Multi coloured 2 Diamonds

• Weak two 5+ cards in hearts (compulsory option) in a style of your choice
• Weak two 5+ cards in spades in a style of your choice
  Ambiguous major used to be compulsory. Then "weak in hearts only" was legalised in Britain in 2005. "Spades only" is quite acceptable elsewhere in the World but for some bizarre reason not here!
• A big NT (18+) - commonly 20-21 or 22-23 is used in UK
• Acol two (rule of 25) in clubs or diamonds
  A nice inclusion should opponents overcall .. partner is pure either weak-major or strong-minor
• Acol two (rule of 25) in a hearts or spades (rare - and can be confusing in competitive auctions)
• Roman 4441 strong (16+) hand (rare nowadays) but see below
• Game forcing hand (rare)

Furthermore at least one of your strong flavours must be "reasonably frequent". It would be unacceptable to include only a 28-30 NT (this would make the opening 99.9% weak) but a 24-26 balanced has been cleared by EBU directors. Regulations define "strong" as rule of 23+, but my own preference is to play close to game force, to provide clear space between weak and strong flavours in subsequent competitive auctions.

Furthermore you may not psych a Multi, and partner must explore game if this is possible opposite any of your strong "colours". EBU allow him to pass at his own risk with a poor hand and lots of diamonds This is very generous - Bridge Law 40a gives any player this right anyway! L&EC have ruled in 2004 that psyches after the original 2 are all right (subject to fielding etc). Indeed the auction in some hands might now resemble high stakes poker.

EBU's rules have been compared to a camel. It seems there were two strong camps when it was discussed and a camel is of course a horse designed by a committee. Other jurisdictions are more permissive, for example Holland, and ACBL (higher levels) permit weak only multi's or combos that include only one major. You can legally get close to a weak only version in Britain by making a shrewd choice amongst the strong inclusions

• Paradox advances - anticipating opener is weak in a major
  • 2 "To play opposite weak 2" {may yet raise spades}
    Opener will pass, or convert into 2 if weak
  • 2 "game interest in hearts" only (usually 11+)
    Opener passes or chooses 3-4 holding hearts
  Commonly this ends the exchange. Opener will rebid 2NT or 3 of a suit to show a strong variant. (Multi was the paradigm for my own more general evolution of Paradox bids).
• 2NT enquiry: usually 14+
  Responses dependent on your mixture - eg
  • 3/3= feeble preempt in hearts/spades
  • 3/3 = better preempt in the suit
    (I prefer these reversed "fast arrival" = feeble, but both work fine)
  • 3NT = 23-25 balanced (or to suit your other openings)
    You need to agree what Stayman/transfers etc you need here! I trust you have agreed some system over partner's natural 3NT?
  • 4/4 = Acol Two in the suit
    New suit now a cue bid
  2NT is sometimes used as a bluff on a weak hand and this has caused some heated exchanges in ACBL circles. If your right hand opponent advances 2NT and you have values - my advice is to double or bid!
• 3/3 are generally played as one round forces
• Fast ParadoX advances are perfect for the Multi. Bid as high as you dare in the suit you don't like! I use
  • 3= preempt to 3 level
  • 3 = preempt to 3 level in spades, or to 4 level in hearts
    Typically Jxx Qxxx Ax 9xxx
    NB - call the strain you don't like
  • If you like to advance to the 4 level you should allow partner's big hand. I use 3NT and 4/4 as 0-9 points with 4/4 ,4/5 and 5/4 majors respectively.
  • 4 of a major is best simply as "to play"

If you choose rarer inclusions then opener may rebid naturally with big major hands.

4441 hands are in my view not a good idea. A whole gamut of conventional rebids are needed to define the singleton and range. More importantly thus type is difficult to express should your opponents get into the auction.

I like to express strong 4441's via strong 2 and 2NT rebid

Pro points Multi bundles several hand types into one bid may free 2/ for something more exotic. It requires judgement to defend, but really very easy once you understand the opening.

Against If opponents butt in ... it is we who need judgement!

Defence There are as many defences to the Multi as it has colours - see link for separate page.

Note At the 2000 Olympiad atempts were made to play the brown sticker Wilkosz opening as Multi using Muiderberg as its weak inclusion (5-5 only - Wilkosz always has a major) This took advantage of absent WBU requirement for strong types. The directors would have none of this nonsense.

Correspondent Ruthanne Williams has reported a "Multi" 2 showing length in any suit (Turkey/internet), but this is perhaps just Terrorist preempt in another guise.

Sidestepping the UK regulations

There seems to be a classic Catch 22 in the UK rules. Although you might wish to pass 2 holding length in the suit, you are forced to bid on with any minimal values - because of the obligation to "explore reasonable game possibilities opposite a possible strong type".

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Writing in r.g.b England International Frances Hinden gets round this rather neatly by making her only strong inclusion a 'solid suit' Acol two in diamonds! With the poor hand illustrated she can then pass, hoping for an 8 card fit in diamonds rather than risking partner correcting to spades. Frances credits the idea to Jeffrey Allerton.

There are of course further tactical possibilites in any hand with one or more diamond top and the style becomes similar to a weak only multi. Somewhat incredibly, senior EBU TDs have endorsed a 24-26 balanced inclusion as "reasonably frequent" - the solid diamonds type is more common than this, so don't worry. It certainly makes passing our example hand easier.

Alternative method using lebensohl 2NT, and minor enquiries

• Any major suit bid is pass or correct (2 may have game interest opposite hearts)
• 3 of a minor forcing one round
• 2NT is lebensohl, forces 3 after which responder can
  • a) pass or correct to his own suit at any level (including game in a major)
  • b) bid 3NT, offering 3NT or 4 of opener's major
  With strong types opener breaks the transfer - clearly this method is well suited to a "strong diamonds only" mix
• 3 = major enquiry
  • 3 = spades then 3 = range enquiry
  • 3 = min in hearts
  • 3 = max in hearts
  • 3NT+ = strong options)
• 3 = game force with own major (usually good 5 carder) - continuations are natural.
• 3NT is to play - not to be pulled
• 4/ are pre-emptive

Strong 2 suited - filling in a system weakness

"We generally play a variation of Precision club, so 1 and 1 openings are limited to 10-15 HCP. 2NT is a preempt (either very weak minor or a constructive major, usually 7+ cards) or 24-25 balanced. 2 is weak Muiderberg"

Multi choices

• weak 6-card major, 4-9 HCP (denies 4 in other major)
• 20-21 balanced
• "Almost game force" two-suiters
  It is hard to develop 16-21 55+ hands after strong club

Most is standard, but after a 2 pass/correct ..

• 3 = strong two-suiter, clubs+major (3D relay)
• 3 = same, diamonds+hearts
• 3 = same, spades and diamonds
• 3 = same, both minors

• 3 = strong, clubs+major
• 3 = strong, diamonds+major
• 3 = weak in hearts
• 3/4 = natural
• 3NT = strong, both minors
• 4C = strong, both majors

• 3 = weak hearts (then 3H passable, 3D GF relay)
• 3 = weak spades (3S passable, 3H GF relay)
• 3 = strong two-suiter with hearts
• 3/4 = strong two-suiter, spades+minor
• 3NT = 20-21 balanced
• 4C = strong two-suiter, both minors

Tayloring in with your system

John uses his now spare 2 bid for the Precision short diamonds type, gaining on the cloverleaf strong hands. I did warn you that 4441 sequences could be complex. If you are into asking bid for three suiters then I would offer my own approach which can be adapted by any competent systems buff.

An alternative 4441 method

2 - 2 = pass/correct, as ever
2 - 2 = paradox raise of hearts, as ever
2 - 2NT = paradox raise of hearts = forcing enquiry as ever

What can we now include and still sort out later? The problem is 2-2NT, but as that should show 12+ we should be safe to game level. I'd suggest:

2 - 2NT = forcing enquiry, as ever
..3 = Any long major type
..3 and above as my 4441 method "as if a 3 enquiry had been made". This is proven to work well .. over 6 seasons now/p>

Over the 2/ response, a 2NT rebid shows the 4441 type. Then 3 enquiry and continuations exactly as above. To sort out opener's 3="long major" reply to 2NT - You'll need ParadoX again, as you want to pack the sequence efficiently and perhaps still play in 3M.

2 - 2NT
..3 - 3 = GF: please call 3-major if weak, 4-level if stong
..3 - 3 = NF ParadoX call: (may yet raise spades)
..3 - 3 = NF ParadoX call: ... support for hearts!

It's up to you whether you want opener to always call game with a maximum, depending on this and how you play the 2NT response you might code (and remember!) futher options.

There is no room to fit in a massive no trump inclusion as well, but should the auction become competitive your high level decisions are all the simpler. If you play your multi "hearts only" you could probably pack in a strong no trump too, but will have to write your own coded sequence ....

Early history of the Multi

Stan Collins of Harrowgate tells me that his partner John Rumbelow had proposed what was virtually the Multi method to EBU from Singapore in 1972. Again this is minuted as "declined". Minutes do not detail exact method or reason, but perhaps their chosen epithet of "RumCol" didn't help. There is also a report of multi ideas from Northern Ireland. What is clear is that this was a major area of thoretical debate in the late '60s.

The convention was finally given a restricted 'A' licence in 1974 under somewhat dubious circumstances. A tediously long R&E committee meeting on 4th December had failed to complete its agenda. The eight members present agreed to adjourn to 19 December - that's just before Christmas. Not surprisingly attendance was poor (5 apologies), but given that new conventions were supposed to undergo a formal proposal and acceptance process and that this meeting was barely quorate, the four who made it somehow felt able to agree the following astonishing minute (quoted verbatim)

The licence was extended in October 1975. Multi then really took off in the late 70's led by the Reese/Flint partnership, who promoted it as a constructive opening It seems likely that Multi's generally Anglo-Saxon distribution may reflect the celebrity of these two English players during that era. There is a minuted "protest" from a lady in Cumbria.

An April 1976 minute asked C D Dixon to summarise defenses to be published in the May EBU quarterly, and the "Dixon defence" is still the most popular in this country. There is also an undefined reference to "Acol type Multi 2D" in that year. Perhaps a strong two.

In 1978 a "blanket" Multi licence permitted the following inclusions

• Balanced 18+
• One suiter - "Weak Two"
• One suiter - 11 to 14
• One suiter - Acol Two
• Two suiter - Flannery 17+
• Three suiter - 18+

Such was the popularity of the Multi that a later L&E comittee was instructed by Council to create a special competition category for it during the move to generic licences. EBU 'level 3' at inception was almost identical to level two, with Multi added restricted as above. In practice this quickly became the default regulation for most UK club and congress bridge.

As for the name - "colour" is a term used in many European languages for suits: hearts, clubs etcetera. However in England we don't use this word and I doubt that Multi a reference to heart/spade ambiguity. The musical "Joseph's Technicolour Dreamcoat" was a London hit in the 70's and this might have been an influence. I guess it reflects the multiplicity of strong and weak options, as well as the major ambiguity.