-------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: davidlm@netcom.com (David L Moore) Subject: Re: what are "Swiss" raises? Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 01:44:05 GMT spencer@flagstaff.Princeton.EDU (S. Spencer Sun) writes: >On the ACBL convention card in the conventional responses to major suit >openings section is a box marked "Swiss" but it never seems to be marked... >what the heck is it? :-) Swiss is originally a part of Acol. To quote Crowhurst "Precision Bidding in Acol" "The Swiss Convention is designed to cover hands which are too strong for a direct raise to game in the opener's suit, but not suitable for a Delayed Game Raise because of the absence of a good side suit ... a jump to4C or 4D is used to show a raise based on high cards rather than distribution" Typically, 4C shows something and 4D denies it. There are many possible "things" that can be shown. A common one was that 4C showed two Aces and a side suit singleton (4D showed the Aces but no singleton) This requirement of two Aces meant that some hands could not use Swiss. If using this version, however, a rebid of 4NT asks for Kings, not Aces. After a 4C response (2 Aces and a singleton) a 4D bid asks for the singleton, with a return to the trump suit showing a diamond singleton (This is from "Acolites Quiz" by Rhoda Lederer) Example hands from Crowhurst: KT KQ83 1H - ? QT65 A72 Note that if you guaranteed two aces, you would have to bid 2D then jump to 4H with this, which mis-describes the quality of your diamonds. AQ3 KQT85 1H - ? A95 Q7 This hand should Swiss and then cue bid 4S if partner returns to 4H. See "Bridge Comventions Complete" by Amalya Kearse for a plethora of Swiss versions. Everyone should have a copy of this book. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: uijter@zow.desy.de (Henk Uijterwaal (Oxford)) Subject: Re: what are "Swiss" rais Date: 5 Jun 1994 12:17:58 GMT Organization: U.of Oxford @ DESY. Somebody asked: |>>On the ACBL convention card in the conventional responses to major suit |>>openings section is a box marked "Swiss" but it never seems to be marked... |>>what the heck is it? :-) As several posters have pointed out before: a now obsolete method of conventional raises after a major suit opening bid. I found two references in old bridge books which mention Swiss raises: [1] P.Boender, "Slamconventies", 1968 (in Dutch) [2] H.Kelsey, "Slam Bidding", 1973 (in English) Both books claim to describe the latest in slam bidding tools. [1] contains a translation of an article by a certain Dr. Weber in Bridge Magazine and claims that this is the original version of Swiss: 1 M - 4 C : 11-15 points, 4+ card support, 2 aces, no good side suit. - 4 D : 11-15 points, 4+ card support, 3 aces or 2 aces and the king of trumps or 2 aces and a void, no good side suit. Other hands with support are either shown through a jump shifts or a delayed game raise (1M-2m,2?-4M). The latter sequence is strong in Stone Age Acol, not a sign-off based on fast arrival. Over the swiss bid, opener returns to the trump suit if he has no slam interest, otherwise he bids 4D over 4C or 4 of the other major over 4D. 1 M - 4 C 4 D : Responder bids a suit in which he has a singleton, without a singleton he returns to the trump suit. 1 M - 4 C 4 D - 4 H/S/5C/5D 4/5 NT : Opener asks for aces according to the CRM principle: 5(6) C shows the red or black aces, 5(6)D the major or minor suit aces, 5(6) H aces in the round or pointed suits. 1 H - 4 D 4 S and 1 S - 4 D 4 H : Responder bids the suit in which he has a void or returns to the trump suit without a void. 1 H/S - 4 D 4 S/H - 4S/5C/D/H 4/5 NT : Asks for aces with special responses: 5(6) C : 2 aces red or black OR 3 aces missing the CA 5(6) D : 2 aces major or minor, OR 3 aces missing the DA 5(6) H : 2 aces CH or DS, OR 3 aces missing the HA 5(6) S : 3 aces missing the SA For example: K 10 x x x Q x x x x A x x x x A x x x x K Q x A x x 1 S 4 C 4 D 5 D 6 S [2] lists 8 variations of swiss. It also claims that the convention is of Swiss origin (as we could have guessed from the name). The 8 variations are: 1. Aces Swiss or original swiss, the convention described above. 2. Unspecific Swiss: 4D is simply stronger than 4C, there are no ace requirements. 3. Double Barreled Swiss: 4C/D show the hands as in Aces swiss but any point count. With 15+ responder bids again after 1M-4m-4M 4. Trump swiss: 4C denies 2 top honnors, 4D shows at least 2 top honnors in the trump suit. 5. Singleton Swiss: just another name for splinters. 6. Super Swiss. 3S/3NT/4C/4D are all raises of 1H showing: 1 H - 3 S : A void 3 NT: A singleton 4 C : 2 or 3 aces, no singleton/void 4 D : less than 2 aces, no singleton/void. 7. Minor suit swiss. 3H/S are strong raises of 1C/D opening bids. 8. Reverse Swiss. 4C/D rebids are artificial support showing bids after 1 minor, 1 major or even 1 minor, 1 of a suit, 1 of a major. The problem that all these Swiss variations have in common is that they either waste a lot of bidding space and/or require very specific hands for the swiss bids. In all examples that I have seen one can easily transform makable slams into hopeless ones (or visa versa) by swapping a honnor or two without changing the bidding sequence. Henk ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Henk Uijterwaal Email: henk@vxdesy.desy.de University of Oxford 13364::henk DESY-F01 Phone: +49.40.89983133 Notkestrasse 85 Fax: +49.40.89983092 Hamburg, D22603, Germany Home: +49.40.3898954 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ %DCL-E-NOCFFE, unable to locate coffee - keyboard input suspended. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: J A Smith Subject: Re: what are "Swiss" rais Date: 9 Jun 1994 11:49:58 GMT Organization: University of Durham, Durham, UK In article <2stkjh$6j3@sol.ccs.deakin.edu.au>, doug@Deakin.Edu.Au (Douglas Newlands) writes: |> In article jdonnell@du.edu (JACK DONNELLY) writes: |> :In article <60.15605.4183.0N1A0B21@canrem.com> jay.linden@canrem.com (Jay Linden) writes: |> :> |> :>Perhaps that's why these bids are out of fashion. |> : |> :IF you play the bid as very precisely defined -- 12+-15-, no singleton |> :or side suit, with 4+ trumps, 4C showing four pieces with two of the |> :top three honors, or five with Ace of King -- this can be a very |> :useful bid. With a nine card fit you rarely want to play in NT. |> :Also, if you add a relay to get a more precise definition of the trump |> :holding, the bid, although rare, can be very powerful. And I know of |> :no better way to use these bids in a standard 2/1 system (assuming, of |> :course that you use 1 step above 3M to show a splinter hand). |> |> Jay is correct that Swiss is out of favour with splinters being much |> more common. Users of Swiss now tend towards the combination which |> Jack seems to be alluding to which is called Fruit Machine Swiss |> which combines splinters and Swiss. |> |> doug. The system of Swiss raises that I've used recently is 'Super Swiss' over 1H 3S - Void 4C - relay (4D->diamond void, 4H->club void, 4S->spade void) 3NT - Singleton 4C - relay (4D->diamond sing, 4H->club sing, 4S->spade sing) 4C - Two aces 4D - One ace over 1S 3NT - Void 4C - relay (4D->diamond void, 4H->heart void, 4S->club void) 4C - Singleton 4D - relay (4H->heart void, 4S->diamond void, 5C-5S-> club void, blackwood resp) 4D - Two aces 4H - One ace (Over the response to the relay 4NT is blackwood) JAS -- ,-----------------------------------+------------------------------------------. | | Of all the cities in all the world it | | This message was brought to you | could have flown into, he thought, it's | | by C.M.O.T. Dibbler, | flown into mine... | | Supplier of Goods & Services +------------------------------------------+ | Treacle Mine Road, the Shades | Email: J.A.Smith@Durham.ac.uk | | Ankh-Morpork | Phone: W 091 374 3813 : H 091 371 2159 | | | CM316, Dept of Math Sci, Univ of Durham | `-----------------------------------+------------------------------------------' -----------------------------------------------------------------------------