Its a bit of a problem hand for Acol. The way I learnt standard Acol was that you made what was called a delayed game raise. That is you bid something else first and then raise to 4S on the next round. The obvious problem here with that approach is that you do not have anything else to bid. The solution for that style would be to make a up a suit - maybe 2D here.
1S 2D 3D 4S - delayed game raise.
The problem with a direct 4S is that we want to reserve that for hands that some call "weak freaks". Something like sAxxxx hxx dx cKTxxx where game might be possible opposite a minimum or 4S could be a good advanced sacrifice.
You can't bid 4S on a solid 14 hcp and weak freaks as then when opener has a good hand they will not be well placed to judge when to look for slam.
Every convention has a pitfall. The obvious one is that you give up a natural bid. However I prefer to avoid a natural 2NT anyway after a 1Maj opening. Nevertheless there is occasionally a hand where it would be more suitable than bidding a suit.
On the other hand a forcing raise of opener's major is one bid that I would always want in my bag and wouldn't give up.
I like the following simple response structure:
1Maj 2NT
3 new suit - shortage in the suit bid
3Maj - minimum without a shortage
3NT - maximum without a shortage
You can also do something with the 4-level responses the two common options are i/ void showing or ii/ showing a second five-card suit.
Standard responses use 3Maj and 3NT differently and bid 4Maj with the minimum without a shortage. I think that takes up too much room to tell partner you have a very common hand.
West's 3♠ is presumably non ACOL and a GF.
ReplyDeleteIn standard acol should west response be 4 spade?
ReplyDeleteIts a bit of a problem hand for Acol. The way I learnt standard Acol was that you made what was called a delayed game raise. That is you bid something else first and then raise to 4S on the next round. The obvious problem here with that approach is that you do not have anything else to bid. The solution for that style would be to make a up a suit - maybe 2D here.
Delete1S 2D
3D 4S - delayed game raise.
The problem with a direct 4S is that we want to reserve that for hands that some call "weak freaks". Something like sAxxxx hxx dx cKTxxx where game might be possible opposite a minimum or 4S could be a good advanced sacrifice.
You can't bid 4S on a solid 14 hcp and weak freaks as then when opener has a good hand they will not be well placed to judge when to look for slam.
The modern style is to use 2NT as a game force spade raise - Jacoby 2NT.
DeleteThanks Wayne, I'll check with mr Google about Jacoby 2nt. In your opinion does it have any obvious pitfalls?
ReplyDeleteEvery convention has a pitfall. The obvious one is that you give up a natural bid. However I prefer to avoid a natural 2NT anyway after a 1Maj opening. Nevertheless there is occasionally a hand where it would be more suitable than bidding a suit.
DeleteOn the other hand a forcing raise of opener's major is one bid that I would always want in my bag and wouldn't give up.
I like the following simple response structure:
1Maj 2NT
3 new suit - shortage in the suit bid
3Maj - minimum without a shortage
3NT - maximum without a shortage
You can also do something with the 4-level responses the two common options are i/ void showing or ii/ showing a second five-card suit.
Standard responses use 3Maj and 3NT differently and bid 4Maj with the minimum without a shortage. I think that takes up too much room to tell partner you have a very common hand.
Noted.. Thanks. :)
ReplyDelete