2. Distributional points: If the hand is going to be played in a suit contract then you can add

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1 ACOL Basics 1 Hand Valuation 1. The strength of a hand is evaluated by preference to high card points: 4 for an ace, 3 for a king, 2 for a queen, 1 for a jack. 2. Distributional points: If the hand is going to be played in a suit contract then you can add extra points for distribution: 3foravoid, (5 when holding 5+ trumps, 4 when holding 4 trumps) 2 for a singleton, (3 when holding 4+ trumps) 1 for a doubleton. distributional points only count if you have found a trump t with partner (i.e. at least 7{8 cards between the 2 hands in a suit that will be trumps) distributional points don't count when you are going to play the hand in no-trumps voids, singletons and doubletons in suits partner has bid are not much use unless you are sure partner will be able to ru these suits using trump in your own hand 3. To make a game in no-trumps (i.e. 3nt 9tricks) you need at least 25 points between the two hands. 4. To make a game in a major suit contract (i.e. 4s or 4h 10 tricks) you need at least 26 points (distiributional points as well as high card points can be counted. 5. To make game in a minor suit (5c or 5d 11 tricks) you need 27{28 points. 6. To make a small slam (12 tricks) you need 32{34 points to make a grand slam (13 tricks) you need 35{36 points (and no aces against you that can win a trick!). 7. To OPEN the bidding you need at least 12 points. 8. To RESPOND to an opening bid by partner you need at least 6 points (11 points minimum if you are responding to an opening 1nt by partner). 2 Opening Bids Prefer to show a balanced hand, even with a 5 card major suit. 2.1 balanced hands A balanced hand has no void, no singleton, and at most one doubleton. 1. with 12{14 points, open 1nt 2. with 15{16 points, open 1 of your longest suit and rebid 1nt (or 2nt ifyour partner responds to you at the 2-level)

2 3. with 17{18 points, open 1 of your longest suit and rebid 2nt (or3nt if necessary) 4. with 19{20 points, open 1 of a suit and rebid 3nt 5. with 21{22 points, open 2nt 6. with 23{24 points, open 2 clubs and the rebid 2nt 7. with 25{26 points, open 2 clubs and rebid 3nt 2.2 unbalanced hands i.e. hands which do not fall within the denition af a balanced hand 1. with 12{20 points, open 1 of your longest suit (if you have two suits of equal length open the higher ranking rst if holding 6 or 5 card suits you can bid the other one if and when partner replies with 4 card suits bid up-the-line with distribution: black singleton, choose suit in the middle red singleton, choose suit below singleton) 2. with 23 or more high card points open 2 clubs and the rebid your suit 3. with intermediate strength hands that fall between 1. and 2. you can open them at the 2-level if they are powerful and distributional (i.e. you are certain to win 8 tricks just on the basis of your own hand otherwise you open 1 jof suit, hoping that partner will reply and then you can bid game (if s/he can reply they have at least 6 points hence you have enoughfor game). 3 Responding to an opening bidding by partner 1. 0{5 points pass (0{10 if partner opens 1nt) points you must respond something (except when partner opens 1nt, in which case you need 11) 3. The general principles to keep in mind when considering your responses are: (a) If partner bids spades or hearts and you have 4 card support you must raise partner's bid in that suit: with 6{9 points bid 2, with 10{12 points bid 3, with 13+ points bid 4 (you have enough for game) (b) if partner bids clubs or diamonds and you have 4 or more hearts or spades then bid that suit (lowest rank rst) even if you could support opener's minor suit open. (c) if partner bids clubs or diamonds and you have no 4 card major and can support partner's suit (4+ in it yourself) then raise as in 3a. above (d) if you have a balanced hand and no suit that you can bid or support than bid no-trumps: with 6{9 points bid 1nt, with 10{12 points bid 2nt, with 13+ points bid 3nt (e) to make a 2-level response you need 9+ points (f) With a strong responding hand choose a jump-shift, showing 13+ points (game-force). (g) remember that the bid of a new suit in response to opener is forcing i.e. partner must bid again, so even if you know straight away thatyou should be in game then is no need to bid the game at once because partner will bid again and tell you something more about his/her hand

3 4 Rebids by Opener 1. If partner makes a no-trump response or raises your suit and that seems a sucient contract (remember the 25{26 points needed for game) then opener can pass otherwise bid to the appropriate level. 2. If partner bids a new suit in response then opener must bid again: (a) try to jump with a strong hand (showing 16+ points, game-force) (b) rebid in no-trumps with a balanced hand (c) with an unbalanced hand rebid the suit you have opened or bid another 4 or more card suit (d) raise partner's suit if you have 4 card support (e) if you have a strong hand and a 6 card suit you can jump rebid your suit at the 3-level or higher (f) if you have a strong hand and support for partner's suit you can jump rebid support for partner i.e. bid 3 or 4 (g) if you have a strong hand but no 6 card suit or support for partner's suit you can bid a new suit at the 3-level to make sure partner bids again 5 Rebids by Responder 1. Responder can pass if opener rebids no-trumps or rebids their suit and they are satised that the level the partnership is at is sucient (if not, bid on bid game or make a raise suggesting game to partner). 2. If opener makes a jump rebid, responder is forced to bid again support one of partner's suits, bid no-trumps, rebid their own suit or another of their suits (must be at least 4 cards long) whatever is appropriate. 3. If responder wants to keep the bidding open they must make aforcing bid. 6 Further Bids by Opener When responder has rebid the opener will: 1. have tomake a bid further describing their hand (if partner has made a forcing rebid) 2. decide on the nal contract and bid it 3. pass responder's rebid if that is the best place for the contract 7 Play and defence in no-trump contracts 7.1 Ducking Sometimes in order to be able to establish a suit AND play o the winners once it is established, it is necessary to lose a trick ortwo. The usual scenario is when you have a long suit in dummy whichyou have to establish and when you have no other entries to dummy other than the suit itself. The answer is to lose a trick to the opposition and then play oyour high cards to establish the suit, making sure you end up in dummy.

4 7.2 The Hold-Up Sometimes it is necessary to exhaust one of the opponents of a suit they have led, so the declarer holds o from stopping the run of that suit until that is the case. (This is, of course, a form of ducking because holding-up is nothing more than not winning a trick when you could). The usual reason for this play is that declarer needs to establish a suit of his or her own but in establishing that suit they will have to lose a trick. If they lose the trick to the opponent they have exhausted of the defence's suit by holding up then that opponent will not be able to play that suit. 7.3 Defensive Ducking/Hold Defenders can also employ the ducking/hold-up technique. They do this when they have a suit which theywant to establish and eventually win tricks in BUT they can only do this if they allow declarer to win a trick ortwo rst i.e. they duck (playlow) when they could have won. This situation usually arises when the suit the defenders are seeking to establish is also the only suit in which theyhave achance of gaining entry to the right hand (i.e. they have no other certain or likely high-card entries). 7.4 Shifting Suits It is usually right to return and keep playing a suit that partner has led at no-trumps. But sometimes it will be clear that even if you succeed in establishing partner's suit it won't do you any good because partner doesn't have anyentries to enjoy his or her winners in that suit (you know theyhave no entries because you have them or because it is obvious that declarer will win all their tricks before you can win your side's. In those situations you look for another suit in which you might be able to win tricks. A common situation is when declarer is obviously holding up from winning a trick in the suit partner has led with the aim of exhausting you of that suit. so that when yougetinyou won't be able to lead partner's suit again. SO: you must look to another suit to play. 8 Pre-Emptive Bids A pre-emptive bid is when you OPEN the bidding (i.e. make thevery rst bid of the auction by bidding a suit at the 3- or 4- level. You make this kind of bid when you have a long suit of 7{8 cards and very little else of value in the hand (at most 9 high card points with more you open the suit at the 1-level and rebid it to show length). DON'T open every hand with a long suit only those hands you reckon you have achance of going not more than 2 or 3 down in the contract. In particular: When vulnerable, bid number of safe tricks plus 2 when not vulnerable, bid number of safe tricks plus 3. The idea is to "pre-emptany opening bid that opponents might be able to make to make life dicult for them. Of course, you are also pre-empting any opening partner might have, but they should be able to judge where to place the contract providing they can rely on you having the long suit and the values to win 5{6 tricks. 9 Suit Overcalls To "overcalls to intervene in the bidding when opponents have opened (i.e. to bid a suit that is higher or at a higher level than they have bid) e.g. if the opponents open 1c and you make a bid of 1s that is a 1 spade overcall. Similarly, if one opponent opens 1c and their partner replies 2d and then you bid 2h you have made a 2 heart overcall.

5 The general principle is that an overcall shows a good suit rather than high cards a hand with playing tricks rather than points. An overcall on the 1-level shows 8{15 points an overcall on the 2-level 10{15 points. Both guarantee at least a 5 card suit. A jump overcall is weak, showing a 6+ card suit and 6-10 points. The no-trump overcall shows a strong hand (15{17 points) with a stop in the suits or suits the opponents have opened. 10 Weak Take-outs of 1nt Aresponseof2ofasuitbyaplayer to a 1nt opening by partner indicates a weak hand with 5 or more cards in that suit. Idea is that the hand will play better in a suit at the 2-level than 1nt. 11 Conventions A "conventions a bid with an accepted meaning rather than an obvious or natural meaning. The 3 most important conventions in bridge are: 11.1 The Take-Out Double when you double an opening suit bid by anopponentyou are asking opponent tobidasuit (to take-out the double) you make atake-out double when you have an opening hand yourself and a shortage in the opponent's suit (the idea is that when prtner bids a suit a t with one of your own is almost guaranteed) with a good hand the responder to the double can make a jump bid in a suit (how high depends on their strength) The "StaymanConvention if you open 1nt and partner responds 2 clubs they are not showing clubs but asking you to bida4cardmajor,ifyou have one if you don't have a 4 card major you bid 2d this doesn't show diamonds, just denies 4 hearts or 4 spades the idea of the convention is to nd a 4{4 t in a major suit, because the contract might play better there than in no-trumps (perhaps partner has a singleton or a doubleton 3c after a response to Stayman is for weak take-out The "BlackwoodConvention used when you need to nd out if you and your partner have enough aces between you to bid a slam a bid of 4nt asks partner to show their aces by bidding 5c=0 or 4, 5d=1, 5h=2, 5s=3 a subsequent bid of 5nt by the 4nt bidder asks partner to show howmany kinds they have 6c=0 or 4 etc. in nt bidding use Gerber Convention: Bid 4c (4d response: 0 or 4 aces etc.)

6 12 Further Points on Bidding 12.1 Hand Valuation Evaluate your hand as usual (including length points or shortage points) and add 1 point whenholding13ormorepoints consisting only of aces and kings. deduct 1 point for { a singleton king, singleton queen or singleton jack. { a hand containing a queen-doubleton (Q{x), jack doubleton (J{x) or Q{j doubleton. { a hand of 12 HCP or more which contains no aces. { a 4{3{3{3 pattern unless bidding no-trumps The 1s:2h Auction promises 5 hearts Defending Against 3-level Pre-Empts Holding a good hand, expect partner to have about6{8points. If this is enough for game, bid the game. If you need more than 8 points for game, bid a suit below game or make a takeout double. Guidelines: 3nt: 18 or more points, balanced, stopper in their suit. With a double stopper, shade this to 17 points. 3-level suit: 14{17 points, strong 5- or 6-card suit, around 6 losers. Jump to 4-major: Strong, 17{20 points, excellent suit, around 5 losers. 4-level minor: Strong, 17{20 points, excellent suit, around 5 losers. A 4-loser hand with a strong suit can be shown by doubling rst and bidding game in your suit on the next round. Jump to 4nt over 3-major: Takeout for the minors (showing at least 5{5 in the minors) Queue-bid their suit: Equivalent to 2c opening, around 3 losers. Double: 2nd seat: about 17 points. 3rd seat: about 14 points. 4th seat: be quick to double even with modest values Bidding over an Opposition Takeout Double 1. All hands with 10+ points will redouble (\omnibus redouble\). 2. Change of suit is 6{9 points and non-forcing. 3. Jump shift is 6{9 points, excellent suit, non-forcing. 4. With 0{5 points, to pass is normal, but with decent support and 4{5 points, a raise of partner's suit to the 2-level is acceptable. 5. A jump raise of partner's suit is pre-emptive with less than 10 points The Losing Trick Count Used after a trump t is found. Count your losers, add partners losers and deduct this total from 24 to obtain the number of tricks you and your partner can expect to make.

7 Counting Your Own Losers 3-card or longer suit: Count losers only in the top 3 cards of the suit. Count ace and king as winners, and everything lower than the queen as a loser. Count the queen as a winner if there is a second honour card in the suit if the queen is the only honour card in the suit, count the queen as a 1 2 -winner. Short suit holdings: Void: no losers Singleton: 1 loser (except ace-singleton) Doubleton: 2 losers, except for A{x (1 loser), K{x (1 loser), A{K (no loser), K{Q (1 loser), A{Q (1 loser) Assessing Partner's Losers points losers 7{9 9 10{ { { { { {24 4 Add 1 loser for a 4{3{3{3 shape. Deduct losers for length (5-card suit: deduct 1 loser, 6-card suit: deduct 2 losers etc.) Cover Cards Used after a trump t is found if a long trump suit is facing a balanced hand. Count (or estimate) the number of cover cards in the balanced hand and the number of losers in the other hand. 13 plus cover cards minus losers gives the number of tricks you and your partner can expect to make. Counting cover cards: A cover card is any card that is likely to eliminate a loser in partner's hand. In partner's long suits, count each ace, king or queen as a cover card. In the other suits count your cover cards according to what you know about partner's shape. Assessing partner's cover cards: points cover cards 7{9 1{2 10{12 2{3 13{15 3{4 16{18 4{5 19{21 5{6 13 Demand Openings and Slam-Bidding s, 2h, 2d Forcing for 1 round, showing at least a strong 5-card suit and a hand just short of a force to game about 3 1{4 1 losers. Needs 1 trick from partner for game. 2 2 Responses: 2nt: Negative reply (any other response is forcing to game), less than 1 quick tricks. (i.e. A=1, A{Q=1 1 2, A{K=2, K{Q=1, K{x= 1 2 ) 3nt: 10{12 points balanced without decent support for opener's suit. Single raise of partner's suit: 3-card support, hand containing an ace. Raise to game: 3-card support, two 2nd-round controls (see Cue Bidding).

8 New Suit: No support of partner's suit. Jump-Shift: Solid 6-card suit. Opener's Rebids: Bids higher than 3 of opened suit are forcing. General principles: Support below game is more encouraging than bidding game (;! Cue-Bidding). It is responder's duty to explore slam. If the opponents intervene after a 2-opening (including 2c), pass is negative, double is for penalties and a bid a positive response The 2c Game-Demand Forcing to game, showing 3 losers or less. Responses: 2d: negative, all other hands show 8+ high card points or quick tricks. other suit response: 5-card suit. (On 4{4{4{1 shape: strong 4-card suit.) 2nt: positive, no 5-card suit. Opener's Rebids: 2c:2nt, 2c: Stayman 2c:2d, 2nt: 23{24 points balanced (can be passed!). (Responer: 3c Stayman) 2c:2d, suit-bid: 5-card suit (Responder: raise to game weaker than raise below game new suit is 5-card suit cheapest nt shows no support and no 5-card suit) 13.3 Asking for Trump-Honours 5nt without using 4nt (Blackwood) is a ask for the A{K{Q of trumps. Answers: 6c: none 6d: 1 6h: 2 6s: A{K{Q of trumps 13.4 Cue-Bidding Cue bidding to slams is a more precise method than simply asking for aces and kings (Blackwood/Gerber). In cue bidding, partners are able to show each other specic aces, kings, voids and singletons. Aces and voids are 1st round controls, kings and singletons are 2nd round controls. After a trump suit has been agreed and a game force exist, the bid of a new suit is a cue bid. For example, 2c:2h, 3h:4c. The cue bid states that you have interest in slam and have 1st round control in the suit bid. When making a cue bid, 1st round controls are shown before 2nd round controls. With two or more 1st round controls, bid the cheapest rst. The above 4c cue bid not only shows the ace (or void) in clubs, it also denies 1st round control in spades. With spade control and club control, the cheaper 3s cue bid would have been chosen. After a cue bid, partner replies with another cue bid or signs o in the trump suit. The bid of the trump suit does not show anycontrol: it denies the ability or the willingness to make a further cue bid. For example, after 2s:3s, 4c:4d, a 4s rebid by opener would deny 1st round control in hearts. A 2nd round control is shown by a bid in a suit where 1st round control has already been shown by either partner, or by a bid in a suit where the bidder has previously denied 1st round control.

9 With two or three 2nd round controls, bid the cheapest. To locate trump honours use 4nt or the 5nt Trump Ask (see above). Cue bidding is best when you hold a void, an unguarded suit or need to know about specic kings in partner's hand. Cue bidding continues until one partner or the other has enough information to place the contract.

Standard English Acol

Standard English Acol Foundation Level System File 2017 2 Standard English Foundation Level System File Basic System Acol with a 12-14 1NT, 4 card majors and weak two openers Contents Page The Uncontested