Acol textbook

[Tramticket]

You will get a second hand copy from Amazon and probably ABE Books

 

The comment was "Out of Date" not "Out of Print". It isn't difficult to get hold of a copy - they sold in their millions and most second-hand bookshops have a large pile of them out the back somewhere. Museums are full of them. I have a copy on my shelves - signed personally by Rhoda Lederer when she visited our club - back in my youth.

 

But the ideas that are out of date, as is the method of presentation and most importantly the fundamental bridge assumptions.

 

A couple of examples of out of date ideas leap out immediately. No modern Acol player uses strong twos! Jacoby 2NT and splinters are the norm for Acol players - delayed game raises and Swiss belong in another era.

 

But more important than the methods, is the out-of-date underlying bridge assumptions. For example the book makes very poor recommendations on hand valuation. It lays down rigid point-count rules and takes insufficient account of hand shape and texture.

[Cyberyeti]

A couple of examples of out of date ideas leap out immediately. No modern Acol player uses strong twos!

 

Depends on your definition of modern, people still play these at a very decent level although the majority of strong 2 artists use a multi. I used to occasionally have to play this with somebody who has now moved out of the area.

[pescetom]

Depends on your definition of modern, people still play these at a very decent level although the majority of strong 2 artists use a multi. I used to occasionally have to play this with somebody who has now moved out of the area.

 

Terence Reese was already deprecating strong 2s in 1973, but they do have some merits despite the problematic 2NT response. Here in Italy they were still popular until quite recently and some even included them in 5 card majors, but now they are dying out fast.