Standard American - SAYC

SAYC

"SAYC" is an acronym for Standard American Yellow Card, which is a specific set of partnership agreements and conventions, using Standard American as a base. Some of the specific agreements in SAYC that elaborate on basic Standard American are:

• A 2♣ response to a 1 NT opening is specified as the "non-forcing" version of the Stayman convention.
• A 2♠ response to a 1 NT opening forces the opener to bid 3♣, so that the responder may play there or bid 3♦, which the opener is expected to pass.
• Straight Blackwood is used, and not the "Roman Key-Card" or other variation.
• In response to a 2♣ opening, the 2♦ response is the "waiting" version of that response.
• In response to a weak-two opening, RONF ("Raise Only Non-Force") is used.
• Negative doubles are used through the level of 2♠.
• Fourth suit forcing is used.
• Michaels cuebid is used.
• Conventions are specified as being "off" in response to a 1NT overcall, except that 2♣ is still Stayman.

SAYC is a very specific collection of agreements, which can, of course, be modified and augmented by partnership agreement. In practical use, the term is often mis-used to refer to Standard American in general, or it could refer to a system that used SAYC as a base and made additional augmentations or changes to the base agreements.