[thebiker]

In parts of England (land of the weak no trump opener 12-14) it is becoming very
popular to play a 1NT rebid as a balanced 15-18, using a 2C club checkback to determine openers range plus distributional features.

Do you beleive that it is a sound method to play such a wide range rebid?
Traditionally Acol has used a 15-17 rebid of 1NT and an 18-19 2NT rebid after a response at the one level.

If you decided to play a 15-18 1NT rebid what would be your minimum point count
requirement to emply the 2C checkback?

Some of the local practioneers of Checkback appear to only require 7 points to put their toy into action. What are your views on this?

thanks in advance for your input

regards
Brian Keable
alias thebiker

[P_Marlowe]

Hi,

I saw it as part of Power Acol, a system from Ron Klinger.
http://www.amazon.de/Power-Acol-Bidding-Ma...e/dp/0575061146
If I got it right, the wide ranging rebid was proposed by Eric Crowhurst (?!).

I think it makes sense, in Acol the 1NT response shows 15-16, the 2NT
rebid 17-18, fairly tight definitions, and one can easily imagine, that one
could do better, espesially since the opening bid and the response cleared
certain things already up.
Freeing up the 2 NT rebid enables responder to show add. shapes,
... it was not too hard to remember.

The only problem was, we started playing Power Acol before the partnership
broke up, my partner did develop non bridge related interests, ... he found his
future wife, and I was no real alternative compared with her.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[1eyedjack]

If you go back far enough, the original acol played 1N rebid as 15-16 (when the 1N opener was 12-14).
Crowhurst introduced a wide range rebid of 12-16, which in my opinion is unplayable, but Crowhurst has won more competitions than I've had hot dinners so what do I know.
If you go for the mini 1N opener you pretty much have to play at least a 4 point range 1N rebid I think.
But playing a normal 12-14 opener, 15-17 rebid is now pretty standard in the UK.
I don't come across too many playing 15-18 rebid, but perhaps these players gain by having an artificial 2N rebid available.
I start to get uncomfortable with a 4 point range, myself. You have to have it in competitive sequences, due to lack of bidding space. But I would rather do without.

[blackshoe]

As others have pointed out, a lot depends on the rest of your system. Playing Romex, I quite like this ladder:

12-16 rebid 1NT
17-18 rebid 2NT
19-20 open 1NT, rebid 2NT (1NT is artificial and may be on an unbalanced hand)
21-22 open 2D, rebid 2NT
23-24 open 2C, rebid 2NT
25-26 open 2NT (forcing)

Over the 12-16 1NT rebid, we have two way Checkback available (2C is invitational opposite 12-14, 2D GF). There are other nuances.

Playing a forcing club variant, there's this:

10-12 open 1NT
13-16 open probably 1D, rebid 1NT
17-20 open 1C, rebid 1NT
21-22 open 2D, rebid 2NT
23-24 open 1C, rebid 2NT
25-26 open 1C, rebid 2H (Kokish Relay)

[han]

By widening your range to 15-18 you will do worse on the 15- and 18-point hands. If this allows you play a system that does a lot better on other hands then it might be worth it but I doubt that.

[Ant590]

I once got into an *ahem* "discussion" with a partner after passing such a 15-18 rebid with a 7 count with Jxx in his suit in a decent pairs field... been against the wide range since, but I don't put up a fuss if someone is really keen (as I would do, say with the 12-16 rebid, where a 12-14 NT denies two doubletons or some such thing).

[zasanya]

Klinger suggests good 7 to 9 points as invitational hand.2♣ is checkback
Openers rebids are :2♦=15 hcp regardless of shape.2♥/2♠/2NT= 16-17(bad) with additional info about openers second suit or shape or locaton of high cards
3♣/3♦/3♥/3♠/3NT=17(good)-18
It is a very good structure.You may refer to Klingers book on acol for the extra benefits the system gives.

[Free]

I've played a version of Fantunes for a while, where you open 1♣ with balanced hands of 15-20 or 23+ (or natural ofcourse). Our 1NT rebid is 15-18 balanced (no 4 card fit in partner's Major). We haven't had any problems as far as I can remember with this...

[helene_t]

Many Acol players play 1NT rebid as 15-16 and 2NT as 17-18. 3NT is then 19.

Obviously this means that 2NT is passed more often than if it shows 18-19, thereby sometimes missing a major suit fit. After a minor suit opening it is not so terrible because in English Acol, opener cannot then have a 4-card major, but he could still have 3-card support for responder's suit. Also, if the opening suit is hearts, they may miss a 5-3 fit in hearts since the opening promises only 4.