[kugw]

Zelandakh, on 2016-January-19, 07:07, said:

Then someone taught you an extremely old-fashioned version of Acol! I do not think I have seen this method suggested in any books written this side of 1970.

So what is Acol 2016?

And, how does Acol 2016 bid this hand?

[helene_t]

kugw, on 2016-January-20, 18:01, said:

So what is Acol 2016?

And, how does Acol 2016 bid this hand?

The closest you can come to an official system description is maybe http://www.ebu.co.uk...system-file.pdf
This is not a system which "experts" would play but it is a reasonably modern system which EBU has endorsed and finds suitable for club players.

It starts
1♦-1♠
2♣

Now responder has a difficult bid but probably 2♠ is the least of evils
1♦-1♠
2♣-2♠
3♥-4♥
pass

Opener has shown his strength with the 3♥ bid so he can't do any more. Possibly responder could do more than 4♥ but the only alternative is to ask for aces or bid 5♥ since no other bid would show heart support.

[Zelandakh]

kugw, on 2016-January-20, 18:01, said:

So what is Acol 2016?

The most common treatment for 4441 hands is to open the suit below a red suit singleton or the middle suit with a black singleton. Another modern alternative is to open 1♦ on any 4441 except a singleton diamond, in which case 1♣. Both of these methods provide slightly better clarity on major suit length than the older approach with the key auction being 1♥ - 1♠; 2♣. The common treatment has almost no downside; the alternative makes the auction 1♦ - 2♣; 2♦ more difficult, which in turn has some knock-on effects (with similarities to a 5 card major system) but gains the upside that any new suit rebid after a 1M opening promises 5+ cards in the major.

On the specific hand, many others have already provided Acol auctions (all starting with 1♦ you will note) so it seems unnecessary to repeat the effort again. A lot depends on the handling of a singleton in partner's suit. While there is generally very strong agreement that opening 1♥ with this shape is a poor idea, there is much less agreement about the best choice of rebid.