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Standard American Yellow Card (SAYC)

1958

As all languages evolve over time, the Goren bidding language also evolved. By 1985, the bidding evolved to the use of 5-card majors to open, and weak 2's (opening a 6+card suit with less than opening count) were added to make the game more competitive. A 2-club opening was reserved for a strong opening in any suit. Goren published another book in 1985 preaching these evolved methods which became a common system of play, and was still referred to as "Standard American".

Competitive players and tournament players were well aware of this evolution. But many social players were not.

1985

2006 ACBL
8-page booklet Download this booklet

The Birth of "Yellow Card"

The Americal Contract Bridge League (ACBL) held many regional and national tournaments where each team had to provide a "convention card" describing the method of bidding they were using for viewing by their opponents and the tournament director. There were so many different bidding systems in use that the ACBL held some tournaments where the teams were only allowed to use the 1985 version of Goren Standard American. The ACBL printed convention cards on yellow card stock using the 1985 Goren style bidding. This bidding method and convention card became known as Standard American Yellow Card (SAYC).
Many social players today are using "Yellow Card" in social games, but are not aware that there is a name for this style of bidding.

SAYC ConventionCard Download this convention card