Romex Gerber

After the Gerber Convention was devised, many bridge players began to apply it in their bidding auctions because is conserved so much bidding space to exchange additional information. It was discovered that the conventional method had several drawbacks and it was decided to alter the conventional method. The Romex Gerber conventional method is attributed to Mr. George Rosenkranz, who was born August 20, 1916, in Budapest, Hungary, and whose birth-name is Mr. György Rosenkranz.

He later moved to Switzerland to study at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, known in German as Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich. After his education years he voluntarily left Switzerland to relocate to Quito, Ecuador. However, when the United States entered the world war he accepted the offer of the Cuban President Mr. Fulgencio Batista to allow all war refugees to remain in Cuba. In the year 1945 Mr. George Rosenkranz relocated to Mexico City, Mexico.

After learning the game of bridge Mr. George Rosenkranz became the leading bridge personality of the country of Mexico. Among his many achievements is the development of the Rosenkranz Double and the Romex (Roman Mexican) bidding system.

This variation of the original concept was adopted by many partnerships. Other partnerships devised a modification of the Roman Gerber variation, and this modification was used in the Romex Bidding System, appropriately called Romex Gerber, which has many similarities to the Lillois Blackwood. The advantage of this modification was the fact that certain pairs of Aces could be identified by the partnership, and therefore the location of the Aces.

The different responses for the opener are as follows once responder has initiated Romex Gerber:

1NT - 4 Romex Gerber. Responses are:

• 4 - Shows 0 or 3 Aces.
• 4 - Shows 1 or 4 Aces.
• 4 - Shows 2 Aces of the same color, either both black suits (Spades and Clubs) or both red suits (Hearts and Diamonds).
• 4NT - Shows 2 Aces of the same rank, either both Major suits or both Minor suits.
• 5 - Shows 2 Aces of the same shape, either both pointed suits (Spades and Diamonds) or both rounded suits (Hearts and Clubs).

Depending on the response to the Ace-Asking bid, the King-Asking bid would begin by bidding one step higher or using a relay bid except No Trump, and the responses are similar to Roman Gerber. Using this modification, if the response were 5, then 5 would be the King-Asking bid, with the responses being step responses as in Roman Gerber, i.e. first step equals no Kings, second step equals 1 King, third step equals 2 Kings, etc.

Since the auction is progressive and the bidding sequences become dependent upon the responses, it is necessary that both partners become attuned to and aware of the possible bidding sequences to show certain controls. The partnership must have a solid and functioning agreement, which can carry the magnitude of these progressive and changing bidding sequences.