Trying Acol on Into Bridge

Currently, I have some fun trying Acol on Into Bridge. That was the system I started with 50 years ago. Actually, I also stopped with Acol after an intermezzo in Precision some 10 years later. Now, I resumed the game in older age and found the world playing strong NT and 5-card majors. I understand that the modern 2/1 style has benefits for slam bidding. For a club player, I still think hat Acol provides the more logical and relaxed approach. The game forcing 2/1 is simply too rare to make a difference, and the forcing 1NT just adds an additional problem.

The implementation of Acol in Into Bridge seems to be very basic, and I found it buggy at times. You need to follow the differentiation between balanced and non-balanced hand carefully. And read the explanations of Lia's bids!

More posts will follow. Here, I have some hands where the weak 1NT opening made a difference. Above, you land in 1NT, showing 15-17 points in Acol. The strong NT players opened 1NT and rejected the invitation by partner, going down once in 2NT. This is of course not an argument pro and contra Acol, just a case that can happen.

This hand shows a general problem of any 1NT opening. You can easily miss a major fit if partner does not have enough points to use Stayman. You might even miss a 5-5 fit, if open 1NT with 5-card majors and partner does not run out into his 5-card major! Lia on North might have better not decided that the hand is balanced, and open and repeat spades. Again, this is not an argument, just a case to be considered. The weak 1NT happens more frequently than the strong one. So, you need to consider your run-out plans.

This is another problem. The Standard will open with 1♣, Some South players passed now. Actually, it is one down too. But it is much less unpleasant to play. If the diamonds do not break 4-4, it is the better contract.  

But on most tables the bidding went on, usually with Lia on North throwing in its spade suit. Lia should really not bid like this. I consider it a bug, or at least a missing partnership understanding. Most South players now went to 2♣. 

More on Acol in subsequent posts.