Bridge World Standard (BWS): The Expert Consensus System

Bridge World Standard (BWS) is a complete bidding system defined by The Bridge World magazine from polls of American experts and readers. The current edition, BWS 2017, is a 2/1 game-forcing system with five-card majors, a 15-17 notrump, a semi-forcing 1NT response to a major and a strong artificial 2♣.

It is not one pair's system. It is the answer to the question "what would most strong American players assume if they sat down together and had not discussed this?" That makes it useful in two ways: as a ready-made system for a pickup partnership, and as a base to build your own notes on. This guide explains how BWS is made, what it contains, how it differs from SAYC and from the 2/1 base BridgeDummy articles use, and how to use it at the table.

The Bridge World, the American bridge magazine that Edgar Kaplan edited for three decades, first published BWS in its pages in 1967-1969 as BWS 1968. New editions followed in 1984, 1994, 2001 and 2017. Each edition is built the same way: the magazine polls a large panel of experts and readers on each agreement, and the majority choice becomes the standard.

The stated purpose is twofold:

1. Impromptu partnerships. Two strong players who have never played together can agree "BWS" and expect to be on the same page for most auctions.
2. A starting point. Pairs who want their own system can begin with BWS and write down only where they differ.

Because it comes from polls, BWS changes slowly and follows expert practice rather than leading it. By the 1990s, BWS played five-card majors with a forcing 1NT response; later editions moved to a game-forcing 2/1 and a semi-forcing 1NT.

The core of the current edition:

So BWS is a member of the 2/1 family. If you play 2/1 Game Force, most of BWS will feel like home. The biggest single difference from the BridgeDummy base is the semi-forcing 1NT, covered below.

BWS spells out a full set of conventions, not just openings. The 2001 edition, for example, listed:

• Over 1NT: Stayman, Jacoby transfers, Texas transfers, Smolen and Gerber.
• Major raises: a limit jump raise with four trumps, a forcing 2NT raise that asks about shortness, and splinters.
• Minor raises: a strong single raise that denies a four-card major and a preemptive jump raise (inverted minors).
• Slam: key-card Blackwood, Exclusion Blackwood, the grand slam force and Last Train.
• Competition: negative doubles, Michaels cue bids, lebensohl, Cappelletti against their 1NT, and Drury after a passed hand.
• Opening 3NT: a gambling 3NT, a solid seven-card minor with little outside.
• Carding: standard attitude (high encourages) and count (high-low with an even number).

The 2017 edition revised many details, so check the current text before a serious event. For a first session with a new partner, the list above is a good checklist of what to confirm.

In BWS, 1♥ - 1NT and 1♠ - 1NT show the same hands as the forcing 1NT of 2/1: about 6 to 12 points, no raise and no game-forcing new suit. The difference is that opener may pass with a balanced minimum.

That changes one hand type: the 5-3-3-2 minimum. In a forcing-1NT system, opener must invent a rebid in a three-card minor. In BWS, opener simply passes, and the partnership plays 1NT. With anything else (a second suit, a sixth card in the major, extra values) opener rebids as usual.

BWS plays 2/1 Game Force: 1♠ - 2♣, 1♥ - 2♦ and the other two-level new suits by an unpassed hand commit the side to game. The 2001 edition kept one exception: when responder simply rebids his suit after a minimum rebid by opener, the auction may stop short of game. Pure 2/1, as taught on BridgeDummy, has no such exception: an invitational hand with a long minor goes through 1NT.

After the 2/1 response, BWS follows the usual 2/1 principles: slow bids show extras, a jump to game is a minimum (fast arrival), and new suits are natural. A two-level reverse or a non-jump new suit at the three level by opener shows extra strength.

SAYC is the ACBL's simple standard card; BWS is the expert consensus; 2/1 is the most popular framework among North American tournament players. For the full SAYC comparison, see SAYC vs 2/1.

Strengths

• It is what experts actually do. Every agreement won a poll, so it rarely contains an oddity that surprises a strong partner.
• It is complete. BWS covers openings, responses, competition, slam methods and carding. A pickup pair has an answer for far more auctions than with a one-page card.
• It is a natural 2/1 system. Nothing in the core is exotic, so a 2/1 player needs only a few corrections.

Limits

• It is long. Nobody memorizes the whole document. In practice, two players agree "BWS" and then rely on the main points.
• Polls reward the familiar. BWS adopts a new idea only after most experts already play it, so it lags behind the methods of top pairs.
• Editions differ. An agreement from 2001 may have changed in 2017. If it matters, check.

Questions to settle with a BWS partner in two minutes:

1. Which edition, and is 1♥/1♠ - 1NT semi-forcing or forcing for us?
2. Key-card responses: 1430 or 0314?
3. Inverted minors on or off in competition?
4. Opening leads and signals: standard, or something else?
5. Weak twos: how light in first and third seat?

1. As a pickup system. Agree "BWS 2017" and then confirm the few things players most often vary: the 1NT response (forcing or semi-forcing), key-card responses, and carding.
2. As a tiebreaker. In an established partnership, agree that any undiscussed auction is played as BWS. This one rule settles a surprising number of disputes.
3. As the base of your own notes. Start from BWS and write only your differences. That keeps your notes short. See how to write a bidding system for a template.

Then fill in your convention card, so the opponents can see your agreements too.

BWS itself is not one of the robot systems on BridgeDummy, but its base is: the Bidding Room robots play 2/1 by default, with five-card majors, a 15-17 notrump and a strong 2♣. Bid a few dozen deals there and you will have practiced most of BWS.

To check how the robots read the 1NT response, see what 1NT means in every system on the free bid meaning page. For the bigger question of which system to play at all, see the best bridge bidding system, and for the history of the forcing notrump, see the Kaplan-Sheinwold system.