THE ACOL GAMBLING
3NT OPENER
| NORTH ª KJ9742 © 8 ¨ J1073 § J8 |
| WEST ª 5 © 76 ¨ 962 § AKQ7542 |
EAST ª Q10 © AKQJ32 ¨ AKQ8 § 10 |
| SOUTH ª A863 © 10954 ¨ 54 § 964 |
WHAT IS THE ACOL GAMBLING 3NT REALLY ALL ABOUT ??
The above hand came from my local club duplicate. It was not concocted for a bridge text book!!
If you play the Acol Gambling 3NT opening bid with all the bids that go with it would you get to the optimum 6§ contract.
If your partner were to open 3NT would you know what to do with the East hand.
You have a powerhouse and you want to be in the slam if partner has the right cards
What are the right cards ? Not the solid club suit that you already know about !!
No to make the slam, opener will have to have a singleton Spade (everything else is immaterial)
Having decided to play the 3NT opening bid you also now need to know that the 4¨ bid will help you locate the all important singleton.
Partner can now bid 4ª and you can know bid 6§ with impunity (and you get to play the hand !!).
So in future why not play all the rest of the convention as well.
Suggested bidding is therefore :-
| WEST | NORTH | EAST | SOUTH |
| 3NT | NO | 4¨ | NO |
| 4ª | NO | 6§ | NO |
| NO | NO | ||