The first opponent to bid may then (or at the end of the auction вЂ“ their choice) ask the player alerting his//her partnerвЂ™s bid what it means. Unusual bidding conventions must be вЂњalerted,вЂќ which means that if you make an unusual bid, your partner must say вЂњalertвЂќ or pull the blue вЂњAlertвЂќ card out of the bidding box. The opponents must know exactly what the bids mean, just like your partner. These convention cards must be available at the table for inspection and consultation by the opponents. Bridge enthusiasts who regularly play with several different partners often have different convention cards for each partner, depending on personal preferences and familiarity with the conventions. The partnersвЂ™ convention cards must be exactly the same.

For example, a 2 Clubs bid most often does NOT mean that the player using this bid has a good Club suit and wants to play a contract with Clubs as trump.ДЄll players entering tournaments sponsored by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) or the American Bridge Association (ABA) must have a вЂњconvention cardвЂќ filled out. These bridge bidding conventions are frequently named after the people who invented them. If you only knew every card your partner had in his/her hand, you might be able to come to a better fit for a contract (although you still wouldnвЂ™t know how the missing cards are distributed among your opponents). There are literally thousands of bridge bidding conventions around that attempt to get to a more perfect communication between partners about the nature of their hands.

Acbl convention card template