N° 70 • February 2026

Although most players tend to overburden themselves with conventions, the reality is that they are essential in the tournament world.

As bidding becomes more refined, players are constantly on the look out for new ideas and ways of improving and adapting old ones.

Preparing for the EBL’s Winter Transnational Championships in Prague, I looked at six ideas that have gained ground over the last few years: Gazzilli, XYZ, Poor Man Blackwood, One Level Transfers, Optional Roman Keycard Blackwood and ZAR Points.

Of these, the one I like the most is Poor Man Blackwood, which is a method of asking for keycards and the Queen of trumps when partner starts with a preemptive opening. It is easy to remember, and a significant improvement on the use of 4NT.

The others have much to offer (especially Gazzilli and XYZ) but they are more complicated and more of a memory strain. They all have the required degree of frequency.

Evaluating distributional hands using ZAR Points is a suggestion made by Tommy Sandsmark in his soon-to-be-published system book Prefer. It might work well, given the current trend of opening the bidding at the drop of a hat.

If you search the Internet, you will find hundreds of conventions. Many of them might be consigned to the wastepaper basket. That’s why Larry Cohen and I have discussed the possibility of writing 25 Bridge Conventions you don’t need to know.

Number 70 – Monthly – February 2026 – Director of publication Olivier Comte – Publisher Éditions de Presse Spécialisée Le Bridgeur – 33 avenue Emile Zola, 92100 Boulogne Billancourt  – France – Executive Director Karine Meyer-Naudan – Editorial Committee Michel Bessis – Muriel Clément – Philippe Cronier – Mark Horton – Vincent Labbé – Norbert Lébely – Karine Meyer-Naudan – Assistant Editor-in Chief Vincent Labbé – Editorial Secretary Muriel Clément – Adverts Bridgerama+ Muriel Clément 01 42 96 25 50  – Subscriptions 01 42 96 25 50 – Art Director Isabelle Le Squer-Fontaine/Maya – mayatom@me.com – Translation Monika Kummel – Legal Deposit february 2026, N°7.680 – Joint Committee – 1118 K 85690 – ISSN 0184-8127.