OPENING SYSTEM STRUCTURE OVERVIEW

ACOL, WEAK NT, 3 WEAK TWOS’, 4 ¾ (4.99%) CARD MAJORS

I’ll never forget how disappointed I was to find out that Albert Benjamin didn’t play Benji Acol when I first played against him. And today none of our top bridge teachers play Acol, preferring an American or European strong no-trump, 5-card major and heavily transfer based system. It smacks of ‘Don’t do as I do, do as I say’.

During the 200 plus days of lockdowns I read about the only pair at the Wuhan World Bridge Championships playing what we ordinary mortals might recognise as Acol. The EBU magazine featured a series of articles from 2019 by Chris Jagger on the ‘Four and three quarters card majors’ system he played with his partner. I liked this framework (though not the optional complicated gizmos detailed later) and adjusted my Acol system to use this.

No system is perfect but I prefer a natural framework as it’s easier to remember, risks fewer mistakes and has more similarities to the responding structure which I’ll outline later. If like me you want to play a simple structure with partners, I recommend this to you.

• 1NT is 12-14 points, over twice as frequent as 15-17 balanced points.
• 2NT is 19-21 points as this range doubles the frequency of use from 20-22.
• Open the lower of two four card suits.
• With 4major333 distributions always open 1C.
• 4441 hands open 1D with a black suit singleton and 1C with a red suit singleton.
• This means opening 1S is always a 5 card suit and opening 1H is 99% a five card suit or 4/4 majors with a 15-18 balanced hand.
• When 5/5 play ‘high fives’, opening the higher suit first, otherwise always open your longest suit first.

SUMMARY

1♣  – either 4+ clubs; or 4333 with four-card major 15-18; or red suit singleton 4441 shape

1♦  – always 4+ diamonds; can be 4441 shape and black suit singleton

1♥  – 5+ hearts (99% frequency); or 4/4 in majors (open lower suit) and 15-18 balanced

1♠  – always a 5+ suit

1NT – Announce ‘12-14 points’, a balanced hand 4432, 4333 and any 5332 including a 5-card major; these 1NT hands comprise 10% of all hands.

2NT – balanced 19 to 21 points, no singleton, 1% all hands, not announced or alerted.

Opening one of a suit is always an unbalanced hand or 15-18 balanced.

Opening bid requirements for 2C and 2D/H/S will be discussed separately later.

COMPETING AND SCORING AT BRIDGE

As I said in my introduction, I think of every board as being worth 4% of the total score when playing 24 boards in a duplicate competition. At Gentle Bridge where we might play 16 boards every board is worth about 6%. Every board is a fresh scoring opportunity, try to forget the previous board whether you’ve had a great score or not.

Everyone will be familiar with the concept of needing 25 points between the partners to make a game contract like 3NT or four of a major (4M). We bid games for the bonus points they bring – 300 points if non-vulnerable and 500 points if vulnerable. The competition on these hands is first to make the contract and second to try to make extra tricks if you can safely do so to beat the other scores on that board.

When you play, around half of the boards will have the points divided between the North/South and East/West partnerships somewhere in the range of 22 to 18. Depending on your distribution and that of your partner and opponents, usually these boards should be competitive where both partnerships can make some sort of contract.

As you know, making a part score contract gets you 50 points plus the value of the tricks made – majors each 30, minors each 20 points. In no-trumps the first trick is worth 40 points, all subsequent tricks 30 points.

When you go off in a contract, if non-vulnerable each undertrick scores 50 points, vulnerable undertricks score 100 points each. But if you are doubled and go down, non-vulnerable undertricks score minus 100, 300, 500 and 800 for four down. Vulnerable doubled undertricks score minus 200, 500, 800 and 1100 for four down.

If you think the opponents can make a 2M contract scoring 110 points, if you go off in three of a minor (3m) but lose only 100 points you will score well. Sacrificing against successful game contracts can also work well, even doubled. Minus 300 beats plus 420 and minus 500 beats plus 620 for example. But reversing the vulnerability may result in a very poor score for you.

LEARNING TIPS

Don’t be afraid of bidding vulnerable games but if you are competing over which partnership will play the board, take the vulnerability into account.

Learn to compete because pushing your opponents to play in 3♠ rather than 2♠ and holding them to 8 tricks is winning bridge.

Don’t be afraid to double if you think you can defeat your opponents! Especially when you think they are sacrificing against your making game.

FINESSING AS DECLARER

Let’s think about playing for a change! Everyone will be familiar with a finesse – an attempt to win a trick with a card when the opponents have a higher card in the same suit. As declarer, typical examples would include leading to the AQ when missing the King or leading to the KJ10 and playing the Jack or ten hoping to force out the Ace and finesse the Queen again later.

There are three stages to taking a finesse

• Identify the card that needs to be promoted
• Lead from the opposite hand towards that card
• Play the card, the third to the trick, hoping that the opponent playing second holds the missing higher card.

So far so good but for a long time I failed to realise that there are other types of finesse you can take as declarer whilst adhering to the three stages. One cropped up on Board 1 at Gentle Bridge on January 8^th 2026.

In 3NT you have 27 combined points but only six top tricks. After an unfortunate (for the defence) King of clubs lead which gives you two more tricks, you take a spade finesse which loses. Stuck on eight winners and with outside stops dwindling, you need to play the heart suit of AK32 facing J95 for three tricks.

Now you could play your Ace and King and hope the Queen falls but the odds are against this succeeding. The odds favour a 4-2 split of the six remaining cards and the Queen being in the longer holding.

Instead you take a finesse by leading a small heart from your hand towards the Jack! Now we are taught to cash our winners and giving up a trick goes against everything that ‘feels’ the right thing to do but it’s surprising how often this type of finesse play can happen. Initially you hope that the Queen of hearts (QH) is in the second hand but instead the 10H is played! With J95 you can cover the 10H with the JH and either it wins or if the defender wins the QH, then your 9H will win. This is a better percentage chance to win three heart tricks.

LEARNING TIP

Opportunities for promoting winners as declarer through taking finesses are quite common. Another example like the one above that is perhaps easier to spot is if you hold Axx and partner Qx or Qxx. You can lead towards the Queen and if the King is in the second hand you have made another successful finesse.

COMMON HAND SHAPES

Most people learn about points first when playing bridge but now that you’ve been playing for a while, I want you to think about hand shapes. There are thirty-nine possible hand shapes (from the flattest 4333 up to 13000!) but only thirteen have a probability of occurring more than 1% of the time. These are

4 4 3 2 – balanced hand (over seven times more frequent than 4441), 21.5% probability

5 3 3 2 – balanced, open 1NT if 12-14 points, even with a five-card major, 15.5% probability

5 4 3 1 - unbalanced hand, considered three suited, 13% probability

5 4 2 2 - unbalanced (except for some 2NT openers or NT rebids), 10.5% probability

4 3 3 3 – balanced hand, 10.5% probability too, has no ruffing potential

6 3 2 2 – 5.6% probability (the six-card suit shape best suited for NT)

6 4 2 1 - open the longest suit, usually rebid four-card suit – 4.7% probability

6 3 3 1 – 3.4% probability, usually open and repeat suit

5 5 2 1 – Michaels and Unusual NT type shape - not so common only 3.2% probability

4 4 4 1 – the 10^th most common shape, 3% probability. 90% of hands are these ten shapes

7 3 2 1 – 1.9% probability (seven times more likely to hold one of the above six-card shapes)

6 4 3 0 – 1.3% probability, plan to open your long suit and usually rebid the four-card suit

5 4 4 0 – 1.2% probability, truly three suited! A void in partner’s suit can be bad news.

The three balanced hands account for 47.5% of all hands. All the other ten shapes above with over 1% probability also add up to 47.5%. In a session of twenty boards, you will pick up on average only one hand that does not fall into one of these patterns. Unless opening 1NT or 2NT, which define your point range and limit your shape options to the balanced hands above, you must have a rebid plan as opener to tell your partner about your shape and your points, which we will return to later.

• 35% of hands have four cards as their longest suit
• 43.4% have five cards as their longest suit
• 15% have six cards as their longest suit

A void is likely in only 5% of all deals. In 54% of deals a doubleton will be the shortest suit; 30.5% a singleton. Holding exactly 4333 will occur the other 10.5% of the time.

Long suit odds are an 11-card suit 2.7 million to one; 40,000 deals to see one 10-card suit. Even an 8-card suit is 0.47% likelihood with a 9-card suit 0.037%.

LEARNING TIPS

Concentrate on learning these most common hand shapes because having a strong understanding of how to bid each shape, combined with your points, will help you bid better and, when defending, recognise what shape hand your opponent holds too from their bid. Knowing their shape and counting distribution will help improve your scores.

RESPONDING SYSTEM OVERVIEW

When partner opens one of a suit (not NT), do you want to end up in a part-score, game or slam? You won’t have a clear idea until you hear their rebid. Opening the bidding starts a conversation and the opening bid should be one you trust from your partner.

As we saw in the Opening System Structure Overview, all suit bids at the one level are natural, 12+ points and if balanced planning to rebid no-trumps showing 15-18 points. I’ll look at major suit and all minor suit raises in more detail separately later as well as NT replies. Before you respond, consider your Strength, Support and Shape.

Broadly, respond at the one level with 5+ points, bid the lower of four-card suits like opening. You could be very strong (unlimited) but it’s best to start slow. Jump respond only in a new 6+ AKQ-headed suit (very rare). To respond to partner at the two level in a new suit will meet ‘The Rule of 14’ where your points added to your cards in the bid suit add up to at least 14. These bids are unlimited too and so partner, as opener, must rebid.

The only responding bid in a new suit that partner might pass is 1NT. I think Andrew Robson was the first person to call this the Dustbin no trump. It shows 5-8 points, denies being able to raise opener’s suit and does not meet the Rule of 14. So if partner has opened with 12-16 points in a balanced or semi-balanced hand they could pass. Broadly, I’d categorise responding hands as

• 0 - 4 A POOR HAND frequency 9.8% of all hands - pass unless partner opens 2C when you respond 2D.
• 5 - 8 A RESTRICTED HAND 28.6% frequency - either bid a new 4+ suit at the one level; raise opener’s suit one level; or bid the Dustbin 1NT.
• 9 – 11 AN INVITATIONAL HAND 27.7% - with 4+ support raise two levels; a new suit bid at the two level meets the Rule of 14 as above and denies four-card support. You want to be in a game contract if partner rebids no trumps showing 15-18 points or makes a non-minimum rebid.
• 12 - 14 A GAME FORCING HAND 28.3% – with no fit, bid a new 4+ suit. Even if opener is weak, you want to be in a game. And if opener makes a strong rebid, showing an unbalanced hand, you might investigate slam with a fit and good cards.
• 15+ STRONG SLAM POTENTIAL HAND 5.6% - even responding to a Weak Two you could make a game contract; facing other opening bids a slam may be possible. Explore shape, fit, points and controls for best potential slam but must reach game.

LEARNING TIPS

When partner opens one of a suit, generally respond 1NT when you don’t have a higher suit to bid at the one level AND not enough points to want to be in game opposite a balanced 15/16 opener. So, usually 5-8 points and little support (2 max) for partner’s suit.

PLAYING TRUMP CONTRACTS

Back to playing tips again! MAKE A PLAN before you play to trick one for how to make your contract. Count your winners – then you can calculate how many tricks from trumps you need. So, in a three-level contract with just four outside tricks you should try to make five trump tricks between the two hands. Considerations:

• Draw trumps straight away if you can afford to do so
• Cash/set up overlapping winners for a quick discard such as AQx facing Kx
• Set up a long (often 5-card) side-suit to promote length winners
• Ruff in the short trump hand, typically dummy, maybe lose a trick early
• Crossruff, perhaps finishing with high ruffs
• Scrambling – trying to ruff with low trumps, promote cards, take finesses

The lead can help you – perhaps suggesting that missing honours are split or fourth highest giving a shape clue. Try to count the opponents’ shapes as play progresses (a suit breaks 4/1 not 3/2 for example) as it might lead you to take the right two-way finesse.

When declarer, just count down the missing trumps. Much easier to do! Missing five trumps, if both opponents follow twice and they have a winning trump leave it out if you can so it does not draw two of your trumps, perhaps only one or even none. This can be achieved by cross ruffing.

You get more clues about opposition hands from the bidding or lack of bids. If one opponent has opened, then play them for 12+ points. If they open 1NT then you have a point count framework and a guide to their shape too (should hold a 4432, 5332 or 4333 hand and 12-14 points). With no bidding think of the points being evenly shared.

Be aware of false-card opportunities. In declarer play try to mislead opponents but you must play ethically, you cannot hesitate without cause. Play the middle of three touching cards (Queen from KQJ for example) as your opponents may be unclear about where the other honours are and make a mistake.

LEARNING TIPS

It sounds simple but it’s difficult! Plan swiftly. Make some assumptions about your opponents’ hand shapes and points. Count. Reassess. Change plan. Watch the smaller cards as well as the honours – the 9’s and 8’s can often win late tricks. Good luck!

HAND POINTS

Let’s detail the hand points. The most common hand point count is, unsurprisingly, 10 points but 9 points is almost identical. Holding 11 and 8 points are almost identical as are 12 and 7 points. 52.6% of all hands are 7-12 points.

You will have 22 points or more in only 0.5% of hands. Playing 2NT to show 19-21 points instead of 20-22 and 2C to show any 22+ hand instead of 23+ points, roughly doubles the frequency of these two opening bids but they’re still rare.

Holding 12-14 points is more than twice as likely as 15-17 points, so use a weak NT with a NT rebid showing 15-16 points and a jump NT rebid for a balanced 17-18 point hand.

SPECIFIC HIGH CARD POINT PERCENTAGES

LEARNING TIPS

I think of opening bids, broadly, as 6-11 weak, 12-16 normal range and 17+ strong.

Responding bids, broadly, are 5-8 restricted, 9-11 invitational and 12+ game forcing.

Understanding how points, combined with shape, should be bid will improve your scores.

When defending, recognise what shape and points the opposition hold too.

OPENING 11 POINT HANDS

Holding 11 points comprise 8.9% of all hands and can be difficult to bid. They occupy a no-man’s land between traditional 12 point openers and thought too strong for a Weak Two.

The EBU says apply the Rule 20 where your points (10+) and the length of your two longest suits add up to 20 then you can open at the one level.

So all balanced 11 point hands are passed (4432, 5332 and 4333 as no good rebid) and 5/4 is the minimum shape with easily rebiddable suits – ideally longer in the suit immediately above your four-card suit. But 5/5 is better.

As well as shape, the other factor to consider is if you have working points. Working points are where you don’t have a singleton King, Queen or Jack or Qx, Jx or Jxx. Half of hands have all points not working and I suggest you pass these 11 point hands if 5/4. You can always bid later if partner bids or doubles, or the opponents’ bidding peters out at a low level.

A Weak Two opening bid is pre-emptive. Classically, you should have three honours or two of the top three honours in your suit but nowadays any two honours e.g. KJxxxx seems acceptable. Opener must have limited defensive values, typically only one Ace or King outside trumps but not both. Too often this requirement is ignored.

I suggest you play a Weak Two shows 6 to 11 points without an Ace and King outside trumps. This is announced as Weak to Intermediate. Don’t you want to get over quickly that you have a six-card major with up to 11 points? This can be an effective pre-emptive and opening at the one-level invites overcalls and take-out doubles. It won’t stop partner bidding on to the level of the fit with some points and support or with 15+ points bidding 2NT to investigate your hand (see a later Tip).

• KQxxxx xxx Axx Q – open 2S, QC not working points.
• Kxxxxx Jxx AKx x – open 1S, you have some defence (AK) and poor trumps, rebid 2S.
• KQxxx x KQxxx Jx – open 1S and plan to rebid 2D.

AK974 543 74 A106 – opened 1S on a recent club evening after right hand opponent (RHO) passed; LHO doubled, partner bid 2D, RHO passed again and the opener passed making no rebid! Horrible, just start with pass. 2D is unlimited with 9+ points a game might be missed. And A2 AK7532 964 106 opened 1H, after partner’s 1S rebid 2H, after partner’s forcing 3D rebid 3H… again horrible, opening a weak 2H would be much simpler.

LEARNING TIP

Don’t open balanced 11 point hands. The auction’s not over and if partner bids, they’ll be delighted with your maximum pass hand, not disappointed that you opened so light and you’re now too high.

SYSTEM STRUCTURE REBIDS

How do you bid and rebid using our natural, Acol framework? A reminder that 90% of hands are 5-19 points and just ten shapes comprise 90% of hands dealt. Unless you open 1NT or 2NT which both define your shape and points, you must have a rebid planned.

4432, 4333 and any 5332 are balanced comprising 47.5% of all hands. Open or rebid NT.

5422 10.5%, unbalanced but can treat some as 2NT with a five-card minor but not major.

6322 (5.6%), 6421 (4.7%) and 6331 (3.4%) - together 13.7% probability. Classic Weak Two.

5431 perhaps surprisingly frequent, 13% probability.

5521 only 3.2% probability. Open ‘high five’ and rebid second suit.

4441 3% probability: don’t open a poor 12 points. 90% of hands are these ten shapes.

How might you categorise these hand points and shapes?

6-11 points (51.1%) A WEAK TWO six diamonds, hearts or spades; decent suit, little defence but a six-card major with an outside Ace and protected King and 11 points should open 1M.

11 working points (8.9%) A LIGHT OPENER with two suits at least 5/4 meeting the EBU Rule of 20. Don’t open balanced 11 point hands.

12-14 points (20.6%) A WEAK ONE – 1NT balanced or one, two or three suited. You hope partner bids a major that you will raise one level if you are 4441 or 5431 shape with a four-card trump fit, if not rebid your lower/lowest second suit.

15-16 points (7.7%) A STRONGER ONE, rebid NT if balanced or bid a second, lower, suit or rebid your suit. If partner has bid at the Two level showing 9+ points you are seeking a game contract so you must not make a rebid they can pass.

17-18 (4%) A STRONG ONE, open one level then reverse, jump or, if balanced, jump rebid NT. Even if partner has responded showing 5-8 points you must investigate a game contract.

19+ (2.5%) A STRONG TWO, open 2NT if balanced 19-21 points or 2C with a single-suited hand that meets the eight+ winning tricks in trumps in your own hand and you want to play in game, even if partner is weak (see more about 2C and 2NT openings in later tips).

LEARNING TIP

Bid honestly for your partner within this framework. As you get more experienced you may upgrade a little unbalanced hands with disproportionally more working controls, the Aces and Kings. Three Aces, a Queen and a Jack isn’t that great in a 4432 or 4333 hand for a NT rebid but is much better with shape in AQJxxx x Axxx Ax – a five-loser spade hand.