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This concept was introduced and devised by Mr. Pierre Albarran, born 1894 in West Indies and died February 23, 1960 in Paris, France, and Baron Robert de Nexon, born in the year 1892 and died in the year 1967 in Paris, France, in his castle in Haute-Vienne after a long illness.
They are the authors of the bridge book: Notre Methode de Bridge, published in the year 1935. Mr. Pierre Albarran is also known for devising the canapé approach, which was published in the book Bridge, Nouvelle methode de nomination. Les jeux bicolores. Le Canapé, published 1946.
Mr. Baron Robert de Nexon was elected as President of the World Bridge Federation by the delegates from the United States, Australia and Europe who, in the year 1958, founded the World Bridge Federation during the European Championships in Oslo, Norway.
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This treatment and/or conventional response method is used only after a strong, artificial 2 Clubs opening bid. Fundamentally, the Albarran convention is Ace Showing, providing information to the 2 Clubs bidder before he/she has a chance to define and describe his/her holding. The responses are listed in the diagram below.
Note: It must be noted that the bids following 3 No Trump were added later to the guidelines for the conventional method, and that the bid of 4 Diamonds is not mentioned for reasons unknown.
North
South
Meaning 2 2 Shows no Ace and maximum values of 7 high card points. 2 Promises only the Ace of Hearts. 2 Promises only the Ace of Spades. 2 NT Promises no Aces but 8 high card points plus. 3 Promises only the Ace of Clubs. 3 Promises only the Ace of Diamonds. 3 Promises the equivalent of AKQxxx, a 6-card suit. 3 Promises the equivalent of AKQxxx, a 6-card suit. 3 NT Promises 2 Aces. 4 Promises the equivalent of AKQxxx, a 6-card suit. 4 Promises the equivalent of AKQxxx, a 6-card suit. 4 NT Promises 3 Aces.
There are certain bidding responses, which could lead to difficulties in the ensuing auction, such as in the bidding auction:
North South Meaning
AQ9 KQJ KQ9 KQJ9
54 A52 A765 A843 2 4 NT Promises 3 Aces
The planned rebid of North is to show a balanced holding of 23-24 high card points. After a response of 4 No Trump by the partner, should North settle with a rebid of 6 No Trump or 7 No Trump or even a Pass?
The question is whether the ensuing auction can ascertain whether South has any additional values to guarantee slam.
In the above example, it is clear that the partnership has possibly 2 losers, one in Spades if the King is offside and one in Diamonds assuming the Diamonds do not split. The lead of a Spade will certainly make it easy during the play for North to take 12 tricks, but the lead of any other suit forces North to consider carefully his play and/or finesse possibilities for the Spade suit, but the question remains whether the partnership can, still during the auction, ascertain whether South has the additional values needed for either a small or grand slam.
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Defense Method by Competition
Mr. Pierre Albarran and Mr. Baron Robert de Nexon provided also a defense method in the case that the opponents decide to compete, even following a strong, artificial 2 Clubs opening. When an opponent makes either an immediate overcall, then the responder to the 2 Clubs opener has several options.
Pass: This shows a weak and/or minimum holding and zero Aces Double: The double shows strength in the suit of the opponent and zero Aces Any bid: If the overcall has not interfered in the bidding sequence, then partner can disregard the overcall and bid naturally. System on. All bids of the opener are also natural as is any continuation of the auction.
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Alternative Version
An alternative version of this concept, which also enjoys some popularity, is when the responder actually holds two Aces. The origin is unknown and there is no official designation for this variation.
The variation provides the responder the possibility to jump one level of bidding to show the following holding:
3 :
Promises 2 mixed Aces (rank and color). 3 :
Promises 2 Aces of the same color (black or red). 3 NT: Promises 2 Aces of the same rank (Major suits or Minor suits).
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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