- PRINCIPLE 6: If Opener/Overcaller rebids his suit on the second round, this shows a suit longer than the five cards originally promised. A simple rebid — e.g. 1♥ then 2♥ — shows a 6-card suit. A jump rebid — e.g. 1♣ then 3♣ — shows a 7-card suit. (NB This principle is not enforced if responder showed a strong hand in the first round — i.e. 2NT, 3x, or 4NT.)
- PRINCIPLE 7: No extra values are needed to bid any 4+ card suit at the two-level on the second round. There is no concept of a 'barrier' or a 'reverse'.
- PRINCIPLE 9: Simplex is a fundamentally natural bidding system. The only gadgets used are 2♣ Redshift, 4NT Blackwood, and the Simplex 2NT.
- PRINCIPLE 12: After a suit-raise by partner — e.g. 1♦:2♦ or 1♥:3♥ or 1♠:4♠ or 1♣:5♣ — do not bid on. That is, unless the opponents are trying to steal your contract and you have extra suit length beyond the five cards your initial bid promised.
- PRINCIPLE 13: Ignore first-round doubles by the opponents. Carry on and make the bid you would have made if the opponents had passed.
- PRINCIPLE 14: Simplex is designed so that the contract reached is, on most occasions, dealer-independent. That is, if all four players are Simplex bidders, the same contract should be reached, irrespective of who opened the bidding.
- PRINCIPLE 20: After opening/overcalling One of a Suit or 1NT or doubling on the first round, you can bid another 4+ card suit at the 2-level on the second round, even if responder passed.
- PRINCIPLE 21: If you had a hand worth opening at the 1-level and you have another 5+ card suit, you should bid it at the 3-level on the second round, even if responder passed.
- PRINCIPLE 22: Always bid the cheaper of two equal-length suits.
- PRINCIPLE 24: Apart from the use of double, Simplex never keys its bids off the opponents' bidding. (There is, for example, no concept of a jump overcall relative to an opponent's bid. A bid of the 'enemy suit' is always natural, showing at least three cards in that suit.) The philosophy of Simplex is that each hand is worth a particular bid, or sequence of bids, and if one of those bids cannot be made because of opposition bidding, the appropriate bid is usually to double.
- PRINCIPLE 26: After the second round, your doubles are for penalties — do not double purely because RHO has just taken your bid away.
- PRINCIPLE 27: Simplex is designed so that, as far as possible, responses follow the same guidelines as openings and overcalls. For example, the requirements of a suit-change response at the 1-level are identical to those of an opening bid of one of a suit. And a Simplex 2NT rebid by opener has the same requirements as a Simplex 2NT bid by responder.
- PRINCIPLE 28: 2NT in reply to a suit bid is always the Simplex convention. 2NT in reply to 1NT is always quantitative, showing 12-14 HCP balanced.
- PRINCIPLE 29: When should you stop bidding? You should probably pass when your point count is minimum for the range you have already announced, and you have described all the features of your hand (i.e. 4+ card suits, support for partner, stoppers and controls) that you can, and your partner's last bid was not forcing.
- PRINCIPLE 31: The responses to a double of One of a Suit are the same as the responses to an opening bid of One of a Suit, except that 1NT shows 0-9 HCP.
- PRINCIPLE 32: If Opener has the choice, he should prefer to bid another 4+ card suit on the second round rather than rebid his long suit.
- PRINCIPLE 33: A double on the second round is often for takeout, particularly if bid by someone who also doubled on the first round, in which case partner is asked to bid his best of the unbid suits. A double of a conventional bid is likely to show that doubler has that suit.
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