Five-card majors for offensive purposes. However, if the trump cards break 4-1 or 1-4, then drawing trump will result in no trumps left for offensive purposes. The value of five-card majors can be understood then on two levels: But five-card majors have several drawbacks: Both partners must agree to follow the five-card major bidding treatment on their opening bid. Opener must have at least five cards in hearts or spades to start the bidding with that suit. Responder is expected to show support with three-card support, indicating an eight-card fit. With only four cards in a major suit, the opening bidder is
Design for Bidding Simon's earlier book "Why You Lose at Bridge", itself "widely perceived to be the best book ever written on Bridge." "Design For Bidding" "remains wonderful reading, because Simon argues persuasively for the Acol "state of mind" style of bidding." The book is divided into three parts: I, The Inexactitude of Bidding; II, Enquiry into Bidding; and III, Design for Bidding. Part I is a long general introduction, in seven chapters. In it, Simon sets out what he calls the "deciding factors" to be assessed before adopting a specialised meaning for a bid: Part I concludes with Simon's description of Acol