Astro (convention)

Astro (convention)

Astro is a contract bridge bidding convention used to intervene over an opponent's 1NT opening. Requiring an unbalanced hand with at least nine cards in two suits, at least one of which is a major, Astro is initiated by a 2-level overcall in a minor suit:

The name is derived from the initials of the surnames of its inventors - Paul Allinger, Roger Stern and Lawrence Rosler.

Subsequent bidding

For purposes of subsequent bidding, the major suit indicated by the Astro Intervener is termed the “anchor major”; the cheapest unbid suit is called the "neutral" suit. Depending upon action taken by the responder to the 1NT opener, Advancer may:

Intervener rebids include:

Defense against Astro
Responder to the 1NT opener may:

Variations

In the following variations of Astro, the overcalls indicate more specific information about suit combinations:
Modified Astro:

Pinpoint Astro:

Roth-Stone Astro:

Several other bidding conventions use a variety of overcall schemes to compete against a 1NT opening; these include: Brozel, Landy, Aspro, Asptro, Ripstra, Cappelletti and DONT.

References

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