The Raptor 1NT
overcall
In contract bridge, an overcall is a bid made after an opening bid has been made by an opponent; the term refers only to the first such bid. A ''direct'' overcall is such a bid made by the player seated immediately to the left of the opener, i.e ...
over an opposing 1-level suit opening is a
contract bridge
Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions ...
convention
Convention may refer to:
* Convention (norm), a custom or tradition, a standard of presentation or conduct
** Treaty, an agreement in international law
* Convention (meeting), meeting of a (usually large) group of individuals and/or companies in a ...
that indicates a two-suited hand with exactly four cards in the unbid major and a longer suit in an unbid minor.
The idea of utilising a 1NT overcall to denote a 5-4
two suiter seems to have originated independently in Sweden and Poland in the early 1980s. The name, however, comes from Ron Sutherland and his son who re-invented this approach and published it in a Toronto magazine in 1993 under the acronym "wRAP around TORonto" style.
When playing Raptor, an overcall of 1NT shows a 4 card major and a longer (5+) card minor. One of these suits will be known. For example:
(1) – 1NT shows 5+ diamonds and a 4 card major.
(1) – 1NT shows 4 spades and a 5 card minor.
Strength is a matter for partnership agreement. Compared with a natural 2-level overcall, the Raptor 1NT may be safe with fewer points, as it promises two places to play, and it may have a wider range, as it is forcing.
Followups:
* A bid of the known suit is to play.
* If the major suit is known, then advancer's cue bid shows a limit raise of the major (or better)
* If the major suit is unknown, then advancer's cue bid requests that opener bid his major, and may be weak.
* If the minor suit is unknown, 2 asks overcaller to pass (with clubs) or correct to 2.
* Other bids tend to show values in the suit, and suggest it as trump even if the overcaller is short.
See also
*
Unusual notrump
In the card game of bridge, the unusual notrump is a conventional showing a two-suited hand. It was originally devised by Al Roth in 1948 with Tobias Stone, to show the minor suits after the opponents opened in a major.
The convention conce ...
*
Michaels cuebid
The Michaels cuebid is a conventional bid used in the card game contract bridge. First devised by Michael Michaels of Miami Beach, FL, it is an 's cuebid in opponent's opening suit and is normally used to show a two-suited hand with at least five ...
*
Ghestem
In the game of bridge, Ghestem is a conventional overcall structure, using 2NT, 3, and the (non-jump) cuebid over an opposing opening at the one level to denote two-suited hands in two of the remaining three suits.
This convention was devised by ...
*
Takeout double
In the card game contract bridge, a takeout double is a low-level conventional call of "Double" over an opponent's bid as a request for partner to bid his best of the unbid suits. The most common takeout double is after an opponent's opening bid ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raptor Convention
Bridge conventions
ru:Конвенция (бридж)#Конвенция «Раптор»