much more important that you and your partner have a well thought-out method of handling common competitive bidding situations than it is to use all the conventions in this book. We don't use them all -- few players do.
All Legal Systems Must Be Well Known. Today, most tournament players who play Standard American will play a high percentage of the conventions in this book -- most are not unique to Two Over One. You'll be comfortable playing against players who play Standard, as most of their bids will be the same ones you would make with the same cards playing Two Over One. And vice versa -- they'll be OK with you using Two Over One. (In case you're wondering, you cannot make up your own system. It's not allowed in competitive play -- besides, it's way too hard!)
Why "Two Over One" ? The name "Two Over One" comes from one feature of the system which is decidedly different than Standard:
A response of two of a new suit, by a non-passed hand,
that is not a shift, over an opening bid of
one of a suit, creates a game forcing sequence.That's it. Simple, yet powerful when you see all the implications, as you will in the following sections -- stay tuned.
The Two Over One game force situation comes up many fewer times than you would guess.
Nevertheless, it's the feature of Two Over One that has given its name to the system.
(c) Robert D. McConnell, 1998 All Rights Reserved