Building Your System Card

Your system card is your partnership’s promise to the opponents: “This is what our bids and signals mean.” The ABF requires every player to have one on the table, and both partners’ cards must be the same.

A good card does three things:

It meets the regulations and gives the opponents full disclosure.
It helps you and your partner remember what you’ve agreed.
It protects you if there’s a dispute: the Director will look at it first.

This final module brings together everything you’ve agreed in Modules 1–11 and shows you how to write it down.

1. The rules about system cards

From the ABF System Regulations and Alerting Regulations:

Each player must have a legibly completed, approved system card on the table, and the partnership’s cards must be identical.
For gold-point (national) events, each pair must put two identical cards on the table for the opponents before play starts.
Both partners must play the same system, including card play. If you and your partner often take different approaches as a matter of style, that difference must be shown on the card.
Having something on your card doesn’t remove the obligation to alert it.
During the play of a board, you may not look at your own card.

The ABF publishes a standard card and a guide for new players. The Bridge Centre’s reference section has blank ABF system cards to download, including a basic Standard American card and a SAYC card from our beginner course.

2. Classify your system: the coloured dot

Every ABF system card shows a coloured dot that classifies your one-level opening bids.

Colour	What it means	Example
Green	Natural: all one-level openings are natural and non-forcing, 1♥/1♠ promise four or more cards, 1NT is balanced or semi-balanced, and every one-level opening promises at least 8 HCP	Standard American, 2/1, Acol
Blue	A strong, artificial, forcing 1♣ or 1♦, with natural 1♥, 1♠ and 1NT	Precision
Red	Any other artificial one-level opening (including a 1♣ that may be short, except with exactly 4-4-3-2 shape), or openings that change by seat or vulnerability	Polish Club, some short-club systems
Yellow	Highly Unusual Methods (HUM): for example, a pass that shows an opening hand, or a one-level opening that may be weaker than a pass	Rare; permitted only in some events

Brown Sticker is an extra label for conventions that need special defensive preparation, such as weak two-level openings that don’t promise a known four-card suit, or weak two-suited bids that may contain only three cards in a suit.

The system in this program is Green, with no Brown Stickers. That also means you can claim Protected Pair status where it’s offered, if you’re eligible (Module 11).

3. Filling in the card, section by section

Here’s how the methods from this program would appear. Your own card should show your agreements; use this as a starting point.

Basic system

Item	Example entry
Basic system	Standard American, 2/1 game force
Classification	Green

Opening bids

Opening	Example entry
1♣	12–21 HCP, 3+ cards (announced “Three plus”)
1♦	12–21 HCP, 3+ cards
1♥ / 1♠	12–21 HCP, 5+ cards
1NT	15–17, may contain a five-card major (tick the box if you agree this)
2♣	Strong, artificial, 22+ HCP or 9+ playing tricks
2♦ / 2♥ / 2♠	Weak: 5–11 HCP, good six-card suit
2NT	20–21 balanced

1NT responses

Item	Example entry
2♣	Stayman
2♦ / 2♥	Transfers to hearts / spades
Other	Write any other agreements, such as 2♠ as a transfer to clubs

Pre-alerts

Write anything the opponents won’t expect. For the methods in this program you may not need any. Typical pre-alerts are a weak redouble, transfer responses to 1♣ or unusual carding.

Competitive bids

Item	Example entry
Negative doubles	Up to 3♠
Responsive doubles	Up to 3♠
Support doubles	Through 2♥
Jump overcalls	Weak
Unusual 2NT	Two lowest unbid suits, 5-5
Immediate cue of a minor	Michaels: both majors, 5-5
Immediate cue of a major	Michaels: other major and a minor, 5-5
1NT overcall (direct)	15–18, stopper
1NT overcall (reopening)	10–14 (or your agreed range)
Interference over our 1NT	Lebensohl, “slow shows” a stopper
Over opponents’ 1NT	Your agreed defence, or “natural”

Basic responses

Item	Example entry
1♥/1♠ – 1NT	Forcing (unpassed hand), 6–12
Two-over-one	Game forcing, not after interference or by a passed hand
Jump raise of a major	Pre-emptive: 4+ cards, 0–6
Jump raise of a minor	Inverted: weak; single raise forcing
Major raises	Bergen (3♣ = 7–10, 3♦ = 10–12), Jacoby 2NT, splinters
Passed-hand raises	Reverse Drury 2♣
Responses to 2♣	2♦ waiting, others natural positive

Play conventions

Item	Example entry
Leads from sequences	Top of a sequence (K from K Q J)
Leads from length	Fourth highest from length with an honour; second highest from four small (or your agreement)
Signal on partner’s lead	Attitude: high encourages
Signal on declarer’s lead	Count: high-low shows an even number
Discards	Your method, e.g. high encourages, or odd/even

Whatever you play, it must be disclosed: the ABF does not allow encrypted signals.

Slam conventions

Item	Example entry
Ace asking	RKCB 1430; queen ask by the next step; 5NT asks for kings
Control bids	First- and second-round controls, cheapest first
Interference over 4NT	DOPI
Other	Exclusion Blackwood by unusual jumps to five of a suit

Other conventions

List everything else: new minor forcing (or XYZ), fourth suit forcing (game forcing), Lebensohl, and anything else you play.

4. Beyond the card: your system notes

The card is a summary. Many agreements won’t fit on it. Keep a set of partnership notes as well:

Write down auctions you’ve discussed: “1♠ – 2♥ – 2♠ – 3♥ is forcing.”
After each session, add any auction that caused confusion, and what you’ve now agreed.
Keep notes short and organised by topic: openings, responses, competition, slams, defence.
Read them together before a congress.

If you play a Yellow system, or Brown Sticker conventions, the ABF may require supplementary sheets (on one side of an A4 sheet, typed or legibly written) and, in some events, advance copies of your notes. Any pair may also lodge a fuller description of their system with the Tournament Organiser; it can help if there’s later a dispute about what your agreement was.

5. Keeping the card up to date

Review your card every few months with your partner.
Remove conventions you don’t really play. A long card full of methods you’ve forgotten causes more disasters than it prevents.
Add one method at a time, and only when you’ve both read about it.
Carry spare copies in your bridge bag, especially for gold-point events, where you need two.

Rules worth remembering

Both partners need identical, legible ABF system cards on the table.
Two cards for gold-point events.
Classify your system: this program’s Standard American 2/1 is Green, with no Brown Stickers.
Fill in every section that applies, including leads and signals.
A card entry doesn’t replace an alert or a full explanation.
Keep partnership notes for agreements that don’t fit on the card.
Review your card regularly and remove what you don’t play.

Try these

1. Your partnership plays a 1♣ opening that promises three or more clubs, five-card majors and a 15–17 1NT. What colour is your system?

2. Your 1♣ opening could be a doubleton club in hands other than 4-4-3-2. What colour is your system now?

3. You’ve agreed Michaels on your card. An opponent asks what partner’s 2♥ cue bid means. What do you say?

4. You’re entering a gold-point event. How many copies of your system card does your pair need on the table for the opponents?

5. You and your partner have different styles about responding with a four-card major over 1♦. What should you do?

Answers

1. Green. All one-level openings are natural, the majors promise four or more (five here), and 1NT is balanced.

2. Red. A 1♣ opening that may be short (except with exactly 4-4-3-2 shape) makes the system Red.

3. Give the full meaning, not just the name: for example, “Five or more spades and five or more cards in a minor, either weak or strong.”

4. Two identical cards: one for each opponent.

5. Show the difference on your system card. The ABF System Regulations require partners who often take different approaches to disclose it. Better still, agree a single style.

Words to know

Term	Meaning
System card	The ABF-approved form showing your partnership’s bidding and card play agreements
Green / Blue / Red / Yellow	The ABF colour classification of your one-level opening structure
Brown Sticker	An extra classification for conventions that need special defensive preparation
HUM	Highly Unusual Methods: the Yellow classification
Supplementary sheet	An extra page that explains methods needing defensive preparation
Partnership notes	Your own detailed record of the auctions and agreements you’ve discussed
Full disclosure	The principle that your opponents are entitled to know all your agreements

What next?

Fill in a new ABF system card with your partner, using this module as a checklist.
Start your partnership notes with the auctions from Modules 1–4.
Enter a congress, take two copies of your card, and enjoy putting the whole program into practice.

Congratulations on finishing Advanced Bridge. The next step is simply to play: congresses, teams events and, if you’d like, helping newer players at your club as a mentor or Director.