Tramticket

There was a time when a 1♠ bid seemed to be a short suit (psych) more often than not ...

Pass. In tempo.

Look at it another way - since the "8 playing trick" test shouldn't be your only tool. This is a hand of quality. It has defensive strength and good controls -3 aces as well as KQ in your proposed trump suit. If my suit were a minor suit, I so would want more. But this hand seems an easy 2C to me.

This is surely a Benji 2C hand. It meets the 8 playing trick test in my opinion (4.5 in trumps, 3.5 outside trumps). Second choice is to rebid 2NT, as suggested by Cyberyeti.

Did Spades break 5-1?

Now I bid 6S. Am I chicken?

Double. My 3_card club suit should guard against partner passing for penalties. :)

'Old School' Acol used to fudge the question of which suit to open. The idea was that you selected your opening bid with your rebid in mind to allow you to show both suits, without reversing. Most would now accept that the objective is to show the balanced shape - by opening 1NT (12-14 if playing a weak NT) or opening a suit and rebidding NT. (And as a collorally, bidding a second suit suggests an unbalanced hand with 5 cards in the first suit). Given that the rebid will be no trumps, most modern Acol players in the UK will choose to open the major. I know that this isn't universal, particularly outside the UK, but I think it makes far more sense to open the major: - opening the minor and rebidding NT hides the major. Why would you want to do that? - you are playing four-card majors because you believe that this allows you to find 4-4 fits earlier. Shouldn't you take as many opportunities as you can to bid the major? Otherwise, why not play 5-card majors? - Opening the major makes it more difficult for the opponents to overcall.

I would play the sequence 1C, 1H; 4C as a very strong suit orientated hand with exactly three-card heart support.

Partner presumably doesn't have a singleton or void (no splinter), so I would expect 5 clubs, 4 hearts and 2 cards each in spades and diamonds. And presumably 19 or a good 18 points for this semi-balanced shape. Do we have enough trick-taking potential for slam. I'm guessing probably not, but maybe worth one try with four spades.

2S - if we have the mechanism to show a 2-suited hand, then I'm using my toy.

I might consider a 2NT bid vulnerable at IMPs, but otherwise an easy pass.

I might consider a 2NT bid vulnerable at IMPs, but otherwise an easy pass.

Three clubs for now, let's see what partner or LHO bids. (I wouldn't be surprised to hear a three heart bid on my left).

Suit quality is poor. West often has hearts when he raises to three hearts. Pass.

Pass - my partners don't promise much for a 1-level overcall (maybe a lead-directing 7-count). And I have a balanced hand with so seven points in their suits.

Yes I agree with this. Note that on the first auction the bidding has reached a high level very quickly, so a double will need to cover a large variety of strong hands - so it may not have a classic take-out double shape. The second hand is slightly different. The first double is a take-out double of two hearts. It will usually guarantee at least three cards in each unbid suit and shortage in hearts. It may not be particularly strong. The second double shows extra strength - but the shape hasn't changed(!). When responding it is reasonable to assume that partner has at least three-card support. But, again the most common action will be to pass for penalties.

Yes, hand 1 is just about worth 2S. Hand 2 is an easy pass.

You have the values for game ... you don't have a major suit fit ... You have an inadequate stop in opponents' suit ... A tricky bidding judgment problem, not a bidding system problem. But, yes. A difficult hand :)

You are balanced? In which case you were planning to rebid No Trumps. If you have a stop you should carry on and bid 2NT over the double (I would play this as forcing to game - allowing partner to bid 3S to show a 3-card suit, or bid a minor with say 5-5 in the minors or bid 3NT with nothing else to say). Without a stop, I would cue-bid their suit as a general directional asking bid. To be fair to Acol, it has moved on a bit since the days of Easley!

Ken, A 3d reply to the double guarantees a 5-card spade suit (at least under the EBU's version of Acol). So yes with invitational values and three-card support you can double first and then bid 3S over 3D. With a stronger hand and three-card support you can double and then jump to 4S over 3D.

Pass. Doubling the (not impossible) 3S is for penalties I hope?

The standard English Acol auction is surely 1H, 1S, 2NT, Pass. Of course, local clubs tend to attract local fads. In some clubs it might be fashionable to open a minor before a major, or open 2NT (or a Benji 2C) on a balanced 19. But my guess is that 2NT making 8 Or 9 would be normal ...?

Thank you all for your helpful replies. I will discuss these with my partner to try and avoid Sunday's disaster. I was sitting North and doubled - believing it to be for penalties... My partner believed my double to show "general positive values". She then decided to try to get me to describe my hand further by cue-bidding the opponent's suit... I thought the three heart bid was natural and "exposing the psych"! ... (West did in fact hold a six-card suit) The auction didn't improve at all - we finished in 7NT. This was not a happy contract even though partner managed to drop West's singleton King of Spades! Our team-mates were defending 3NT :(