Zelandakh, on 2014-July-06, 16:29, said:
I read once that Acol is often used in the Far East as a starter system to learn the basics of natural bidding before moving onto Precision. Perhaps that is not really the case but it would certainly not be an unreasonable approach.
I believe the opposite is true from a theoretical aa well as practical point of view.
Beginners have to learn how to express their hand in a code new to them.
You can view bidding systems as languages with a limited vocabulary, which have to describe a wide variety of hand features.
Since not all features can be described hands need to categorized.
So called natural systems look at first to be simple, e.g. bid what you think you can make etc.
One motivation for ACOL was that its creators believed in limiting hands quickly, often an achilles heel of "natural" systems.
Just look at natural systems wide ranging one level bids.
Precision does this differently and limits strength and this is what counts for beginners and poor players, but is important no matter how good you are.
New players can be in less doubt what certain sequences show or deny. Precision does a better categorization of strength of a hand with the opening bid.
What is forcing, non-forcing and a stop bid is simple.
That's why the advantages of 2/1 compared to SAYC is much greater for average or poor players than for experts.
Claiming that a simpler system stop people from advancing is nonsense.
They may not progress faster, but they will get better results quicker and understand how bidding works better, because they have no immediate need to learn the nuances of too many sequences and getting confused.
They have plenty of opportunity to develop their bidding judgment in any system.
But a system like Precision avoids gross misjudgements and misunderstandings.
I consider this at least for novices an advantage not a deficiency.
But of course, if nobody plays Precision in their area, it might not be a good idea to teach beginners Precision.
This is an important though extrinsic consideration.
Rainer Herrmann