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Acol
Acol is the bridge bidding system that, according to ''The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge'', is "standard in British tournament play and widely used in other parts of the world". It is a natural system using four-card majors and, most commonly, a weak no trump. Origins Acol is named after the Acol Bridge Club in London NW6, where it originated in the early 1930s. The club was founded on Acol Road, named after Acol, Kent. According to Terence Reese, the system's main devisers were Maurice Harrison-Gray, Jack Marx and S. J. "Skid" Simon. Marx himself, writing in the ''Contract Bridge Journal'' in December, 1952, said: "...the Acol system was pieced together by Skid Simon and myself the best part of 20 years ago." In another account, Marx and Simon... The first book on the system was written by Ben Cohen and Terence Reese. Skid Simon explained the principles that lay behind the system, and the system was further popularised in Britain by Iain Macleod. The Acol system is contin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acol, Kent
Acol (formerly Acholt) is a hamlet and civil parish in the Thanet District of Kent, England, about south of Birchington. It is one of the smallest communities in Kent, and over the years large parts of the parish have been transferred to other neighbouring communities. Acol is situated just north of the western end of the runway at Manston Airport. History Acol was recorded in 1270 under the name Acholt, meaning Oak Wood. The conditions for labourers throughout Kent at the end of the Napoleonic Wars deteriorated to the point where unrest brought about the start of the Swing Riots in 1833–4. At the same time, many labourers left Kent, often with the grateful assistance of their parish councils who did not want to keep supporting them, to take up new lives in the colonies in North America and particularly Australia and New Zealand. About 1880, Henry Perry Cotton, of Quex Park north of Acol, developed land in Kilburn, London, naming one street Acol Road; there in the 1930s Aco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Marx (bridge)
John Charles Hubert Marx (12 April 1907 – 29 August 1991), known as Jack Marx, was a British international bridge player who was instrumental in developing the Acol bidding system. Life Marx was born in Willesden, London. He went to Repton School, and served as a captain in the Royal Army Service Corps during World War II. As a competition bridge player he was a genuine expert, though not the most pragmatic player. Marx was a modest man and widely loved; indeed, he was one of the few bridge players who never made an enemy. He did not, however, have an equable temperament, and that limited his career as an international player. Marx was a member of the Harrison-Gray team, and played as Gray's partner to win the European Bridge League championship for Great Britain in 1950, but he turned down the chance to play in the inaugural Bermuda Bowl world championship the same year: :"A moody man, subject on occasion to sudden fits of apathy ... a nervous, highly-strung man ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ben Cohen (bridge)
Ben Cohen (1907–1971) was an author, publisher, and distributor of contract bridge books and stationery supplies. He pioneered duplicate bridge in the UK in the early 1930s and helped develop the Acol bidding system in the mid-1930s. He and the young Terence Reese wrote the first, and for a long time the only, textbook of the Acol system, ''The Acol Two Club'' (1938). He also contributed to newspapers and journals in South Africa, India, and Japan as well as the UK. Cohen was from Hove. Cohen and Rhoda Barrow edited the European ''Bridge Players' Encyclopedia'', published 1967 and based on the American ''Official Encyclopedia of Bridge'' (1964). Publications *Cohen, Ben and Terence Reese. January, 1938. ''The Acol Two Club: with an introduction by S.J. Simon''. Leng, Sheffield. :• This was the first Acol textbook, its authors wisely disclaiming originality: "We do a job of reporting." It had a famous Preface, "Attitude of Mind" by Skid Simon. :• 2nd ed. revised and enlarged, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strong 2
In contract bridge, a strong two-bid (also known as a forcing two-bidFrancis et al (2001), p. 443.Francis et al (2001), p. 163. The strong two-bid was the cornerstone of the Culbertson system.) is an opening bid of two in a suit, i.e. 2, 2, 2 or 2 . It is a natural bid, used to show a hand that is too strong to open at the one level. Commonly used in the early days of bridge, most expert players converted after World War II to the now more common weak two bid retaining only 2 as a strong opening suit-bid and changing its meaning to artificial and forcing holding any suit. This was done on the basis that the weak two-bid would occur much more frequently. In Standard American bidding, Charles Goren advocated that a strong two-bid should indicate a five-card suit with 25 high card points (HCP), a six-card suit with 23 HCP, or a seven-card suit with 21 HCP and is to game. In Acol, the main bidding system in the United Kingdom, strong two bids are still used by many players. The 2, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terence Reese
John Terence Reese (28 August 1913 – 29 January 1996) was a British bridge player and writer, regarded as one of the finest of all time in both fields. He was born in Epsom, Surrey, England to middle-class parents, and was educated at Bradfield College and New College, Oxford, where he studied classics and attained a double first, graduating in 1935. Life Reese's father, the son of a Welsh clergyman, worked in a bank until he transferred to his wife's family catering business. Reese said "I played card games before I could read".Reese (1977), p. 1. As a small boy, when his mother "issued the standard warning about not talking to strange men, my father remarked that it was the strange men who should be warned against trying to talk to me". Reese's mother Anne ran a hotel near Guildford, and with it a bridge club, so Reese played in the earliest duplicate matches, ''circa'' 1930. Whilst at Oxford he met some serious bridge players, amongst whom were Lt.-Col. Walter Buller, Iai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strong Two
In contract bridge, a strong two-bid (also known as a forcing two-bidFrancis et al (2001), p. 443.Francis et al (2001), p. 163. The strong two-bid was the cornerstone of the Culbertson system.) is an opening bid of two in a suit, i.e. 2, 2, 2 or 2 . It is a natural bid, used to show a hand that is too strong to open at the one level. Commonly used in the early days of bridge, most expert players converted after World War II to the now more common weak two bid retaining only 2 as a strong opening suit-bid and changing its meaning to artificial and forcing holding any suit. This was done on the basis that the weak two-bid would occur much more frequently. In Standard American bidding, Charles Goren advocated that a strong two-bid should indicate a five-card suit with 25 high card points (HCP), a six-card suit with 23 HCP, or a seven-card suit with 21 HCP and is to game. In Acol, the main bidding system in the United Kingdom, strong two bids are still used by many players. The 2, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacoby Transfers
The Jacoby transfer, or simply transfers, in the card game contract bridge, is a convention in most bridge bidding systems initiated by responder following partner's notrump opening bid that forces opener to rebid in the just above that bid by responder. For example, a response in diamonds forces a rebid in hearts and a response in hearts forces a rebid in spades. Transfers are used to show a long suit, usually a major, and to ensure that opener the hand if the final contract is in the suit transferred to, preventing the opponents from seeing the cards of the stronger hand. The use of the 2 and 2 (and often 2) responses to an opening 1NT bid as transfers is one of the most widely employed conventions in the game. Less commonly, partnerships may agree to use transfer-style bids in a variety of other situations. History and purpose First described in a series of articles by Olle Willner of Sweden in ''Bridge Tidningen'' in the early 1950s, transfers were popularized for English ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weak Two Bid
The weak two bid is a common used in the game of contract bridge, where an opening bid of two diamonds, hearts or spades signifies a weak hand, typically containing a long suit. It may be deployed within any system structure that offers a forcing artificial opening to handle hands of (eg) 20+ points, or an expectation of 8 or more tricks. It is form of preemptive bid. The strong call releases any remaining two level openings for pre-empting your opponents. In North America it is commonly used in combination with the strong two clubs convention. Worldwide there are many other variants, the commonest being a strong one club. “Weak Two” refers specifically to an opening bid, not to be confused with the "weak jump overcall". That denotes a similar hand type, made over an opponent's opening bid. Effectiveness 2S is most powerful in terms of pre-emption against your opponents. 2H is less so, easily defended by either a take out double or a 2S overcall. Paradoxically the 2D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hand Evaluation
In contract bridge, various bidding systems have been devised to enable partners to describe their hands to each other so that they may reach the optimum contract. Key to this process is that players evaluate and re-evaluate the trick-taking potential of their hands as the auction proceeds and additional information about partner's hand and the opponent's hands becomes available. Hand evaluation methods assess various features of a hand, including: its high card strength, shape or suit , , fit with partner, quality of suits and quality of the whole hand. The methods range from basic to complex, requiring partners to have the same understandings and agreements about their application in their bidding system. Basic point-count system Most bidding systems use a basic point-count system for hand evaluation using a combination of high card points and distributional points, as follows. High card points First published in 1915 by Bryant McCampbell in ''Auction Tactics'' (page 26), the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High Card Points
In contract bridge, various bidding systems have been devised to enable partners to describe their hands to each other so that they may reach the optimum contract. Key to this process is that players evaluate and re-evaluate the trick-taking potential of their hands as the auction proceeds and additional information about partner's hand and the opponent's hands becomes available. Hand evaluation methods assess various features of a hand, including: its high card strength, shape or suit , , fit with partner, quality of suits and quality of the whole hand. The methods range from basic to complex, requiring partners to have the same understandings and agreements about their application in their bidding system. Basic point-count system Most bidding systems use a basic point-count system for hand evaluation using a combination of high card points and distributional points, as follows. High card points First published in 1915 by Bryant McCampbell in ''Auction Tactics'' (page 26), the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Checkback Stayman
Stayman is a bidding convention in the card game contract bridge. It is used by a partnership to find a 4-4 or 5-3 trump fit in a suit after making a one (1NT) opening bid and it has been adapted for use after a 2NT opening, a 1NT overcall, and many other natural notrump bids. The convention is named for Sam Stayman, who wrote the first published description in 1945,"A New Notrump Convention", Samuel Stayman, ''The Bridge World'', June 1945. but its inventors were two other players: the Great Britain, British expert Jack Marx (bridge), Jack Marx in 1939, who published it only in 1946, and Stayman's regular partner George Rapée in 1944. *3 = --> *3 = ? *3NT = to play After a transfer, accept it with any 4333, bid 3NT with only two trumps, otherwise bid 4M. 1NT - 2; 2/2NT - 3 = Stayman *3 = 4M333 *3 = 4, not 4333 *3 = 4, not 4333, not 4 *3NT = no 4M 1NT - 2; 2/2NT - 3, 3 *3 = 4, not 4 *3 = 4, not 4 *3NT = to play *4 = bid your 4 card Major An alternative, simpl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stayman
Stayman is a bidding convention in the card game contract bridge. It is used by a partnership to find a 4-4 or 5-3 trump fit in a suit after making a one (1NT) opening bid and it has been adapted for use after a 2NT opening, a 1NT overcall, and many other natural notrump bids. The convention is named for Sam Stayman, who wrote the first published description in 1945,"A New Notrump Convention", Samuel Stayman, ''The Bridge World'', June 1945. but its inventors were two other players: the British expert Jack Marx in 1939, who published it only in 1946, and Stayman's regular partner George Rapée in 1944. *3 = --> *3 = ? *3NT = to play After a transfer, accept it with any 4333, bid 3NT with only two trumps, otherwise bid 4M. 1NT - 2; 2/2NT - 3 = Stayman *3 = 4M333 *3 = 4, not 4333 *3 = 4, not 4333, not 4 *3NT = no 4M 1NT - 2; 2/2NT - 3, 3 *3 = 4, not 4 *3 = 4, not 4 *3NT = to play *4 = bid your 4 card Major An alternative, simpler version of five-card Stayman is: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
