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After West opened the bidding, usually with 1D, most Norths ended up playing in 2S, a few in 3S, and not one EW pair that I saw at our Hutt club played in the ‘par’ contract of 3H. From that it seems clear that few, if any, average club players, understand the takeout double or its uses, even if they at times say they play ‘takeout’ or ‘negative’ doubles. There are other important aspects to the following deal as well, but for now .......

Board 19 from Monday 16/03/2020
Dlr S EW Vul

	AQJT97 62 J6 K86
K4 QT83 AQ73 AQ3		532 KJ94 T5 J972
	86 A75 K9842 T54

From Friday, 7 February 2020
Board 2 Dealer E, NS Vul

	A85 AT8 KJT2 QJ2
KJ64 3 Q7 AT9874		Q73 K954 A95 K65
	T92 QJ762 8643 3

Reader's question:
The bidding was:

How is your defensive bidding against a strong, usually Precision, opening 1C? In the following deal it really does not matter, nor does it matter if South opens an Acol 1D. All the EW pairs missed the boat, so let’s see why they did and why they should not have.

Board 6 from Tuesday 4/01/20
Dealer E EW Vul

	K6 KQJ987 J8 T42
QT943 6 AT75 AJ8		J875 T542 Q9765
	A2 A3 KQ96432 K3

This one is an example of what I would call sloppy declarer play. West could hardly be blamed for raising East to a small slam when East opens with a preempt of 3D. That might make East a bit more careful in the declarer play if the results I saw are anything to go by.

Board 18 from Monday 27/01/20
Dealer E NS Vul

	AKT9765 Q7 8 QT3
AT542 AJT AJ542		4 83 KQ97632 K98
	QJ832 KJ96 54 76

So much for taking a break over Christmas! The man can't sleep without a pen in his hand. Vil is favouring us with his thoughts on Weak Twos and Transfers in a new series of articles. This blog will be updated as he sends more articles. For the present we have:

1. An Overview of Acol basics
2. Basic Weak Twos
3. No Trumps and Transfers
4. No Trump Rebids
5. Transfers and More
6. Transfers after 2NT
7. Opposition 1NT
8. SSS: A Simple System Summary
9. Bonus Article on play at No Trumps

If you wish to receive these articles via direct email when they're hot off the press just let Vil (villyn@xtra.co.nz) know and he'll add you to his mailing list.