PRECISION. A system developed by C.C. Wei in 1963 with assistance from Alan Truscott. It was used successfully by the Taiwan team in the 1967, 1968, and 1969 Far East Championships, and attracted international attention during the 1969 Bermuda Bowl when Patrick Huang, M.F. Tai, C.S. Shen and Frank Hwang, all using the Precision Club, spearheaded Taiwan’s drive to the final. This was the closest a non-European, non-North American team had come to capturing the world team title. The Taiwan team reached the final again in 1970.
In the United States, a number of top-level teams were sponsored by Wei to use and popularize the Precision System. One such team won three major ACBL knockout team events within a 19-month period. Related: Precision Team.
By 1972, when the Italian Blue Team emerged from retirement to enter the World Team Olympiad, all three of its pairs were using versions of the Precision System. The version used by Giorgio Belladonna and Benito Garozzo was called
Super Precision.
The chief features of the standard Precision System are as follows: 1♣ opening is forcing and artificial, and normally shows a minimum of 16 HCP. Suit responses other than 1♦, which is the conventional negative, are positive, 8 HCP or more, guarantee at least a five-card suit and, in principle, are forcing to game. With a positive response and 4-4-4-1 distribution, there are two basic methods of responding. The partnership may agree to use the Impossible Negative: Responder bids 1♦, then jumps in his singleton, or in notrump if his singleton
is in opener’s suit.
Alternatively, an Unusual Positive may be used: Responder immediately jumps to 2♥, 2♠, 3♣, or 3♦over 1♣ to show a singleton in the suit he jumps in, and four cards in every other suit. As a variation of the unusual positive, the jump can be made in the suit below the singleton, so that opener can economically cuebid the singleton to obtain additional information. Balanced hands are shown by responding either 1NT (8-10 HCP), 2NT (11-13 HCP, or 16+) or 3NT (14-15 HCP). After a negative response and a normal rebid, responder will usually bid again with 4-7 HCP.
If 1♣ is overcalled, responder passes with fewer than 5 HCP, bids a five-card or longer suit or makes a card-showing double with 5-8 HCP; jumps in notrump with the opponents’ suit well stopped and 9-11 HCP; cuebids with a hand too strong for a card-showing double, or bids the cheapest notrump with an unbalanced, game-forcing hand. There are many varieties of this method, however. If 1♣ is doubled, normal responses are used, except that with a weak hand responder passes with clubs, bids 1♦ without clubs or redoubles with both major suits.
After a 1♦ negative response, opener rebids 1NT with 16- 18 HCP, 2NT with 19-21, or 3NT with 25-27 HCP. A non-jump rebid in a suit is non-forcing. A jump rebid is forcing to game unless opener rebids his suit at the three level.
After a positive response, the auction develops naturally with one exception: A direct raise of responder’s suit is an inquiry about the length of responder’s suit and the number of top honors he holds, and subsequent suit bids by opener are asking bids.
Precision asking bids
Trump asking. The most commonly used is the trump asking bid known as Gamma, which is initiated by the 1♣ opener’s single raise of responder’s positive suit response. The responses are as follows:
1st step: No top honor
2nd step: Five cards with one top honor
3rd step: Five cards with two top honors
4th step: Six cards with one top honor
5th step: Six cards with two top honors
6th step: Three top honors
These asking bids and responses are used also in Super Precision, which designates them Gamma Trump Asking Bids.
Control asking (Epsilon). After a trump asking bid has been made and responded to, a bid in a new suit by opener asks about responder’s controls in the bid suit. The controls shown may be either high card or distributional. The responses are:
1st step: No control (J-x-x or worse)
2nd step: Third-round control (guarded queen or doubleton)
3rd step: Second-round control (guarded king or singleton)
4th step: First-round control (ace or void)
5th step: First- and second-round control (A-K or A-Q)
Opener may ask whether partner’s control is a high card or distributional by rebidding the asked suit. Responder shows a high card by bidding the first step (next suit) and the distributional control by bidding the second step.
Ace asking. The third type of asking bid asks whether responder has one of the top three honors in a particular suit. It is initiated by a jump shift rebid by the 1♣ opener after a positive response. The responses give information about another suit as well as about the asked suit. The responses are:
Cheapest notrump: No top honor, no aces
Single raise: Top honor in asked suit, no other aces
New suit: Ace of bid suit, no top honor in asked suit
Jump in new suit: Top honor in asked suit, ace in suit jumped in
Jump in notrump: No top honor in asked suit, but two side aces
Jump raise: Top honor in asked suit with two side aces
Related: Super Precision Asking Bids.
Stayman is used after all notrump responses and rebids.
1♦, 1♥, and 1♠ openings are natural and limited to a maximum of 15 HCP. Major-suit openings promise at least a five-card suit.
1NT response to a major-suit opening is forcing; 3NT is a strong balanced raise; double jumps are splinter bids, showing four-card support for opener’s major and a singleton or void in the bid suit. Raises are limited and non-forcing, except after 1♦: 2♦ is forcing and 3♦ is preemptive. A jump response of 2NT shows 16 or more HCP. 1NT opening is 13-15 HCP. 2♣ and 2♦ are non-forcing and forcing Stayman, respectively. However, many Precision experts prefer a stronger range, 14-16 or 15-17 HCP. In this case, weaker balanced hands must begin with 1♦, which becomes a catchall, sometimes made with a doubleton.
2♣ is a natural opening, showing a six-card club suit (rarely five) and an unbalanced hand. 2♦ is a conventional response: With a minimum, opener bids a four-card major; with a maximum, opener jumps in a four-card major, raises to 3♣, or jumps to 3NT with a solid or semi-solid club suit. A rebid of 2NT shows two suits outside of clubs stopped. Responder may ask where the stoppers are by bidding 3♦; the responses are 3♥ to show hearts and diamonds, 3♠ to show spades and diamonds, and 3NT to show both major suits. A rebid of 3♣ by opener over the 2♦ response suggests a six-card club suit with one side suit stopped; over a 3♦ inquiry opener bids hearts or spades if that is where his stopper is, or bids 3NT if he has diamonds stopped.
2♦ is a specialized opening, describing a three-suited hand (4=4=1=4 or 4=4=0=5) with shortage in diamonds and 11-15 HCP (4=3=1=5 and 3=4=1=5 were later included). A 2NT response requests opener to specify the exact distribution and point range of his opening bid. Other responses are limited and
non-forcing.
2♥ and 2♠ openings are weak two-bids.
2NT opening shows 22-24 HCP.
3NT opening is Gambling, showing a long, solid minor with little side strength.
4♣ and 4♦ openings are Namyats.
The above describes traditional Precision, as set out in 1964 by C.C.Wei. The many experts who have adopted the system have modified it substantially in a variety of ways. The most important are:
(1) An opening 1NT with 14-16 HCP (or 15-17). Stronger hands open 1♣ and rebid 1NT (17-19 HCP). Weaker hands open 1♦ and rebid 1NT (11-13 HCP). This means that 1♦ becomes a catchall for hands that do not fit elsewhere, and is often made with a doubleton. Some pairs permit a singleton. A 2♦ response to 1♦ is then treated as a forcing 2/1 response with diamond length, rather than a raise.
(2) A rebid of 1♥ by a 1♣ opener (1♣ – 1♦; 1♥) is forcing, with 1♠ as the usual rebid by responder, a waiting move. Notrump bids then show balanced hands of 20 HCP or more, and other rebids show that 1♥ was natural.
(3) 2♦ can have a variety of meanings. A Multi is one popular choice.
(4) 2♥ is sometimes a substitute for Flannery, with four spades and five hearts and a limited hand.
(5) 2NT is sometimes a minimum opening with at least 5-5 in the minor suits.
Related: Super Precision.
SOURCE: "Conventions", The Official ACBL Encyclopedia of Bridge, 7th ed. Horn Lake: American Contract Bridge League, Inc., 2011, page 355, 356. Print