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M J Bridge

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Bidding

Hands

Theory

Context  -  Acol bidding - opener - unbalanced hands - first or second seat.

Responder’s continuations

Opening one of a suit

The following assumes, in the first instance, that you are in first or second position at the table.  The considerations will change significantly when in third seat or fourth seat.

You have picked up and assessed your hand, decided that it is unbalanced, and you are considering making an opening bid on it.

If the hand contains less than eleven high-card points then you need to be certain that it is legal.  (‘rule of eighteen’ or ‘rule of nineteen’ depending on the level of competition.)

If it is either near the bottom end of the range or near the top end of the range you may wish to modify your assessment of the hand. as you decide between pass, opening one of a suit, and opening at the two-level.

You should then decide how best to show the hand through your choice of opening bid and planned rebid.

This will depend to an extent on the shape of the hand, and so your next port of call will be to look at the pages which consider the various hand-shapes in turn (links below).

What will your rebid be?

Note that an opening bid of one of a suit covers an extremely wide variety of hands.

It might be the starting point with a single-suited, a two-suited, a three-suited, or a 5-4 hand whose strength lies anywhere between a minimum opening and a hand which doesn’t quite qualify for a stronger opening bid, and equally it might be the starting point with a balanced hand in the fifteen to nineteen point range.

That is why it will take you two bids even to begin to paint a picture of your hand.

You should have this two-bid sequence in mind before you open your mouth with your first bid.

Whenever you open one of a suit you should know what your rebid will be facing a lowest level forcing change of suit from partner.

It is this (nearly) guaranteed opportunity for both you and your partner to be able to describe your hands in two bids which makes it possible for each of you to show a wide variety of hand-types and strengths as you search for the best contract.

The scenario in which opener starts with one of a suit, receives his partner’s response, and then goes into a confused trance, should never happen.  If there isn’t a suitable rebid in this situation then he made the wrong bid in the first place!

Much of this section has more to do with the rebid than with the opening bid.  That is how it should be.

If in the process I duplicate much of the content of the section on opener’s rebid then so be it.

As opener, acquire the habit of planning your rebid before you start as quickly as you can, if it isn’t already part of your way of thinking.

Hand-types

single-suited

two-suited

three-suited

5-4 shape