"Standard American" and Other Bidding Systems
There is in most bridge players' minds a 'standard' way to bid a bridge hand. (Partners always bid non-standard, but that is the nature of partners). Most of your opponents in the U.S. will play 'Standard' as they understand it. It's the system you should start Duplicate with, too, assuming that's what you first learned.
Bidding Systems. Any system of bidding must be able to handle every possible bidding situation or else it's not a system at all. In any complete system there will be situations it handles beautifully and others that are awkward. A good system will have many more of the former and few of the latter, but all have this problem. A comparison of systems will show the relative strengths and weaknesses; elegant and awkward situations. The best known system is usually called 'Goren'.
The Goren 'Standard'. The system we know best developed over the past 60 years or so, from the Golden Age of Bridge, before radio and then television stole the minds of America. That many years ago, bridge was much more prevalent, as card playing in social situations was very popular. Its primary promoter, Charles Goren, has lent his name to the game -- "Sure, I play Goren". Before Goren there was Culbertson and Auction.
Beyond Goren. There have been lots of advances in bridge theory and practice during the past thirty years or so, but because bridge is not as popular now, these better ways to bid and play are not as well known outside competitive circles. Most popular among newer systems for competitive bridge players is Two Over One.Two Over One. Two Over One is a set of improvements upon the basic Standard American system. Because it eliminates many of the weaknesses of Standard, Two Over One is a fundamental improvement upon Standard American. Two Over One bidding is a major part of this series.
Other Systems of Bidding. Popular systems other than Standard American and Two Over One are ACOL (primarily in the UK) and Precision or other Big Club variations. In Precision, an opening bid of One Club shows a strong (16+HCP) hand. These were popularized by the Italian teams, who were world champions for years in the mid-20th Century. Precision is the most common system used in the USA after Standard American and Two Over One.
(c) Robert D. McConnell, 1998 All Rights Reserved