The Vienna System or Austrian System was one of the earliest conventional bidding systems in the game of contract bridge. It was devised in 1935 by Austrian player Paul Stern.[1][2][3]

The Vienna System used the Bamberger point count to evaluate bridge hands: A=7, K=5, Q=3, J=1.[4] That method has been generally supplanted by the Work count (HCP) (A=4, K=3, Q=2, J=1).

The characteristic features of the Vienna System were not in its methods of hand evaluation, but in its bidding structure:

  • 1♣ - minimum opener (up to about 17 HCP in modern terms), no 5-card suit except perhaps ♣. Forcing: responder is not allowed to pass. Responder's possible bids include:
    • 1♦ - a bad hand
    • 1♥♠2♣♦ - natural and forcing
    • 1NoTrump - artificial, forcing to game
    • 2♥ and higher jump bids - signoff, a so-called "negative jump response"
  • 1♦♥♠ - minimum opener, 5-card suit. Responder's bids include:
    • 1NoTrump - no fit for opener's suit; encouraging but not forcing
  • 1NoTrump - maximum opener (at least about 18 HCP in modern terms), undefined hand, forcing; responder may not pass. Responder's possible bids include:
    • 2♣ - a bad hand
    • 2♦♥♠3♣ - 5-card suit, game-forcing
    • 2NoTrump - no 5-card suit, game-forcing

Austrian teams captained by Stern, playing the Vienna System, won the European championships (Open category) in 1936 and 1937, and defeated Ely Culbertson's American team in a challenge match in 1937 (see: Bermuda Bowl#Predecessors).

References

  1. ↑ Stern, Dr. Paul (1938). The Stern Austrian System. Translated by Margery Belsey. George G. Harrap & Co.
  2. ↑ Smith, A. J. (1942). The Vienna System of Bidding. Foreword by Paul Stern. Faber & Faber.
  3. ↑ Frey, Richard L.; Truscott, Alan F.; Cohen, Ben; Barrow, Rhoda, International Edition Editor, eds. (1967). The Bridge Players' Encyclopedia. London: Paul Hamlyn. p. 567-568. OCLC 560654187.
  4. ↑ Said to be an adjustment of the Robertson point count. Frey, Richard L.; Truscott, Alan F.; Cohen, Ben; Barrow, Rhoda, International Edition Editor, eds. (1967). The Bridge Players' Encyclopedia. London: Paul Hamlyn. p. 424. OCLC 560654187. and OEB 4th ed p367.
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