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Convention (Bridge) the game of contract bridge, a convention is an agreed-upon meaning for a call (a bid, double or redouble) during the auction phase of the hand. Conventional opening leads and discards may also be used. Partnerships must agree on conventions beforehand, and must disclose all conventions to their opponents. If they fail to do so, this can be considered an illegal transfer of information. Conventions may make use of natural or artificial bids. A natural convention, for example, is the one notrump opening (showing a balanced hand and 10-13, 11-14, 12-14, 15-17, 15-18 or 16-18 high card points, depending on the partnership and perhaps other factors). An example of an artificial convention is the Stayman convention, in which the responder's 2C response to a 1 NT opening says nothing about the clubs in responder's hand. (In this case, the convention asks opener for further information on his major card holdings.) The most widely-known and used conventions are Blackwood and Stayman. Other popular conventions are Drury, Jacoby transfers and the strong 2C opening. The American Contract Bridge League publishes a "convention card" that must be completed by all partnerships in an ACBL-sanctioned game. Both members of a partnership must have identical convention cards in a sanctioned game. Under ACBL rules, certain conventions are alertable, meaning that the partner of the player making a conventional call or play must say "alert" before the right-hand opponent calls or plays. The right-hand opponent may ask the alerter about the meaning of the convention, or can simply proceed as usual. If the right-hand opponent does not ask about the convention, her partner may do so when it is her turn. A few conventions are announced, such as Jacoby transfers and 1NT openings. When a player uses a Jacoby transfer, his partner simply says, "transfer". When a player opens 1NT, his partner announces the high card point range. On the ACBL convention card, alertable conventions are shown in red and announced conventions are shown in blue.
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