ACOL v SAYC -an appraisal by Harold Schogger

I have been playing on OK Bridge for nearly 2 years during which time I have managed to fudge my way through SAYC. The reason for this is that the 2 systems are very similar in that they are both based in common sense and natural methods. If you have Spades you bid Spades, if you are balanced you go into No Trumps and if you can match up with partner you do so by bidding in the same suit.

In order to compare the main differences let us look at the main bids side by side :-

	SAYC	ACOL
Opening 1§	13+ promises 3 or more	13+promises 4 or more
Opening 1¨	13+ promises 3 or more	13+promises 4 or more
Opening 1©	13+promises 5 or more	13+ promises 4 or more
Opening 1ª	13+ promises 5 or more	13+ promises 4 or more
Opening 1NT	Promises 15-17 balanced	12-14 balanced
Opening 2NT	Promises 20-21 balanced	20-22 balanced
Opening 2§	Promises 23+ or any game going hand	Promises 23+ balanced or any game going hand
Opening 2¨	Promises 6 card suit 6-10	Promises 8 playing tricks and forcing for one round
Opening 2©	Promises 6 card suit 6-10	Promises 8 playing tricks and forcing for one round
Opening 2ª	Promises 6 card suit 6-10	Promises 8 playing tricks and forcing for one round
Opening 3NT	Promises 25/26 balanced	Promises SOLID MINOR with no outside strength (PREEMPTIVE)

In BOTH SAYC and ACOL all 3/4/5 level bids are PREEMPTIVE and the higher you bid the more preemptive it becomes so either you will have longer suit or better quality but suffice it to say with these preemptive bids you should have no outside defensive strength.

With regard to responses both SAYC and with ACOL we are still trying to find the magic 8 card major suit fit. If your partner opens 1 of a major in SAYC you only need to have 3 cards before the known fit is brought to light. Since ACOL only promises 4 card support then generally you need 4 card support to raise the opener but the 6-9 and the 10-12 structure still hold good in raising to the 2 and 3 levels respectively.

Having said one generally needs 4 card support, expert ACOL players would use their common sense and sometimes would raise with 3 cards if they had ruffing values and no other sensible bid, e.g. holding:

S 32 H 876 D KQ54 C Q654

in both SAYC and ACOL one would raise 1H to 2H with this hand.

In reality most of the time opener will turn up with a 5 card suit in ACOL too.

Playing ACOL, since all 12-14 4-4-3-2 hands have been opened 1NT every time your partner opens 1H or 1S in ACOL they will either certainly have a balanced hand or a 5 card suit for sure.

Since SAYC plays strong notrump and ACOL plays a weak notrump how do we deal with the wrong range in each system ?

In SAYC if you open 1NT you show 15-17 and if you open 1 of a suit and then rebid 1NT it shows balanced 12-14 count then it seems reasonable that if you play ACOL with a weak notrump then you do it THE OPPOSITE WAY ROUND and you would be right.

IN ACOL if you open 1NT you show 12-14 and if you open 1 of a suit and then rebid 1NT it shows balanced 15-16.

When one plays the SAYC or ACOL systems one also employs conventions to aid the particular systems. All the conventions that you love and play can be used in both systems although the point count alters for "obvious reasons".

In SAYC STAYMAN requires you to hold 8+ points so that you can fall back into 2NT if no major suit fit comes to light (as this would guarantee the total between the 2 hands to be at least 23 i.e. 15 +8)

In ACOL STAYMAN now requires you to hold 11+ points to fall back into 2NT if no major suit fit is found for the same mathematical reasons. (We are still aiming for the 25/26 goal)

With ACOL (played properly!) one can also use STAYMAN on very weak hands that have at least 5-4 in the majors:

e.g. S Q732 H QJ876 D 54 C 542

this hand is perfect to play in either major at the 2 level ONLY in ACOL you would bid 2C and if partner bids the dreaded 2D you fall back onto 2H as a weakness takeout.

Since those playing strong notrump in SAYC do not need this weak escape valve as much they do not use the STAYMAN convention in this manner. This I found out, to my cost when I tried it one day and was so surprised when my partner bid again over 2H on such a hand. My SAYC fudging had not worked!

Other popular conventions common to both systems would of course be Blackwood, Roman Key Card Blackwood, Splinters and Fourth Suit Forcing.

The need for NMF is not so apparent in ACOL but in ACOL most players would treat the 2C bid as forward going as most modern ACOL players play some sort of checkback. They certainly need to play the checkback to engage the 5-3 fits that have not so readily become apparent as they are when you play SAYC.

In America and most of OK Bridge if you bid 2NT the flavor of the month is Jacoby 2NT (unless you are playing natural). This can be incorporated into ACOL and some players are doing so but the majority of ACOL players use a convention called Baron where a bid of 2NT shows a strong balanced hand containing 16+ points. When your partner opens 1 of a suit this is the hardest type of hand to relay to partner without taking up too much space so the ACOL players have taken Mr Albert Benjamin's (of Scotland) advice and bid 2NT. Now partner is expected to bid naturally and to show other suits if they have them. Now we can find all 4-4 card fits. This convention is very popular in the UK.

BIDDING SEQUENCE ACOL versus SAYC :

How much does Acol and Sayc differ when you play 2 different NT ranges?

Whatever system you are playing shouldn't you arrive at the same final contract? Let us see if that rings true.

in SAYC the bidding goes :

1NT	3NT
S QJ63	S AK8
H KQ5	H AJ10
D K10	D 854
C KQ75	C J1042

in ACOL the bidding might go:

1C	3NT*
S QJ63	S AK8
H KQ5	H AJ10
D K10	D 854
C KQ75	C J1042

*balanced 13-15 with fit

or in ACOL it might even go

1S	2C
2NT*	3NT
S QJ63	S AK8
H KQ5	H AJ10
D K10	D 854
C KQ75	C J1042

*balanced 15-16

Whichever system you use and whatever route you choose the same final result of 3NT should apply.

By the way, when I originally played this hand on the first sequence supplied, declarer won the first Diamond lead and led a small club from the closed hand towards the dummy. The hand was now all over as the defense took the their 5 tricks for down one i.e. 4 diamonds and the Ace of Clubs.

Perhaps declarer had not counted his tricks nor had he used the power of the closed hand to best advantage. At trick 2 declarer might have done better to lead a low spade towards dummy inserting the jack. This immediately creates an illusion that North might have an honor in the spade suit. Now the CJ can be led from the dummy. How many Souths will now go in with the Ace. If they don't go in now you have your 9 tricks.

Why should you make it easy for the defense?

Whatever system one plays on the Internet one should try to keep it as simple as possible with strangers and let common sense prevail and you too can fudge your way through both ACOL and SAYC as I still do!