Suppose you have Axx KQ1Oxx AKJ xx opposite xx Jxx Qxx AQJxx. The
standard Acol auction would be
1-2
-3NT, leaving responder
guessing whether to bid 4
or
not, and in this case he should decide not to, since opener may only
have four hearts. Now consider holding AKQxx QJxx Qx Kx. The bidding
starts 1
-2
, what should you bid
now? Partner has
shown eight points or more for his 2
bid, so you
definitely want to be in game, but is 3NT or 3
the
right call? If partner has x Axx AKJxxx xxx he will have problems over
3
, and if he bids 3NT you are going to need a
favourable club lie. On the other hand, if he holds x AKxx Kxxxxx xx
then 3NT is going to be a silly contract missing the heart fit.
The problem in both of these cases is that too much space has been taken up in the bidding, leaving it hard to bid to the right contract. We are going to show how many players get round this problem today, by just slightly modifying the system.
In standard Acol, a 1NT response to partner's opening bid shows a
hand with no suit to bid at the one level, which is either 6-7 points
with any shape (that is, not strong enough for the two level), or 8-9
points balanced. In the new system for a two level response you need
10+ points (or a nice hand with 9 points). Hands that would have bid
at the two level but are no longer strong enough to do so now respond
1NT. Thus the 1NT response is now any hand with 6-9 points, no suit
available at the one level This actually has little impact on the 1NT
response, but an enormous intact on the rest of the system. Suppose
the auction starts 1-2
-2NT.
Traditionally this would have shown
15-16 points with a balanced hand, stronger hands having to bid 3NT.
However, if partner has already shown 10+ points, and you have 15-16,
he is never going to pass you in 2NT, hence you can play the 2NT bid
as 15-19 points (game-forcing), thus giving you plenty of room to
investigate whether you wish to play in 3NT or 4
(or maybe 6
!).
Similarly, 1-2
-2
and 1
-2
-3
are
both game-forcing.
1
-2
-2
is
not forcing, as you will quite often want to play in
2
with a minimum
misfitting hand. However,
1
-2
-2
is
forcing, since it is rare
that one would wish to pass 2
(with 10+ points
you would normally
wish to raise diamonds, or bid 2NT. or give false (or even true)
preference to 2
). This frees up the
3
bid, which can now be played as a splinter
bid, that is, a singleton or void diamond with club
support. (Alternatively, if you don't play Acol twos some people like
to play this as a strong 5-5 hand.) Playing the 2
bid as forcing gives you a lot more room to investigate the best
contract.
Going back to our initial examples: Axx KQ1Oxx AKJ xx opposite xx Jxx
Qxx AQJxx. Bid 1-2
-2NT-3
-4
-4
.
(The 4
bid being a slam suitable hand agreeing hearts.)
AKQxx QJxx Qx Kx opposite x Axx AKJxxx xxx, or x AKxx Kxxxxx xx. For
the first hand proceed
1-2
-2
-3
-3NT (3
being fourth suit forcing);
for the second, 1
-2
-2
-4
.
Finally, notice that you now have available the sequence 1-2
-3NT,
with no meaning. Basically you can either agree never to use this
sequence, or give it a specific meaning (since it has used up a lot of
space, it should be quite specific so that partner knows how to bid on
after it).