Glenfield Technical Library

The Change of Suit Response

Last Updated on 17^th August 2008

In traditional Acol, the simple change of suit response to an opening bid of one of a suit from a player that has not previously passed is forcing for one round.

In Acol a change of suit at the one level promises at least six points. You need to discuss with your partner what a change of suit at the two level shows. Most modern players play it as promising at least ten points. I still play the old fashioned way and change the suit at the two level with eight or more points.
ª J7 © Q87 ¨ 964 § AKT85	After partner has opened one spade, this hand from the National Masters Pairs on 1^st March 2003 is worth a bid of two clubs whichever style is played. Your problem is more what to do when partner rebids two diamonds.

This difficult decision occurred in the match between Glenfield A and County C on 5^th March 2003

ª 6 © 97542 ¨ AJT § KJ62

Partner opens one spade. Opponents refuse to help by staying silent and you have to find a bid on this collection. You are too strong for one no trump and the singleton spade is less than ideal. Two clubs is a distortion, but might just be a sensible option at pairs as it allows you to settle in two diamonds, two hearts, two spades or three clubs. The “scientific” bid is two hearts, which, in Acol, promises a five card suit. When the hand occurred, two hearts proved to be the winning choice, nine tricks being just about possible in hearts while seven was the limit in spades which would have been the final contract had the response been two clubs. One no trump would have worked better than two clubs; partner would have passed and seven or eight tricks were available dependent on the play of the diamond suit.

On a good hand there is a choice between jumping in a new suit or making the simple change of suit response. I prefer to reserve the jump bid for balanced hands with 16-18 points or for hands with secondary support for partner’s suit.
ª – © QJT432 ¨ AKQJ42 § 4	On a two suited deal, such as this from the match between Glenfield A and Leicester Bridge Centre B on 19^th March 2003 I would not jump because it would cramp the bidding too much. If partner opened one club I would simply bid one heart. Then, if partner rebids two clubs I would continue with a jump to three diamonds.

Statistics at MPs – We change the suit	Partner	Hands	MPs	Top	%
Gimson Final	Peter Neville	7	86	20	61.43
Total		7	86	20	61.43

Statistics at MPs – They change the suit	Partner	Hands	MPs	Top	%
Gimson Final	Peter Neville	3	49	20	81.67
Total		3	49	20	81.67

Statistics at IMPs – We change the suit	Partner	Hands	IMPs	IMPS/Bd
Stanley Trophy 2005/6 - Heat 7	Peter Neville	7	13	1.86
Porter – Leicestershire 20 Staffs & Shrops 0	Peter Neville	8 (15)	12 (25)	1.50 (1.67)
Stanley Trophy 2006/7 - Heat 1	John Glover	2	-1	-0.50
Total for 2006		24	18	0.75
Glenfield A 4 County A 8	Peter Neville	4 (19)	19 (31)	4.75 (1.63)
Glenfield A 6 Phoenix A 6	Peter Neville	3 (22)	-2 (29)	-0.67 (1.32)
Glenfield A 4 Melton 8	Judith Taylor	4	-6	-1.50
Glenfield A 9 Loughborough A 3	Peter Neville	4 (26)	3 (32)	0.75 (1.23)
Porter – Leicestershire 5 Oxfordshire 15	Peter Neville	2 (28)	13 (45)	6.5 (1.61)
Total for 2007		17	27	1.59
Total		42	57	1.36

Statistics at IMPs – They change the suit	Partner	Hands	IMPs	IMPS/Bd
Stanley Trophy 2005/6 - Heat 7	Peter Neville	1	-8	-8.00
Porter – Leicestershire 20 Staffs & Shrops 0	Peter Neville	2 (3)	-1 (-9)	-0.50 (-3.00)
Porter – Lincolnshire 0 Leicestershire 20	Peter Neville	4 (7)	19 (10)	4.75 (1.43)
Total for 2006		7	10	1.43
Glenfield A 6 Phoenix A 6	Peter Neville	1 (8)	-2 (8)	-2.00 (2.00)
Glenfield A 4 Melton 8	Judith Taylor	3	-10	-3.33
Glenfield A 9 Loughborough A 3	Peter Neville	3 (11)	8 (16)	2.67 (1.45)
Porter – Leicestershire 5 Oxfordshire 15	Peter Neville	6 (17)	-10 (-2)	-1.67 (-0.12)
Total for 2007		13	-14	-1.08
Total		20	-4	-0.2

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6.1 Bidding	Strategy	Acol	Psychic Bidding	Precision	Blue Club
6.1.1 Hand Evaluation	Defensive Tricks	Losing Trick Count	Playing Tricks	Point Count	Total Number of Tricks	Passing
6.1.2 Opening Bids	One Club	One Diamond	One Heart	One Spade	One No Trump	Pre-empts
	Two Clubs	Two Diamonds	Two Hearts	Two Spades	Two No Trumps
6.1.3 Responding to an Opening Bid	Simple change of suit	Opener’s Rebid	Responder’s Rebid	Preference	Opener’s Second Rebid	Jump in a new suit	Responding in no trumps
	Limit Raise	Inverted Minors
6.1.3.1 Responding to 1NT	Transfers
6.1.3.2 Responding to 2NT	Transfers	Baron
6.1.4 Conventions	Stayman	Fourth Suit Forcing	Reverse	Crowhurst
6.1.4.1 Conventional Opening Bids	Lucas Twos	Multi Two Diamonds	Weak Twos
6.1.4.2 Competitive Conventions	Jump Overcall	Lebensohl	Unassuming Cue Bid	Unusual No Trump	Continuing after opponent’s take out double	Take out Double	Cue Bid
	Fishbein	Defence to 1NT	Halmic	1NT Overcall	Redouble	Simple Overcall
6.1.4.3 Slam Conventions	Blackwood	Gerber	Roman Key Card Blackwood	Splinter	Jump to 5 of a suit	Grand Slam Force	Acol Four No Trump Opening
	Asking Bids	DOPI and ROPI
6.1.5 Doubles	Optional	Penalty	Lead Directional
6.1.6 The Protective Position
6.2 Declarer Play
6.2.1 General Technique	End Play	Squeeze	Finesse	Lose tricks early	Pin	Avoidance	Restricted Choice
6.2.2 Trump Management	Ruffing	Ruffing Losers before drawing trumps	Trump Coup	Ruffing Finesse	Loser on Loser	Coping with bad splits	Cross Ruff
	Dummy Reversal
6.3 Defence	Second Player	Signals	Third Player	Play the cards you are known to have
6.3.1 Defensive Tactics	Forcing Defence	Passive Defence	Merrimac Coup
6.3.2 Opening Leads	Fourth Highest	Third and Fifth	MUD	Top of Nothing
6.3.3 Plays in Third Hand	Finesse Against Dummy	Finesse Against Partner
6.3.4 Entry Management	Unblocking
6.4 Probability
6.5 Glossary of Terms
7 Through the Pack