2.1 Splinter Bids After an Opening Suit Bid3.0 3NT PUDDING RAISE
2.2 Splinter Bids After Partner's Response
4.1 What is Truscott and Why Use It?5.0 CUE BIDS
4.2 Responses to an Opening Suit Bid Using ‘Extended’ Truscott
APPENDIX - A COUPLE OF EXAMPLES
Splinter Bids
If you have a game going hand with support for partner's suit and also
have a singleton or void, then this latter distributional feature makes
it more likely that a slam can be made. Basic Acol bidding cannot describe
this kind of hand easily but the bidding technique, Splinter Bids, which
has become widely adopted, can describe the hand and identify the shortage.
An example of such a sequence is: -
The 4♦ bid says you have at least 4-card
spade support, you have at least a game going hand and you have a singleton
in diamonds.
Another example is: -
In this case, opener has 4-card support for responder's spade suit, has
a much stronger hand than a simple opening hand, and has a singleton in clubs.
3NT Pudding Raise
In the Basic Acol - Suit Agreement Tuition Module, the game raise bid in a major was shown to be based on two different types of hand, either a 13 - 15 point hand with trump support, or a very distributional hand. The 3NT Pudding Raise e.g. 1♠ - 3NT is used to identify the strong even-distribution hand with support for partner’s suit. This means that a straight game raise is therefore only used on a weaker distributional hand.
Truscott 2NT Response
When first introduced, the Truscott 2NT response was used in a specific
situation, where the opponents had doubled partner’s opening bid of a major,
e.g.:
and was equivalent to a good raise to three of the major. The single
and double raise bids were correspondingly reduced in strength and therefore
had a pre-emptive effect, making it more difficult for the opponents to bid.
This technique has been developed and the 2NT bid can be used to show a
good raise to three or a 16+ point hand with trump support. It can also
be used whether the opponents have doubled, overcalled or remained silent.
Cue Bids
A Cue Bid using Basic Acol identifies first control initially when suit agreement has been achieved, and shows interest in a slam. Advanced Acol Cue Bids identify either first or second round control immediately.
Key Card Blackwood
Basic Acol Blackwood is used to identify the number Aces and Kings held.
Key Card Blackwood is a more advanced form of Blackwood and: -
This additional information allows for a more accurate assessment of
whether a slam should be bid.
☀
Splinter bids apply to the minors as well as to the majors and the Splinter
Bid is a double jump in a new suit - often referred to as an unnecessarily
high jump. Splinter bids over simple suit opening bids are: -
Use of the Splinter Bid suggests interest in a slam and is usually followed
by Cue Bids and / or Blackwood or Key Card Blackwood.
A word of caution, the sequence 1♠ - 4♥ is a Splinter bid but it can easily be forgotten and you finish in a contract of 4♥ with a singleton heart!☀
The following sequence is also a splinter, but this time a double jump, not triple jump, is needed: -
The first hand is a strong hand and is showing 13 - 15 points with support
for partner’s suit. If opener is stronger than minimum, then there is potential
for a slam in spades or in No Trumps.
The second hand is quite different, a distributional hand with far less
honour points and much less likely to be potential for a slam. Even counting
distribution, there are only ten points but on a Losing Trick Count, there
are only seven losers and it is therefore worth a raise to 4♠. The value of this bid is its pre-emptive effect,
making it difficult for the opponents to intervene and find a contract.
Supposing opener had the following hand: -
The Pudding Raise was introduced to overcome this dilemma and is a hand with: -
After a response of 3NT over partner’s opening, a number of options are available: -
Truscott is now widely accepted as Standard Acol. However, the 2NT bid is now more widely adopted and has been developed further over a number of years. See, for example, Daavid Bird and Tim Bourke's book "Tournament Acol", first published in 1995. There are three main areas of development: -
1. Rather than just used after an opponent’s double, it can also be used
over an opponent’s overcall and can even be used even if there is no intervention
by the opposition.
2. As well as the 2NT raise showing a good raise to three, another option
is that it is based on a 16+ point hand with trump support, a difficult
hand to tackle otherwise.
3. It can also be used with diamonds, not just the majors, as was originally
envisaged.
☀
☀ Because of the 3C relay bid, Extended Truscott is not used for the club suit and normal Acol 1C - 2C / 3C raises are used. Long suit trial bids aimed at 3NT are used but require by opener 17+ points for the sequence 1C - 2C and 14+ points are required for the 1C - 3C sequence.
After a 1-level suit opening, responses by partner with 4-card support of opener’s diamond, heart or spade suit are as follows: -
After the 2NT bid: -
Some examples of use of the 2NT response are shown below: -
♠ KQJxx |
♠ Axxx |
♥ xxx |
♥ Qxx |
♦ KQxx |
♦ Axxx |
♣ x |
♣ xx |
1♠ |
2NT - interested in game |
3♠ - minimum opener |
Pass, minimum. |
♠ Kxxx |
|
♠ AQxx |
♥ KJx |
♥ xx |
|
♦ Axxx |
♦ Kxx |
|
♣ Kx |
♣ Qxxx |
|
1♠ |
2NT - interested in game |
|
3♣ - let’s find out
more, game’s possible |
4♠ - 12 points including
the point for a doubleton, maximum. |
♠ KQxxx |
|
♠ Axxx |
♥ Ax |
♥ Kx |
|
♦ KQJxx |
♦ Axx |
|
♣ x |
♣ AJxx |
|
1♠ |
2NT - the big one! |
|
3♣ - let’s find out
more |
3♦ - 1st / 2nd round
control in diamonds |
|
3♥ - 1st / 2nd round
control in hearts |
4♣ - 1st / 2nd
round control in clubs |
|
4♦ - 1st / 2nd round
control in ♦, has he got K♥? |
4♥ - Yes |
|
4NT - Has he A♠ and is the
club control the Ace? |
5♣ - 0/ 3 Aces, Key
Card Blackwood |
|
7♠ - must be cold,
and only 31 honour points! |
Truscott also applies if partner overcalls, but because partner’s
overcall may have less strength than an opening bid from him, the points
requirement is increased: -
It is often the situation that there is not enough bidding space to identify second round controls. It is also often the case that a partnership has a lot of points, is missing one Ace but does not know whether the King in that suit is also missing - and the opponents can take Ace and King off the top!
Advanced Acol overcomes this problem by Cue Bids showing either first or second round control, always Cue Bidding up the line. The great benefit of this is that if the Cue Bid has missed out a suit, then partner knows that you have neither first nor second round control in that suit - and the embarrassment of a slam going one off when opponents take the Ace and King is avoided. The downside of this Cue Bidding technique is that occasionally, you won’t know whether the Cue Bid is first or second round control. But I would put two arguments forward for this technique: -
1. If you read the expert books or look at expert quizzes, articles
or Simultaneous commentaries, you will find they use this technique.
2. My partner and I adopted this about two years ago. There have
been many instances where we have stayed out of an unmakeable slam, but
I cannot remember an instance where we have got into trouble because we
didn’t know whether we had first or second round control.☀
To escape to 5NT, bid an unbid suit, as long as it isn’t the agreed trump suit or the request for the Queen of trumps, i.e. not the next suit up, e.g. with hearts as the agreed suit, 4NT - 5♦ - 5♠ - 5NT - Pass.
5NT after 4NT asks how many kings, excluding king of trumps, with simple
sliding response 6♣ - 0, 6♦ - 1, etc.
Example 1 - Keeping out of a Slam
With these hands, there is an excellent fit in both majors and 33 points
plus a point for the doubleton. With Basic Acol, it's not possible to identify
the fact that you are missing both Ace and King of diamonds - so there's
a very fair chance with such powerful hands that you get into 6♠, going one off. But with Advanced Acol techniques
described in this Tuition Module, it's very easy to identify the two top
losers and stay in game.
♠ AJxxx |
|
♠ KQxx |
♥ Kxxx |
♥ AQJx |
|
♦ Jx |
♦ Qx |
|
♣ AJx |
♣ KQx |
|
1♠ |
2NT - the big one! |
|
3♣ - let’s find out
more |
3♥ - no control in diamonds
but a control in hearts. |
|
3♠ - shame, I mustn't
encourage as we have two diamond losers. |
4♠ - settle for game,
he evidently hasn't a first or second level control in diamonds or he'd
have bid it. |
After West's 3♠ bid, East is so good he might
even have cue bid 4♣, but again West would
sign off in 4♠. Then both partners know they
are missing Ace & King of diamonds!
Example 2 - Bidding a Grand Slam
These hands have only 28 honour points plus three points for the void, yet the Grand Slam is cold. Basic Acol couldn't possibly have shown the holding of the K♦ and the Q♣ in West's hand, both of which are essential for the Grand Slam.
♠ Ax |
|
♠ KQx |
♥ xx |
♥ - |
|
♦ Kxxx |
♦ AQxxx |
|
♣ AQxxxx |
♣ KJTxx |
|
1♣ |
2♦ - Fit Jump |
|
3♦ - support in diamonds |
4♣ - Fit jump, not just
a second suit (can't be a cue bid as bypassed 2 controls in each of hearts
& spades) |
|
4♦ - control in diamonds |
4♥ - control in hearts
|
|
4♠ - control in Spades |
4NT - key cards and possibly Queen of trumps? |
|
5♠ - 2 key cards and
Q of clubs |
7♣ - the control
in spades was an Ace, he has the K♦ and also
Queen of clubs, so Grand Slam must be cold! NB If there was a misunderstanding
about the 4♣ bid and diamonds is the suit,
7♦ is also there! |