Balanced Hands are those with no more than 8 cards between the two longest suits. Some of the bids described in this section are also applicable to Distributional Hands – usually it is not until the opener’s second bid that it becomes clear whether a hand is Balanced or Distributional. You will notice recurring themes in the way that the appropriate No Trumps bid is determined by assessing the partnership’s combined point count based on partner’s known minimum points holding. 2.1 One No Trump Opening Bid & NT Responses An opening bid of 1NT shows a Balanced Hand with 12… Read More

Distributional Hands are those with at least 9 cards between the two longest suits. Some of the bids described in this section are also applicable to Balanced Hands – often it is not until the opener’s second bid that it becomes clear whether a hand is Balanced or Distributional. 3.1 Opening Bids of 1 of a Suit The minimum requirement to open one of a suit is 12 High Card Points (or 10 – 11 HCP with a 6 card suit). There is no set upper limit, although a hand with a self-supporting suit and at least 8 ‘Playing Tricks’… Read More

A convention is an artificial bid or series of bids carrying a meaning other than the apparent natural one. 4.1 The Stayman Convention After an opening bid of 1NT a bid of 2C is asking opener to show any 4 card Major suits with a view to finding a fit in one of the Majors. Before using Stayman always consider the need to make a sensible re-bid (or a pass) if opener has no 4 card Major. With a balanced hand you need to have at least 11 points because you may have to revert to 2NT if no fit… Read More

When the opponents have already opened the bidding, your bidding strategy is different to that in an uncontested auction. You are not necessarily expecting to win the contract, but by entering a competitive auction you may disrupt the opponents’ bidding space and force them up to a higher level than they would wish. It can also provide your partner with useful information about which suits to lead in defence. 5.1 Suit Overcalls Simple overcall at the 1 level Example: 1H – 1S Requires a good 5 card suit with 8 to about 15 pts. Partner’s responses are: Simple overcall at… Read More

Playing Tricks & Quick Tricks, Trial Bids, Opening Leads [...] Read More

A full listing of the sections in the Acol Bidding Notes [...] Read More