Changes To The EBU Blue Book – ( Simplified )Announcing1. After a 1NT opening bid, if partners response of 2♠ or 2NT is a transfer to Clubs/Diamonds showing that suit, you should nowannounce “Clubs” or “Diamonds” (previously alerted).If 2♠ or 2NT shows both minors, or could be either minor, then the bid is still alerted – only announce if the bid shows just one suit.2. For many pairs playing 5-card majors, a 1NT response to a suit opening bid can be wide-ranging (i.e. not necessarily a maximum of 10 points). In this case if the 1NT is wide ranging and non-forcing, it should be announced (“…up to 11 hcp” or “…up to a bad 12 hcp”. If wide-ranging and forcing it must be alerted.3. If playing a “2/1” system, a new natural suit at the 2-level is “game-forcing, and this must now be announced “…game forcing”4. If playing a transfer response to a 1♣ opening, the responder must now announce the suit shown by the response – e.g. 1♣ – p– 1♥ – this is now announced as “spades”. (Similar to theannouncement of a transfer response to 1NT)5. A natural strong 2NT opening bid is no longer announced.6. A natural 1NT overcall in second seat, that by partnership agreement may be made on significantly less than 15 HCP, or contain a small singleton or doubleton in opener’s naturally bidsuit.
Strong and non-strong opening bidsThe definition of a “strong” opening bid has been changed. For a strong 1♣ (or strong 1♦) the requirement is now 13 or more HCP (previously 16 HCP or 12+ with 5 Controls). For other strong bids (for example, opening 2♣ or 2♦) the requirement is 16 or more HCP, except if there are twosuits with 13HCP concentrated in the two suits. This also applies to strong artificial overcalls.The rules for non-strong bids at the two-level and three-level have also been simplified.The full announcing and alerting summary can be viewed athttps://welshbridgeunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/announcements-table.pdf
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