Acol at BBO
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Acol at BBO
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| This hand comes from a random game in the Acol Club. |
| Love all, you deal as south and have to find an opening bid for this black collection. |
South
K 8 5 4 3 2 A - A Q J 10 4 3
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| I’d suggest there are three reasonable contenders, 2 clubs (game forcing), 1 spade or 1 club. |
| The two-club opening has the virtue of ensuring you reach game, but it has a downside. |
| On big balanced hands, where you intend to bid no-trumps, or single suited hands where you intend to play in your suit regardless of partner’s bidding, a two-club opening works well. But on two suited hands it’s not so good. The loss of bidding space after sequences such as 2C – 2D – 3C, or 2C – 2D – 2S makes it hard to describe your hand to partner. |
| One spade is a reasonable bid. Sequences such as… |
| 1S - 1NT - 3C - 3(any) - $C or ... 1S - 2(red) - 3C - 3(any) - 4C present a fair portrayal of the hand. |
| Lastly, there’s a one club opening. If you open a club then bid, rebid and re-rebid spades, partner will get the idea that you have a hand with an awful lot of black cards and with clubs longer or stronger than spades. As this paints the most accurate picture of the hand, it’s the bid I favour. |
| Now let’s look at it from north’s side. |
| North
A 7 Q J 7 6 3 Q 9 8 5 K 2 |
| The key cards are the ace of spades and the king of clubs. Once partner has shown a massive hand with eleven or twelve black cards, these honours are ideally placed – “pure gold” is the expression usually used. |
| North’s hand is an excellent demonstration of how important it is to evaluate your hand in terms of how well your points fit with partner’s suits. |
| Compare it with this holding for north. |
| North
7 6 K Q J 6 3 A K Q 5 5 2 |
| Even though north has more points this time - on a non-diamond lead, all those pretty picture cards are useless to declarer. |
| Contrast this with the actual hand – where the ace of spades and king of clubs cover two of south’s three losers. |
| North
A 7 Q J 7 6 3 Q 9 8 5 K 2 |
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| West ? ? ? ? |
East ? ? ? ?
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| South
K 8 5 4 3 2 A - A Q J 10 4 3
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| A possible bidding sequence might be. |
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South 1C 2S (Reverse) 3S 4S (Showing ther 6-6 shape) |
West - - - - |
North 1H 2NT (Forcing after the Reverse) 4C (Preferemce & still forcing) 6C (Judging that his high cards are ideally placed) |
East - - - |
| Notice how the one club opening allows the partnership to reach a slam in the best denomination. Seven clubs is not unreasonable – needing a 3-2 spade break and clubs 4-1. Note also, six spades stands no chance against a 4-1 trump break. |
| Playtime .... (Click to continue) |