2007-11-11
06:51
ACOL 2♦
PITBULLS:
In
my biased opinion , ACOL is one of the worst bidding systems ever devised.
Therefore , it comes as a surprise to me that I really like one of their systemic bids.
The ACOL 2♦
shows all strong diamond one suiters or
two suiters with diamonds as the anchor suit
with the strength just under a
demand two bid. Standard
bidding handles strong diamond hands above the range of a 3♦ rebid to under
a 2♣ opener abysmally.
The ACOL 2♦
fills the gap nicely that standard bidding can not handle. ♠Ax ♥xx ♦AKQxxxx
♣Kx & similar hands are hopeless to describe
with standard methods. 4-4-4-1 with 17-21 HCP’s are very difficult to describe.
Hiding 5♦
with a 2NT opener impedes minor suit slam bidding . Strong diamond reverses to
a major ( 6-4 or the like ) are no bargain. These problem hands are now all
solved with the ACOL 2♦.
Therefore
, a 2♦ opener
shows a single suited or two
suited diamond hand or a balanced
2NT opener with at least 5♦
or a Roman 2♦ with
its original range of 17-21. All
stronger diamond hands ( 22 HCP + ) are opened with 2♣. I originally thought we
could get away with a huge range
( all strong
diamond hands ) for these bids but
it might cause too much ambiguity.
A
2♦
bid demands a 2♥
waiting bid after which opener describes her hand as a single suit , two suiter
, NT hand or Roman. A Roman 2♦
is shown by bidding 2♠ after the 2♥ waiting bid which causes partner to relay to
2NT. Now opener describes her hand by bidding the singleton or jumping in the void.
Conventions
are rated by their frequency. This
2♦ ACOL range is just more frequent
as Roman 2♦
with 17-21 HCP of course are more frequent
than their larger counterparts. The range 18-21
♦
hands or two suiters are more
frequent than their forcing to game
counterparts. 2NT openers with 5 diamonds are relatively frequent.
6-4’s are very hard to describe & strong 6-4’s exceptionally so. We now have
the following understandings to describe these hand
patterns playing the ACOL 2♦.
2♦-P-2♥-P
3♥
6♦ &
4♥
2♦-P-2♥-P
4♥
6♦
& 5♥
2♦-P-2♥-P
3♠
6♦
& 4♠
2♦-P-2♥-P
4♠
6♦ &
5♠
2♦-P-2♥-P
3♣
6♦ &
4♣
2♦-P-2♥-P
4♣
6♦ &
5♣
BJ
& I added ACOL 2♦
bids to our natural 2♦
structure & got very good results. Returning game forcing 2♦ bids to the 2♣ structure is no big deal as that is
what we are used to. Super strong
diamond reverses no longer exist
as they are opened 2♦.
When we open 1♦ ,
we almost have forcing 1♣ inferences with 6 card diamond distributional
hands that we are under 17 HCP.
Almost , but not quite as judgment & the length of the diamond suit are
factors. A balanced hand with a 2NT rebid is still opened 1♦. 5 card diamond suits in the 17-20 are still
opened at the one level. 2♦
followed by a 2NT rebid shows the 20-21 2NT openers with a 5 card diamond suit.
Those of us who play the ACOL 2♦ with a range of 17-21 have the Roman 2♦ included in that mix. We can not play the
Roman 2♦ the
“old way” where 2NT was a game force & other bids escaped to a partial.
With the duality of the 2♦ involved
, 2♥
must always be the first bid by responder. How do we escape to a partial ? We do this by
“breaking the relay” . As soon as we hear 2♠ , we know that the hand is a Roman 2♦ , so we are supposed to bid 2NT as a relay. If we break the relay to a
suit , we want to play it there
unless that is openers stiff. If so , the 2♦ opener bids up the line & we scramble to
the best partial. If responder accepts the relay to 2NT , we are on a game
force.
♠xxx ♥xxx ♦xxx ♣xxxx
2♦-P-2♥-P
2♠-P-3♣-P
P-P-P-P
♠AJ10x ♥Axxx ♦xxx ♣xx 2♦-P-2♥-P
2♠-P-2NT-P
3♣-P-4♠-P
In
standard bidding , a response shows
6 or more HCP’s & the bidding structure unfolds accordingly. Not so with
the Acol 2♦ ,
as responder may have zero HCP.s & does not get an initial chance to show
her suit. Therefore an ACOL 2♦
has to be a special bid based on distribution & not just your normal 5 card
♦ suit
with 17 –20 HCP. These hands are still opened at the one level. 2♦ shows the 6th diamond & an
outstanding distributional attribute to justify starting the bidding at the 2♦ & skipping bidding steps.
This ACOL bid changes the
structure of 1♦-P-1NT
as extreme reverses & strong 6 card diamond /club hands no longer exist. We
now can play light reverses in these sequences as the stronger 6 card reverses
would have been opened 2♦ .
Strong diamond one suiters , no longer exist also after a 1NT response. Playing
an ACOL 2♦
structure has a nice positive ripple effect in your overall system,