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Blueberry Precision Club is a modernized Precision Club mixing new ideas from BTU. It is a 5-card major strong club system. It is highly experimental and subject to change without notice.

Hand evaluation

  • HCP: the well-known Milton Work’s 4321 count
  • Total points: HCP + distribution points (void = 3, singleton = 2, doubleton = 1, subtract 1 for each short suit with HCP)
  • Fifths: 4.0–2.8–1.8–1.0–0.4, adjusted HCP for notrump contracts especially 3NT
  • BUM-RAP: 4.5–3–1.5–0.75–0.25, adjusted HCP for suit contracts
  • NLTC: Count 1.5–1.0–0.5 losers for each missing AKQ

NLTC is a good single-hand evaluator but not very additive. It suits preemptive initial actions but not for showing support. I wrote a blog article on that topic.

Stopper

I evaluate stopper quality as GIB does.

  • Partial stop: length + HCP = 4
  • Likely stop: length + HCP = 5
  • Stop: A or QJx or length + HCP at least 7
  • Two stops: length + HCP at least 8

Punctuation

Descriptions in bidding tables are dense in information. To make them concise, I use abbreviations suggested by WBF in tables and words in paragraphs. Familiar convention names such as RKCB stay abbreviated in paragraphs too. Strength ranges and suit lengths keep their compact notation.

  • All conditions: write A and B or A, B; for longer lists, write A, B, and C or A, B, C. For example, <abbr title="invitational">INV</abbr>, 9--11, 6+<span class='♣'>♣</span>.
  • Alternatives: write every or explicitly: A or B or C.
  • Grouping: use parentheses when mixing conditions and alternatives. <abbr title="forcing to game (3NT)">FG</abbr>, (5+<span class='♥'>♥</span> or <abbr title="balanced">BAL</abbr> 13+) is game-forcing with either hearts or a strong balanced hand. (5+<span class='♦'>♦</span>, 4+<span class='♣'>♣</span>) or 6+<span class='♦'>♦</span> describes two cases.
  • Long alternatives: keep separate lines, with an explicit or between alternatives. Colons and semicolons have their ordinary punctuation meanings.

Parentheses within shapes such as 33(43) still identify suits whose lengths may swap order. Compact suit notation and the <abbr title='relay'>(R)</abbr> relay tag are unchanged.

A notable example is the 1 opening in Strawberry Polish Club.

References

General methods

Precision Club

Other strong clubs