Acol on IntoBridge

I plan to play Acol on IntoBridge for this season. Unfortunately, this system does not get the most attention from the programmers. That is now more obvious than before because we get a message from Lia telling us what he would have bid in our case. I found that his bid was working worse more often than better. 

One truth in Bridge is that consistent success does not come from the system or from conventions. It comes from good judgement and the best play and defense you can muster. If the basic understanding is right, any system will work well. Masters will thrive for perfection and detailed conventions. But not even at that level, attracting luck and bad defense, as well as reading the bids of the opponents, might count more.

However, in a place where everybody plays strong NT and 5-card majors, you get different results with weak NT and 4-card majors. The hand above is an example that happened to me very frequently. Bidding a suit on N/S drives E/W to a contract which does not make. And you cannot beat three down, even if you make 2NT. Opening 1NT simply blocks all auction. This sounds like a good idea, but it is too often not working well.

Blocking the bidding with 1NT might well block your partner too. If you do it with a 5-card major, you may even miss a 5-4 fit if partner is too weak for Stayman. 

Aren't there any cases where it worked? I have to look hard. In fact, it worked in the hand below. Most players went down one to three times in clubs. I was able to make an overtrick in 1NT. But it a rare case of luck. If I find more instances, I let you know in another posting.

So far, I made it to the Queen level with Acol. Let us see.