el mister

THanks all - v helpful. I think I'll just put Benji Acol in my profile to save on future hassle. If you play Acol with a multi 2D, is this how the opening goes at the 2 level: 2♣: v strong, 23+ hcp 2♦: Weak 2 in ♥ or♠ or 4.4.4.1 strong 2♥: Strong Acol 2, hand of power and quality 2♠: Strong Acol 2 etc Is this treatment common?

Playing in the acol room, it seems that the vast majority play strong 2s, often across the board, ♣♦♥♠. I find this a little exasperating, where p uses 2♠ to show strength rather than weakness, but that could be down to me just not understanding it. Can someone fill me in on what is the thinking behind this style? I've also seen this as SOP with the old timers at the club. To have no weak pre-emptive bid available, just so you can show a strong hand on the opening bid, doesn't strike me as an equitable trade-off. I mean, there's usually going to be plenty more opportunities to bid your hand. How often does a hand get passed out after a 1M opener for example?

What are inverted minors helene? Is it 2m is strong 3m is weak?

I play acol and find the limit raise structure to be a very reassuring feature as a beginner. Is it sensible to play it in the minors though? Particularly with respect to 10+ hcp and 4 card support, where a jump to the 3 level is called for in the majors. Say I hold the following: Kx xxx AJxx Kxxx and p opens 1♦. If I limit raise to 3♦ we have no space to ask about playing in 3NT, so how do we get there? I've had a few 1m pass 3m auctions get passed out / descend into confusion recently for poor results.

Thanks Boris - I'm familiar with the UCB in response to partner's overcall, but hadn't seen it in response to an opening bid from p. So how does this bid compare with a limit raise in acol, say 1♥ 2♣ 3♣ versus 1♥ 2 ♣ 3 ♥ both showing 10+ points and 4 card support? Is it the same idea of freeing up the natural bid to show a weak, pre-emptive type hand?

Is there a common meaning for responder cue bidding overcaller's suit in the first round of bidding, e.g. 1♦ 1♥ 2♥ ? I play acol and don't recall seeing this type of sequence at acol tables, but have seen it played on boards elsewhere in bbo - curious as to what it means.

That's it! I see the term used from time to time and don't really understand it - what does 'buying the contract' mean?

Thanks for the replies. Interested in this last point hotShot. I've been treating the 1NT rebid showing 15-16pts as set in stone - it makes sense to bend it a little in this case?

I've had some bad results recently opening 5-3-3-2 hands, 12-14pts. In the Acol system I'm playing (learning), weak NT = 12-14 but 5M-3-3-2, 12-14 gets opened 1M. Can I check that this is standard? It seems to present a rebid problem, where you're really hoping that partner gives you some support back, otherwise you don't have many options. Say you hold ♠AKXXX♥JXX♦QXX♣KX - would you open this 1♠ rather than 1NT? Do you assess the suit quality, or just open whatever 5CM if you're 13hcp balanced? WHat about if partner is a passed hand? I guess what I am not clear on is why you don't use the 1NT opener, since it is a brilliantly descriptive bid. Partner can then use a variety of bids to show a strong hand, find a fit, or even rescue the contract if they've got absolutely nothing. I'm not getting why 1M is superior when there is no obvious second suit to re-bid. Thanks for any advice :rolleyes:

I'm a beginner, and looking to improve my acol game. I'm absorbing the important conventions, and wanted to ask about a (maybe) not so important one - the comic or Gardener NT. What do you think about this one - can it be a useful bid or is it outdated? Just thinking about it in simple terms, a weak jump overcall seems to have more pre-emptive value. The comic NT (great name :) ) has a bit of misdirection to it, but wouldn't you have to alert it anyhow and say what it means? One other thing that occurs to me is that it describes a situation that seems to come up a lot - a weak 2 holding after opps have opened the bidding; so you could probably use the convention quite frequently.

Hi there - can people give me some pointers on the following? I am learning the game and am learning to play a basic acol system. 1. We play Stayman and Jacoby transfers over an opening of 1nt, but are wondering what to do when opposition puts a bid in immediately over my 1nt opening? What is a common treatment for this - I guess you could agree that transfers are off and just bid naturally? 2. Responding with a weak 2/3 type hand. We've played a few boards recently and not known how to communicate these hands effectively when responding to partner. Say I open 1♠ and partner has 6 hearts, 6 hcps, for example. I would take a bid of 2♥ to mean 5 hearts, at least 10 hcps. A bid of 3♥ would be a jump shift and indicate a very strong hand. How can partner show this hand - should they bid this hand? We've found that the weak jump overcall works well against opps for this type ofhand, so i guess we just need ideas on how to bid weak-raises ourselves. 3. Doubling sacrifice bids. Knowing when to penalty double is a challenge for me right now. However, can one generalise that if a sacrifice bid has been tabled by opps, when they are non-vulnerable, then a penalty double is called for? Say we feel comfortable for 4♥ (have a fit, 25 hcps) and opps bid 5♦. If they make it, then we are likely getting bottom board, so doubling it won't make any difference negatively speaking. It could make a big difference positively speaking, if they go off by 2 or 3. We play match point scoring. Thanks for any advice :)

Many thanks for the replies - sounds like good advice. I'm already seeing that a weak takeout over 1nt opening - which i've been taught in beginner's bridge class, doesn't seem to fit in with playing JTs.

Hi, I'm a novice player new to the forums. I have a million questions about Bridge, but will restrict myself to two at the minute: Can anyone give me some simple direction in making a strong 2 opening? I'm learning the acol system with weak 2 openings. From playing a bit on BBO, it seems that its also important to open hands at the two level that are strong - to let partner know that you have points and are particularly strong in a suit. How do you accommodate both weak and strong 2s in your bidding? Jacoby transfers seem to be a good convention to learn as a beginner. Seems like a fairly straightforward arrangement, but playing online, they seem to cause a lot of problems - I see comments like No transfers! , or THAT WAS A JACOBY TRANSFER P!!! etc cropping up frequently. Maybe this is just amongst beginners, but where does the misinterpretation arise - what should I watch out for when playing them? Should I be looking to play them as a novice? Cheers for any advice. :blink: