Leven Bridge club

SBU Alerting rules

From 1 September 2007 the Scottish Bridge Union will adopt the WBF policy on Alerting, which is:

“The following classes of calls should be alerted:

  1. Conventional bids should be alerted, non-conventional bids should not.
  2. Those bids which have special meanings or which are based on or lead to special understandings between the partners. (A player may not make a call or play based on a special partnership understanding unless an opposing pair may reasonably be expected to understand its meaning, or unless his side discloses the use of such call or play in accordance with the regulations of the sponsoring organization). See Law 40(b).
  3. Non-forcing jump changes of suit responses to opening bids or overcalls, and non-forcing new suit responses by an unpassed hand to opening bids of one of a suit.
Do NOT alert the following:
  1. All doubles.
  2. Any no-trump bid which suggests a balanced or semi-balanced hand, or suggests a no-trump contract.
  3. Any call at the four level or higher, with the exception of conventional calls on the first round of the auction.
Nevertheless, players must respect the spirit of the Policy as well as the letter.”

You should not alert

  • natural weak two openers
  • natural jump overcalls, whether they are weak, intermediate or strong
  • any opening 1NT, no matter what the range, unless there is an agreement that it may be unbalanced
  • any no-trump bid, no matter how weak or strong, that suggests playing in no-trumps
  • (thus a 2NT response showing 16+HCP in a balanced hand is not alerted;  a 2NT response that may be unbalanced, or promises 4-card support is alerted)
  • any conventional call at the four-level or higher (including ace-asking bids, cue-bids, splinter bids and forcing passes), unless it occurs on the first round of the auction
  • any double, no matter what it means

You should alert

  • all conventional bids at the four-level or higher that occur on the first round of the auction, including
South African Texas openings of 4♣ or 4♦ that show hearts or spades respectively
cue-bids or splinter bids in response to an opening bid 
two-suited overcalls such as (2♠) 4♣  showing clubs and hearts
  • all conventional bids at or below 3NT, including
simple Stayman (including the 2♦ rebid denying a major)
transfers over 1NT and 2NT (but do not alert the completion of the transfer)
two-suited two-level openers or overcalls
fit jumps, showing the suit bid plus support for partner’s suit
  • jump change of suit responses to an opening bid or overcall that are natural but non-forcing, in particularweak jump shifts

You should also alert all 1NT, 2NT and 3NT bids that do not simply suggest playing in no-trumps, including

  • a forcing 1NT response to an opening one of a suit
  • a 2NT inquiry after a weak two opening
  • unusual 2NT showing two suits
  • Lebensohl 2NT asking partner to bid 3♣
  • scrambling 2NT showing two places to play

These changes mean that it is more important than ever to draw your opponents’ attention to unusual aspects of your methods.  At the beginning of a round or match, you should inform your opponents of your basic system, no-trump range, the meaning of your two-level openers and any unusual aspects of your methods, in particular any unusual uses of doubles.

The SBU considers this to be good practice, but wishes each partnership also to provide Convention Cards to exchange with opponents. A standard Convention Card may be downloaded from the Home page of the SBU website www.scottishbridge.co.uk

(If you are playing a simple system in your club it will be sufficient to fill out the basic convention card on the front of your scorecard.)

Remember the spirit of the WBF policy: to ensure that opponents are not disadvantaged by ignorance of your agreements.

The new policy may be difficult to remember at first, but please do not panic: allowances will be made.

If you have any questions, or comments, pleased direct them to the Chairman of the Laws and Ethics Committee,

Liz McGowan ( liz@sbueast.org.uk )