Baron System

The Baron bidding system was developed in the 1940s by Mr. Leo Baron and Mr. Adam Meredith, who was nicknamed Plum, and who was born in the year 1913 and died in the year 1976. Mr. Adam Meredith was a leading bridge personality of Britain, who was originally of County Down, Ireland.

Note: In his publication titled British Bridge Almanack (ISBN-13: 9780954924102) Mr. Peter Hasenson (Editor) includes the entry of Mr. Terence Reese, which is quoted below.

Date: mid-1930s. When I first played at Lederer's in the mid-1930s, Meredith was a handsome youth of 22, though he looked about 17... He was a marvellous player and did as much as anyone else to win the 1955 world championship match... He spent his last fifteen years or so in America, having formed a friendship with Ruth Sherman, who left him well provided for... It was not, perhaps, a satisfactory life for so brilliant and charming a person; but certainly it possessed colour, warmth and humour.

Note: Mr. Adam Meredith is the co-author with Mr. Leo Baron of the publication The Baron System of Contract Bridge, published in the year 1948. Publisher: Contract Bridge Equipment, Ltd., London, England.

Note: The picture of Mr. Adam Meredith presented below is one of the rare photographs of one of Britain's leading bridge personality. The date of the photograph is unknown.

Mr. Leo Baron

Very little information is available for Mr. Leo Baron, who was born in the country of Poland. According to the literature he made many important contributions to the bidding theory of the game of bridge. During his residence in England his victories at the bridge table include winning the Gold Cup in the year 1946 and also in the year 1951.

In the year 1952 Mr. Leo Baron emigrated to the country of Zimbabwe and took up residence in the city of Salisbury. The city was founded by Mr. Cecil Rhodes on September 12, 1890, as a military fort, and named after and for the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil), who was at that time the British Prime Minister. The city of Salisbury was the capital of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland from 1953 to the year 1963. After 1963 the city was the capital of Southern Rhodesia.

Under the appointment of Mr. Ian Smith the move to declare the country of Rhodesia independent from the United Kingdom was successful on November 11, 1965. Mr. Leo Baron had lived in the country as a resident since 1951. On April 18, 1982 the name of the city Salisbury was changed permanently to Harare, which is a loan from the Shona Chieftain Neharawa.

Note: Review the bridge column of Mr. Alan Truscott of January 21, 1990, published in The New York Times. This article is only archived and preserved on this site in .pdf file format for future reference.

Basics of the Baron System

The success of the Baron bidding system has lead to the incorporation of many treatments and conventions into the Acol bidding system. Only the main features of the Baron bidding system and not the complete system is presented.

1.	The Weak No Trump opening bid combined with a No Trump constructive rebid.
2.	Bidding up the line with 4-card suits.
3.	Relaxed requirements for biddable suits.
4.	The 5-card suit requirement for a response of 2 Hearts to an opening of 1 Spade.
5.	The lead of the Ace from Ace-King.
6.	The bid of the third suit by the opener on the one level is a forcing bid. Some players include this requirement on the two level.
7.	An immediate raise requires at least a 4-card trump support.
8.	Suit opening bids are highly prepared, with a 4-card Spade suit being opened ahead of a 5-card Heart suit regardless of the quality of the suit.
9.	Simple overcalls are strong and jump overcalls are weak.

Baron Slam Try

The Baron Slam Try is an invitation to a slam contract if the partner holds good trump support. A bid of the suit next below the agreed suit at the five or six level specifically asks partner whether he holds good trump support or not. For example:

1.	If Spades is the agreed suit, then 5 Hearts invites to 6 Spades.
2.	If Spades is the agreed suit, then 6 Hearts invites to 7 Spades.
	Note: Each partner must consider the information shared in the continuing auction and decide what constitutes good trump support.

Baron Response of Two No Trump after an Opening Suit Bid of One

This feature of the Baron Slam Try indicates 16-18 high card points and is game forcing. In the regular Baron bidding system, the responses of 2 No Trump and 3 No Trump are inverted.

The inversion bid of 3 No Trump equals 12-14 high card points, and the effect is that the opener can select a suitable game contract.

The 2 No Trump response leaves more bidding space open for exchanging descriptive information about the holdings where a slam contract is a feasible possibility.

Note: The Acol bridge player, and especially those bridge players learning the Baron bidding system must be acutely aware of the distinction between the Baron bidding system and the Baron convention. The Baron convention only refers to the feature of asking for a 4-card suit following a strong, artificial 2 Clubs opening bid followed by a 2 No Trump rebid. The two have become somewhat interchangeable within the Acol bridge community.

Note: According to several authored bridge-related publications, also online, the general conclusion in the Acol-world is as follows: Although the Baron System is presently defunct, the Baron System had developmental and historical significance. The Baron System placed more emphasis on constructive bidding than did the Acol system of that time, and extended the 'change of suit forcing' idea. This influenced the development of later versions of the Acol system. In addition, the Baron System incorporated a 1 No Trump overcall as a weak distributional take-out bid.

If you wish to include this feature, or any other feature, of the game of bridge in your partnership agreement, then please make certain that the concept is understood by both partners. Be aware whether or not the feature is alertable or not and whether an announcement should or must be made. Check with the governing body and/or the bridge district and/or the bridge unit prior to the game to establish the guidelines applied. Please include the particular feature on your convention card in order that your opponents are also aware of this feature during the bidding process, since this information must be made known to them according to the Laws of Duplicate Contract Bridge. We do not always include the procedure regarding Alerts and/or Announcements, since these regulations are changed and revised during time by the governing body. It is our intention only to present the information as concisely and as accurately as possible.

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