All About Acol, p.175:
That would qualify for a 2D response, despite the 7 points. Improve it to xxxx Kxx Axx xx and it becomes 2S.
Another for 5 card suit: http://www.bridgedoctor.com/lessons/acol-19-learning-bridge-card-game.htm
And the EBU, in its definition of ACOL, states that not only should it be a 5-card suit, but headed by the AQ or better (which is how SAYC or 2 over 1 generally plays it).
www.ebu.co.uk/documents/laws-and-ethics/…cards/modern-acolv2-system-file.pdf
I think you are reading too much into that “always biddable” statement. There are several occasions where you do not immediately bid 4-card suits, the obvious ones being when partner opens 1NT or 2NT, or in competition.
Fair enough, but I could not give partner a king because you had them all. Maybe QJ hearts would do it, bringing the hand to 8 points? Your hand only has 12 cards. xxxx QJx Axx Jxx is less than 50% in 5S. However, with a 4-3-3-3 I would not be looking for a major suit fit at all. xxxx QJx AJxx xx and 5S is relatively safe, going down about 12% of the time. But these are hands where you will be bidding 6S, not 5S, when partner shows one ace. Slam is less than 50%
If you play RKCB, you are better shape, bidding slam only when partner shows either two aces or one ace plus QS. Qxxx Qxx Axxx xx, for example, will make nearly all the time that spades are 3-2 or diamonds 3-3.
This thread clearly shows how much I have to learn about this wonderful game.
Backing down from a debate and implying someone else has more knowledge? That’s clearly non-standard for a message board and should have been alerted. I’m calling the director over.
Heh. Last night, I was playing Teams in a club that includes some national-class players and was delighted that we didn’t come bottom.
Grrr…
I’m feeling aggrieved about one hand and disappointed with myself with another.
The first hand bidding went three passes, 1H (me), Double, 2H, Pass, 3D, Passed out. Partner had 4 hearts and 3 diamonds, leaving me in a 4-3 fit rather than a 4-4 fit. I had 18 points, partner 7. We went down 3. Grrr.
The second hand I’m sure the bidding was my fault, but I’m not sure where I went wrong. Partner opened 1H, I rebid 3D (showing 16+ points, strong suit), partner bid 3S, I bid 3NT, and it was passed out. Making all 7, for a plain bottom. I had S?x HA DAKxxxx CAJxx and partner had SAKxx HKQTxx Dxx CKQ. The lead was a club. The missing heart honour dropped and I made 2 Spade tricks, 5 Heart tricks, 2 Diamond tricks, and 4 Club tricks.
3D is 100% forcing. Shoot partner. Mind you, with 18 points, depending on what they were and whether you had a doubleton to add a distribution point, I might have just bid 4H with your hand.
Partner’s fault again. Assuming the “?” in spades is a small card, you have shown your hand - 16 points, good diamonds, not much more (or you would not bid 3NT). Partner has 17 high card points! Add that to your 16 and you want to be in slam. I would not have passed 3NT - I would have bid 6NT. That is the place you want to play - you can’t rely on hearts coming in to make seven.
Having said that, I would not have bid 3D with your hand. While it is a good description of most of your hand (points & diamonds), you will lose the club suit. If partner’s two small spades were two small clubs, 7C is the contract to be in yet you have not bid clubs at all.
I would start with 2D, planning to bid 3C next - both are forcing.
Agree with the above that pard’s not on form there - hand 1 is just a failure to play bridge and hand 2 is playing bridge quite badly. It’s a bad misfit, but looking at their hand after you’ve made a strong jump shift into diamonds then 6N has to have play.
It’s a game of mistakes, and we all make them - but if your partner thinks it’s OK to pass forcing bids like 3D in hand 1 then you need to have a bit of a sit down as it’s just going to cause aggravation.
No way should partner have passed 3D. The bid could be several things, but it cannot be passed because you’ve already agreed hearts is trumps.
3D should be some kind of game try here. (Short suit, long suit, help suit, etc. – you’d have to agree which you use.
When playing with a new partner (as is frequently the case online), one thing I always try to enforce is an agreement that changing suit during the bidding is ALWAYS forcing (for at least the next round, I mean - not necessarily to game). Without this convention you really struggle to find the best contract on a lot of hands. Although I must admit to forgetting this rule on one occasion, having made my partner agree to it. That was embarrassing, though partner took it with very good grace.
Auctions like
1S, pass, INT, pass
2C, pass, ...
can be passed
Yes, that’s giving suit preference.
And the 1NT response is negative anyway.
New suits by responder should be forcing for one round, but not by opener, as per examples given by other posters.
We were playing 4th suit forcing, so a bit of 3C over 2S would have been asking for a club stop, not showing clubs myself.
Yes, that is why I said “planning”. Over a 2H or 2NT rebid from opener, I would bid 3C. If opener rebid 2S, which is what would happen on the actual hand, that is game forcing and I would probably bid 2NT to show that I have a club stop, as there is now minimal possibility that we have a club fit (partner could be 4504, but unlikely).
A hand from today’s A/X pairs in the Atlanta Regional: void, K76432, AJT74, K7. You open 1H, LHO bids 1S, partner bids 4D, showing 4+ hearts, singelton or void diamond, and game going values.
Your bid?
Partner could have as little as Jxxx in hearts, but a slam is a definite possibility even so - we can cross-ruff spades and diamonds. So bid 4NT Blackwood and we can always stop in 5H. If we’re playing RKCB a 5S response would be the most difficult - which of SA, HA, or CA does partner not have?
I’ve read about but am not fully au fait with cue bids but I’m not sure I can use them here as I’m missing HA. Theoretically, the sequence could continue 4S-5C-5D, but what then? Bidding 5H would stop the sequence (with HA would partner bid 5H or 6H?). Suppose partner had SAQxx HJxxx DK CQJxx? And partner doesn’t know I have six hearts - for all she knows, I might only have four.
He has five. 4 card majors would be uncommon at a US regional.
I’d typically take the low road in pairs, and we’re talking about a sub 25point slam here, but I think I’d have a nibble. If exclusion blackwood is available then 4S would be nice - needs a well-oiled partnership to roll that out over a splinter, though, you’d need to have discussed this possibility.
No gadgets, then 4S cue hoping to hear 5C from partner. If this emerges then a bold 6H - pard has the AC, four trumps, stiff D, and opps spade bid enhances the prospects of a heart honour or two. If no club cue then we subside in five.
I don’t know about the US but over here an opening bid of 1H may have only four hearts. Even if we were playing five card majors, partner doesn’t know that my only honour is the King.
Absolutely!
I wasn’t aware of that convention and have just read about it (see also this pdf). ITYM 5S, not 4S, and that would mean committing to the slam. Interesting how the problem of ‘Blackwood in the minors’ is reversed.
The problem with that is the possibility of HAQ sitting over me.
I won’t try to intersperse answers to quotes of all the different comments, so here’s a list.
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partner knows you have at least 5 hearts. We play 2 over 1, so the 1H opener guarantees at least 5 (except occasionally 3rd in hand).
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it may only be 11 high card points, but under various ways of evaluating hands with a trump fit it is 15 - 17 points. And 5-loser using the losing trick count, which suggests slam zone if partner’s values are in the right places.
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as stated by someone, 5S is exclusion Blackwood, so that does not help here.
I like a 4S cue bid next. It shows the spade control (partner likely has some spade losers) and by going beyond game, shows slam interest. If partner cooperates with 5C (which he does), then I think it reasonable to bid 6H. If you want to be more cautious, you can bid 5D to show your AD and continued interest. I think partner would then bid the slam (and I should know, as I was said partner).
Partner had QJxx Axxx x AQxx. It actually makes 7 when diamonds break 4-3 and the suit can be ruffed good.