BRIDGE MASTERCLASS

Would you open on this hand and, if so, with what?

By Any yardstick for bidding, you should open with this 10-point hand. you have two biddable 5-card suits and, most importantly, you have a sensible rebid over whatever partner might respond — provided you open 1 ♣ , not 1 ♠ .

it is still the correct Acol style to open with the lower-ranking of equal length black suits, in order to preserve bidding space.

However, there is a non-Acol alternative, favoured by some top players and prominent teachers: always giving preference to showing a 5-card major, even when the suit is weak.

this method obviously has merit, or good players wouldn’t use it, but there is the obvious risk of being unable to show the club suit later when partner responds 2 ♦ or 2 ♥ .

So you should open 1 ♣ and, after partner responds 1 ♥ , you rebid 1 ♠ . your second bid is not forcing, but partner is unlikely to pass, unless he had an absolute minimum response in the first place. your action on the next round will depend on partner’s second response.