Suction convention
Encyclopedia
Suction is a contract bridge
bidding convention used to intervene over an opponent's 1NT opening. Using the suction convention, a suit overcall of a 1NT opening is conventional and denies the suit actually bid. It shows either:
The overcall bids are summarized as follows:
If responder passes, advancer is required to bid the next higher ranking suit. If overcaller has the one-suited hand, he passes. Otherwise, he bids yet the next higher suit, showing that suit plus the remaining, unbid suit. Advancer then takes a preference by passing or bidding the remaining suit.
Optionally additional overcalls are available to show the two non-touching suit pairs in the foregoing table – namely clubs with hearts and diamonds with spades. The first pair are referred to as the 'rounded' suits and the other as the 'pointed' suits owing to the shape of the tops of their pips. A call of 'Double' would show clubs and hearts (the rounded suits) and a call of 2NT would show diamonds and spades (the pointed suits). This requires the penalty double to be abandoned; if not abandoned, 2NT would show both non-touching pairs, requiring identification.
General convention chart, except as a defense to artificial opening bids (such as Precision
, strong 2
openings, Flannery
, etc.).
Contract bridge
Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table...
bidding convention used to intervene over an opponent's 1NT opening. Using the suction convention, a suit overcall of a 1NT opening is conventional and denies the suit actually bid. It shows either:
- a one-suiter in the next higher ranking suit or
- a two suiterTwo suiterIn contract bridge, a two suiter is a hand containing cards mostly from two of the four suits. Traditionally a hand is considered a two suiter if it contains at least ten cards in two suits, with the two suits not differing in length by more than one card. Depending on suit quality and partnership...
in the other two suits.
The overcall bids are summarized as follows:
| Opener | Overcaller | |
| Bid | Meaning | |
| 1NT | 2 | diamonds, or hearts and spades |
| 2 | hearts, or spades and clubs (i.e. both black suits) | |
| 2 | spades, or clubs and diamonds (i.e. both minors) | |
| 2 | clubs, or diamonds and hearts (i.e. both red suits) |
If responder passes, advancer is required to bid the next higher ranking suit. If overcaller has the one-suited hand, he passes. Otherwise, he bids yet the next higher suit, showing that suit plus the remaining, unbid suit. Advancer then takes a preference by passing or bidding the remaining suit.
Optionally additional overcalls are available to show the two non-touching suit pairs in the foregoing table – namely clubs with hearts and diamonds with spades. The first pair are referred to as the 'rounded' suits and the other as the 'pointed' suits owing to the shape of the tops of their pips. A call of 'Double' would show clubs and hearts (the rounded suits) and a call of 2NT would show diamonds and spades (the pointed suits). This requires the penalty double to be abandoned; if not abandoned, 2NT would show both non-touching pairs, requiring identification.
Use as pre-empts
Suction bids can be used as pre-empts, giving a way of opening many weak hand types cheaply. Responder bids the next suit up with a weak or non-descript hand, and makes any other bid to force for one round. These mean forgoing the artificial 2 opening, so work best in a strong club context. This has the advantage that one can use the same structure for weak 2 openings, a defence to 1NT and (at the 1-level, with a "Double" replacing 2) a defence to a strong 1C opening.Restricted use
Suction is not permitted in events governed by the ACBLAmerican Contract Bridge League
The American Contract Bridge League is the largest contract bridge organization in North America. It promotes the game of bridge in the United States, Mexico, Bermuda, and Canada, and is a member of the World Bridge Federation...
General convention chart, except as a defense to artificial opening bids (such as Precision
Precision club
Precision Club is a bidding system in the game of contract bridge. It is a type of strong club system that was invented by C. C. Wei and used to good effect by Taiwan teams in the early 1970s...
, strong 2
Strong two clubs
In most natural bridge bidding systems, the opening bid of 2 is used exclusively for hands too strong for an opening bid at the one-level. Systems that incorporate a strong 2-club opening bid include modern Standard American, standard Acol, 2/1 game forcing and many others...
openings, Flannery
Flannery
Flannery is a bridge convention using an 2 opening bid to show a hand of minimal opening bid strength with exactly four spades and five hearts. It was invented by American player William L. Flannery....
, etc.).