Re: Newbie Acol Bidding Explanation

wrote
>When my friends and I started playing Acol Bridge some time ago ( 4
>card majors , Weak NT (12-14 PTS) , we were told by our instructor to
>bid 4-card suits "up" and 5-card suits "down" , i.e bid 4D before
>showing 4S and bid 5S before 5C for instance.
>
>Now that we have been playing a bit longer , we have forgotten the
>reasoning behind this advice and one of us in particular wonders why
>the 5-card bidding advice was given this way.
>
>Can anyone remind me why this advice is given again?

   The reason is that you bid both suits with 5-card one, but only one 
with 4-card ones.

   Consider responding to 1C with hearts and spades.

   With four card suits you respond up:  1C 1H.  Now, if partner neither 
raises hearts nor rebids spades, you know you do not have a fit in 
either [he would *always* rebid 1S with four cards if he was not raising 
hearts] so now you do not need to bid the spades.  For example: 1C 1H 
1NT: now you raise or pass.

   But with five card suits you need ot bid both because otherwise you 
may miss a fit: partner will not bid a 3-card suit.  So: 1C 1S.  If 
partner doe snot raise, you bid the hearts next.  That shows five 
spades: you might have to bid the hearts again to show five of them. For 
example: 1C 1S 1NT 2H 2S 3H.


-- 
David Stevenson           Bridge      RTFLB       Cats       Railways
Liverpool, England, UK    Fax: +44 870 055 7697        ICQ:  20039682
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