The aim of this book is to describe a complete and coherent method of partnership bidding after the opening bidder has announced a balanced hand. Balanced hands are more common than unbalanced hands, so it is important to be able to describe them accurately and efficiently – to show their precise strength and distribution. The scheme proposed here is independent of your bidding system, and so it can be adopted whether you play a natural system such as Acol or Standard American, or a Strong Club system or something more exotic.