You have reached the site of Craig and Stephen, two guys who just love their bridge. We are not champions, and never will be. But we want to play better if it does not take away from the enjoyment of the game.
The pages in this site outline our latest bidding system, SSB.
To my knowledge these are the only four players in the world currently using this system on a regular basis. From left: Stephen Butler, the inspiration to us all. Diana Ho, a flexible and versatile player, Craig Taberner, who learnt it at a bus stop and wrote these web pages, and Dennis Wan, exciting bridge talent and theoretician.
I know of no name for the system. Stephen Butler originally called it SSB, which does not appear to stand for anything (System Stephen Butler sounds fabulous and constitutes a fitting tribute to a creative bridge player). Recently Stephen has jokingly styled it Sub-Standard Bosnian.
SSB grew out of the "Bosnian Spade" (no connection with Bosnia), which reversed the notions of prepared 1 Club bids (dubbed the "Colonial Club" by Stephen Butler) and opened balanced hands with 1S even with only 2 Spades. SSB was banned by the NSW Bridge Association. Can you believe it? A straightforward system gets banned. Of course we no longer play there.
In response, Dennis Wan, one of Stephen's other (stronger) partners, came up with this system. Stephen introduced it to me (Craig) while waiting for a bus on our way to bridge. The very thought of playing something unusual appealed instantly to me. We have been playing it since.
SSB blends point count and shape with a few mildly quirky features. It makes use of trick count and control asks.
Variations and developments have grown up in response to real and actual situations.
Opening Bids (updated)
Suit bids (updated)
Opening 1NT (updated)
2 Clubs Opening (updated)
2 Diamond Opening (updated)
2 Hearts or 2 Spades Opening (updated)
2NT Opening (updated)
Overcalls (updated)
Defence to 1NT (updated)
Dealing with Interference (updated)
Control asking bids (updated)
Craig Taberner, updated 20 May 2003
