[nige1]

keithhus, on 2015-April-29, 13:41, said:

. With a singleton red, open with suit below singleton
. With a black, open with suit in the middle

helene_t, on 2015-April-29, 13:53, said:

Yes, that is the most common approach. In the latest EBU magazine one of the authors (was it Mike Byrne?) recommended opening 1♣ with a singleton hearts, though.

Excellent advice, IMO

[steve2005]

Tramticket, on 2015-May-02, 02:40, said:

You are right that most Acol literature recommends opening 1H and rebidding 1D. But you need to be aware that you are compromising a very valuable part of the modern Acol system: bidding two suits promises a five-card holding in the first suit.
Several things can go wrong when you open 1H:

• Partner might respond 1C then jump to 4H with a three-card suit, expecting you to have five.
• Partner might respond 2C then give you false preference back to hearts on a two-card suit.
• Partner might respond 1NT on a 6-9 point hand with a five or six-card diamond suit and be left in 1NT.

There are no easy solutions.

After a 2/1 you are not promising a 5-card suit it's just very likely.

After 1♥-2♣-2♦

As to 2) If partner is thinking of making a false preference with 2♥ in this auction after a 2/1 they have a balanced hand possibly with 6♣ and usually the strength for a 2N rebid but lack a ♠ stopper. The solution is not to make a false preference but to use 2♠ fourth suit forcing for 1 round. If your playing American style of FSF being GF then you may get stuck in a 4-2 fit but when I play Acol I use FSF 1 rd force.

If you have less the INV strength 2♥ and 6♣ either rebid 3♣ or respond 1N not 2♣

[mike777]

kindly suggest passing in first or second seat or wk nt if you strongly believe passing with 13 and this shape will hurt you.

many suggest passing with 12 is fine
I agree with 14 1nt is fine.
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we have reached a borderline debate...

[PhilG007]

Liversidge, on 2015-April-29, 01:44, said:

Playing Acol weak no trump what do I open with this hand and why?
Spades AQ76
Hearts KJ32
Diamonds K874
Clubs 9

If I bid 1 Diamond and partner responds 2 Clubs I am too weak for 2NT.
If I bid 1 Heart and partner responds 2 Clubs then a rebid of 2 Diamonds shows five hearts. Which lie is the least bad? Or should I pass?

When you have a 4-4-4-1 hand,if the three 4 card suits are 'touching' i.e. in sequence,you should open the middle one first
If they are not 'touching',you should open the cheapest one first. It's true that opening 1
♥then rebidding 2♦should show 5 cards in hearts but the bidding system hasn't been invented that
covers all the eventualities. Sometimes you have to tell a white lie