[Liversidge]

We play Acol. Partner opens 1H, RHO Doubles. I have C AKxxxx D xxx H xxx S x.
I bid 2H. RHO passed and partner bid 3H. We went 3 off. Partner was 4441.
Everyone at the table said I should have bid 2C with a good 6 card suit even though they agreed it would have failed. (LHO Had 6 clubs). I said I was a bit too weak to bid a new suit at the 2 level. I reckoned I needed 10 points including length. I assumed my only options were Pass or 2H. Is 2C an alternative option.

[manudude03]

2C is a slight overbid even in Acol. Acol has something called the rule-of-14 for a 2/1 response where you take your HCP and add the length of your longest suit and if it comes to 14 or more you are strong enough for a 2/1 response. Your options are 1NT (this does not promise a balanced hand) or 2H. I would bid 2H since if partner is 3532 I definitely prefer 2H to 1NT, and even if partner only has 4 hearts, it will likely play better in a 4-3 fit than in 1NT, though it may well be delicate.

If your partnership is willing to accept raises on 3 card support (which I highly recommend), then it is important that partner offers up NT as a possible place to play if inviting and only holds four of the major. 4441 hands are awkward since offering NT with an outside singleton seems a bit odd, but I would say bid 2NT with that too. It's a fairly rare distribution so keep things simple for yourself. NT if you opened on a 4 card major, bid suits with 5+ major.

edit: As Kaitlyn points out below, I missed RHO doubling. I would consider 2C a stretch, but reasonable. I still prefer 2H though to get the fit in.

[Kaitlyn S]

manudude03, on 2016-October-07, 15:07, said:

2C is a slight overbid even in Acol.

I don't know Acol but is 2C an overbid even after the double? For while it may not be my choice in Standard American, it's certainly not an overbid when RHO doubles. Your "even in Acol" implies that you didn't take the opponent's double into account.

[manudude03]

Kaitlyn S, on 2016-October-07, 16:10, said:

I don't know Acol but is 2C an overbid even after the double? For while it may not be my choice in Standard American, it's certainly not an overbid when RHO doubles. Your "even in Acol" implies that you didn't take the opponent's double into account.

I must confess I missed the double, but for beginners I wouldn't change the bidding much at all if the opponents doubles. Auctions that start 1x-(X)-XX tend to be misunderstood even by intermediate/advanced players so it makes sense that until you are comfortable with standard bidding to just play the same system as if they passed (perhaps increase your requirements for 1NT). For what it's worth, I usually play 2C after a double here as 8-11 NF to allow a suit bid after a redouble to be game forcing.

[wank]

your partner's 3H bid was terrible on a 4441 shape. i don't need to hear what honours he had to tell you that. 2H was fine.