Raptor convention
Encyclopedia
The Raptor 1NT overcall
over an opposing major suit opening is a contract bridge
convention
that indicates a two-suited hand with exactly four cards in the unbid major and a longer suit in an unbid minor.
The idea to utilise a 1NT overcall to denote a 5-4 two suiter
seems to have originated independently in Sweden and Poland in the early eighties of the twentieth century. 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)-1N shows 5+ diamonds and a 4 card major.
(1)-1N shows 4 spades and a 5 card minor.
Strength is up to the partnership to define, but as overcaller promises two places to play Raptor can bid with fewer points required than a typical 2-level overcall and be wide-ranging.
Followups:
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 a bid made directly over the opening bid by right-hand opponent; an overcall in the 'last seat' is referred to as a balancing...
over an opposing major suit opening is a contract bridge
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...
convention
Bridge convention
A bridge convention is a system of calls made during the auction phase of a contract bridge game which conveys a coded meaning about the players' card holdings...
that indicates a two-suited hand with exactly four cards in the unbid major and a longer suit in an unbid minor.
The idea to utilise a 1NT overcall to denote a 5-4 two suiter
Two suiter
In 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...
seems to have originated independently in Sweden and Poland in the early eighties of the twentieth century. 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)-1N shows 5+ diamonds and a 4 card major.
(1)-1N shows 4 spades and a 5 card minor.
Strength is up to the partnership to define, but as overcaller promises two places to play Raptor can bid with fewer points required than a typical 2-level overcall and be wide-ranging.
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 notrumpUnusual notrumpIn the card game of bridge, the unusual notrump is a conventional bid showing two lower unbid suits.When the right-hand opponent opens 1 or 1, the immediate overcall of 2 NT shows at least 5-5 in the minor suits and, presumably, a weakish hand...
- Michaels cuebidMichaels cuebidThe Michaels cuebid is a conventional bid used in the card game contract bridge. First devised by Mike Michaels of Miami Beach, it is an overcaller's cuebid in opponent's opening suit and is normally used to show a two-suited hand with at least five cards in each suit and eight or more points.After...
- GhestemGhestemIn the game of bridge, Ghestem is a conventional overcall structure, utilising 2NT, 3, and the cuebid over an opposing opening at the one level to denote two-suited hands in two of the remaining three suits....
- Takeout doubleTakeout doubleIn the card game bridge, a takeout double is any call of "double" that shows a desire to compete for the contract by further bidding. Many takeout doubles nearly require partner to bid; partner should pass for penalty with an appropriate hand, but that is uncommon...