Slam-seeking conventions Slam-seeking conventions Slam-seeking conventions are codified artificial bids used in the card game contract bridge. Bidding and making a small slam (12 tricks) or grand slam (13 tricks) yields high bonuses ranging from 500 to 1500 points. However, the risk is also high as failure to fulfill the slam contract also means failure to score the bonus points for a game (300-500). Conventions have been devised to maximise the opportunity for success whilst minimising the risk of failure. Contract bridge bidding systems are mainly "natural" (most bids have an obvious meaning) or "artificial" (many bids have a meaning unrelated to
Design for Bidding Simon's earlier book "Why You Lose at Bridge", itself "widely perceived to be the best book ever written on Bridge." "Design For Bidding" "remains wonderful reading, because Simon argues persuasively for the Acol "state of mind" style of bidding." The book is divided into three parts: I, The Inexactitude of Bidding; II, Enquiry into Bidding; and III, Design for Bidding. Part I is a long general introduction, in seven chapters. In it, Simon sets out what he calls the "deciding factors" to be assessed before adopting a specialised meaning for a bid: Part I concludes with Simon's description of Acol