Strawberry Polish Club

Welcome to Strawberry Polish Club! Polish Club is a 5-card major small club bidding system, where the 1 ♣ opening is forcing but not necessarily strong. Specifically, 1 ♣ is either quasi-natural or a strong hand (~18+ HCP).

This bidding system is largely based on Polish Club 2020: Expert. Changes are made with Good, Better, Best and my improvisation.

Why Polish Club?

Simulations in Good, Better, Best show that forcing club systems tend to outperform other systems. Polish Club serves as a gateway to the world of forcing clubs. It is 5-card major. Its main opening range is 12–17 HCP. Sharing these properties, it has similar bidding structure to 2/1, the lingua franca of modern bridge.

Notable differences from Polish Club 2020: Expert

Constructive auctions

• The 2/1 responses to 1 ♠ are natural or contain hearts instead. (Untwisted 2/1)
• After 1M, we have 4-card support step responses from 2NT to 3M.
• In our BTU XYZ 3-way checkback, the 2 ♣ relay contains 2-level signoffs like Gladiator.

Preempts

• We modified continuations after the 2X preempts.
• BTU Namyats replace natural 4m.

Slam try

• We use RKCB 0314 by default. Advanced players may use Turbo 4NT for minor suits.
• When we have found two fits X and Y, 4NT is 7-key Blackwood (7KCB), RKCB in both suits with each trump Q regarded as half a keycard.
• New suits above RKCB are control asking RKCB. Return to 5X if you lack a control in that suit. Otherwise, use the other steps like RKCB.
• We also suggest using the non-serious 3NT, Optional Minorwood, and Last Train in slam tries.

References

• Krzysztof Jassem & Tomek Brus. Polish Club 2020: Expert. ISBN 978-1771402248
• Krzysztof Jassem & Tomek Brus. Polish Club 2020: Standard. ISBN 978-1771402231
• Jan Eric Larsson. Good, Better, Best: A comparison of bridge bidding systems and conventions by computer simulation. ISBN 978-1771402415
• Krzysztof Jassem. [Wspólny Język 2020 Standard](https://jassem.pl/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/wj2020-25-59.pdf)
• Piotr Cegielski. [Wspólny Język DUCE](https://iccs.pl/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Wspolny-Jezyk-DUCE-wersja-Q1.2021.pdf)
• Krzysztof Jassem. [Polish Club International 2010](https://jassem.pl/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Polish_Club-2010.html)
• Krzysztof Jassem. [Wspólny Język 2005 (Polish Standard)](https://par.cse.nsysu.edu.tw/~kbc/class/Polish_Club/WJ2005Full_original.pdf)

Hand evaluation

• High card points (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)
• Zar points (ZP) : 6-4-2-1 + Zar distribution points (a + b + a - d, where the letters are the number of cards from the longest to the shortest suit)
• 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 supports. I have a blog article on that topic.

https://jdh8.org/nltc-a-good-single-hand-evaluator/

Stopper

We evaluate stopper quality as GIB does.

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

References

• Thomas Andrews. [Thomas's Bridge Fantasia](https://bridge.thomasoandrews.com/valuations/)
• Bridge Base. [GIB Bid Descriptions](https://www.bridgebase.com/doc/gib_descriptions.php)

Opening bids

Our Polish Club opening contains minimum clubs like Polish Club 2020: Expert. We adjust the 1 ♦ opening to contain 18–20 HCP unbalanced diamonds with no 4-card major. This method makes 1 ♣ -1 ♦ -3 ♣ ♦ limited enough (21–23 HCP) for their level.

The notrump ladder

• 12–14 : 1 ♣ -1 ♦ -1M
• 15–17 : 1NT
• 18–20 : 1 ♣ -1 ♦ -1NT
• 21–23 : 1 ♣ -1 ♦ -2 ♦
• 24+ : 1 ♣ -1 ♦ -2NT

Polish 1 ♣

We move invitational hands out of the 1 ♦ relay to make it non-forcing.

The 1 ♦ relay

In our version of Polish Club, the 1 ♦ relay denies invitational values. This relay contains weak hands without another suitable bid.

We swap the 2 ♦ and 2NT responses for better constructiveness by courtesy of Ting-Yu Ye (TpKotoba).

The bidding structure at 1 ♣ -1 ♦ -1NT is similar to the 1NT opening.

The 2 ♣ rebid is wide, but worry not. Lebensohl fits in this reverse-like auction.

The 2 ♦ rebid shows a nearly balanced hand with 21–23 HCP. If you can force to game, bid as if partner opened a natural 2NT. Otherwise, try to sign off at the 2-level.

Positive 1M responses

Opener's 2 ♦ rebid is Odwrotka, a fit reverse showing a game-forcing 3+ card support. The jump reverse of the other major shows a game-forcing minor two suiter to alleviate the burden on 2NT.

BTU XYZ or three-way checkback

We use BTU-style 3-way checkback to an XYZ auction. There are 3 artificial relays in the three-way checkback:

• 2 ♣ : ...
• 2 ♦ : game-forcing checkback, usually a choice of games
• 2NT : transfer to clubs

The variants in 2 ♣ are as follows:

• To play 2X
• Strongly shaped invitation
• Balanced invitation or choice of games

As a corollary, natural 2X are wide-range invitations and 3X become slam tries.

After the BTU checkback of 1 ♣ -1 ♥ -1 ♠ -2 ♣ , we need to bid game-forcing clubs at 3 ♠ .

Odwrotka with the strong 2 ♥ relay

We use the relay structure in Polish Club 2020: Expert. The 2 ♥ response to Odwrotka is a slam try with 11+ HCP or a certain fit and <= 8.0 NLTC. The relay structure generally lets the strong opener declare notrump.

Relay systems can be cryptic! I am summing up why we arrange the steps in this way.

• 2 ♥ : The lowest step layers strong hands. We can repeat the whole structure inside. This step follows the logic of (reverse) Lebensohl.
• 2 ♠ : The second step holds the possibility of a misfit, 4 cards. We need space to explore games in the other strains.
• 2NT : Unbalanced fit! Opener never settles in 3NT. Feel free to bid notrump.
• 3M : Balanced fit! Give opener a chance to declare 3NT with a flat hand.
• 3m : Take some hands out of the nebulous 2 ♠ . These hands suggests a minor suit slam.
• Others : These Splinter-level steps are made for big fits.

Balanced positive responses

Balanced positive responses are pretty descriptive. Opener can rebid fairly naturally.

Game-forcing 2m responses

Like over 2/1 responses, opener jumps with extra values to utilize higher steps to send information. This avoids an awkward situation Bridge World calls “two temporizers and zero describers.”

Competitive bidding

The design of the responses already bears competitive bidding in mind. We somehow ignore the meaning of overcalls to deal with artificial and psychic bids. We reorder major suit bids with Transfer Walsh to get a “support double” by accepting the transfer.

Natural notrump is not very useful after a double. We rebrand it as transfer.

Negative free bid of hearts works well with the negative double of 1 ♣ -(1 ♠ )-X. Otherwise, we employ standard forcing free bids for minor suits.

We treat 1 ♣ as a weak noturmp more than a club opening. Club support is not very effective. We have a transfer scheme for all levels below 3NT.

• 1 ♦ ♥ ♠ : Transfer to the next strain. The low-level cuebid of 1 ♠ lets opener declare notrump.
• From 2Q to 3 ♥ (skipping 2NT): A weak or strong transfer of 6+ cards.
• 3 ♠ : Transfer Gambling 3NT.

The 1 ♦ opening

This opening shows 4+ diamonds and usually 5+. It gets more unbalanced as the point count increases.

• 12–14 HCP: 5+ ♦ or 4 ♦ (441)
• 15–17 HCP: UNBAL, 5+ ♦ or 4 ♦ (441)
• 18–20 HCP: UNBAL, 5+ ♦ , 0–3 ♠ , 0–3 ♥

The 1M responses

Opener rebids fairly naturally. Apart from Polish Club 2020: Expert , we move fit reverses to the 3-level. This allows more exploration of a 2-6 major fit.

BTU XYZ or three-way checkback

We use BTU-style 3-way checkback to an XYZ auction. There are 3 artificial relays in the three-way checkback:

• 2 ♣ : ...
• 2 ♦ : game-forcing checkback, usually a choice of games
• 2NT : transfer to clubs

The variants in 2 ♣ are as follows:

• To play 2X
• Strongly shaped invitation
• Balanced invitation or choice of games

As a corollary, natural 2X are wide-range invitations and 3X become slam tries.

Reverses and Lebensohl

For a precise game try, we sacrifice 2NT as Lebensohl to park minimum hands.

The game-forcing 2 ♣

The 2 ♣ response is considered 2/1 FG in this bidding system. It either is natural or conceals a fit in diamonds.

Competitive bidding

Our competitive bidding structure is similar to the 1 ♣ opening.

We still have the transfer structure after 1 ♦ -(1M). It is not as obvious as 1 ♣ -(1X) though.

Major suit openings

Most 5-card major bidding systems have highly similar structures to 1 ♥ and 1 ♠ . However, there are notable differences between the major suits.

1. 1 ♥ -1NT does not conceal a major fit. 1 ♠ -1NT may conceal a heart fit.
2. 1 ♥ -2 ♥ does not preempt 2 ♠ . 1 ♠ -2 ♠ preempts 2 ♥ .

My suggested continuations reflect these differences:

1. Only unpassed 1 ♠ -1NT is forcing. Any 1 ♥ -1NT is non/semi-forcing.
2. Bergen raises are for hearts, Monolo raises for spades.

I suggest playing Untwisted 2/1 over 1 ♠ . The 2 ♣ response is either natural or contains long hearts. This treatment is inspired by Twisted 2/1 by Ting-Yu Ye (TpKotoba). I untwist the 2/1 bids but keep weak hearts in 2 ♣ .

Responding to 1 ♠ with 5+ hearts, we bid according to strength:

• Game-forcing: 2 ♥
• Invitational: 1NT
• Weak: 2 ♣

Monolo was a bidding system developed by Fei Chen (Doizi). Monolo raises pack mini-Splinters in 3 ♣ ♦ , leaving mixed+ raises in 3 ♥ ♠ .

Note that we use difference 4-card raising structures for 1 ♥ and 1 ♠ . Our spade raises cover all mini-Splinters and a mixed raise. On the other hand, we use reverse Bergen raises for hearts for several reasons:

1. We have more preemptive uses for 1 ♥ -2 ♠ such as invitational both minors or a weak jump shift.
2. As a corollary, we don't have enough room to discriminate all mini-Splinters.
3. We need 1 ♥ -3 ♥ to preempt a potential spade fit while 1 ♠ -2 ♠ is usually enough for a heart fit.

Modified Stenberg Jacoby 2NT

The principle of fast arrival should not apply to an unlimited Jacoby 2NT. The weaker opener is, the more likely responder has something to say. Therefore, we import responses from Stenberg AKA Swedish Jacoby 2NT.

Natural invitational 2/1 by passed hand

We don't play Drury here. For a 3-card limit raise without a 5-card side suit, 1NT is decent.

The heart ladder over 1 ♠ also steps down half a trick:

• Invitational: 2 ♥
• Constructive: 1NT
• Weak: 2 ♣

Competitive bidding

We play transfers over 1M-(Dbl) as suggested by Polish Club 2020: Expert. As for 1M-(X)-4steps, we make this transfer CONST+ (~8+ HCP) as suggested by Ting-Yu Ye (TpKotoba).

We treat 1 ♥ -(1 ♠ ) as 1 ♥ -(X) for their similarities.

BTU 1NT

This bidding system has a strong notrump opening (14+ HCP) that does not contain a 5-card major. We use the BTU continuations after the 1NT opening. Stayman takes care of invitation with 5+ spades.

Stayman

Stayman has multiple variants in BTU 1NT:

• Weak: T/O with short clubs (Garbage Stayman)
• INV: 4–5 ♠ or 4= ♥ (BTU)
• FG: 4= ♠ or 4= ♥
• S/T: 5+ ♠ and 5+ ♥ (BTU/jdh8)

We employ Smolen at both levels to take care of spade invitation.

Jacoby transfer

The opener always accepts Jacoby transfers. We super-accept with maximum and 4 trumps. We hide the doubleton just below the trump to avoid retransferring problems like 1NT-2 ♦ -3 ♦ !-3 ♥ ?.

Minor suit Multi/Stayman

We can take care of all interesting hands with minor suits by 2 ♠ and paradox advances. Responder rebids a major suit for Splinter. Opener can reject 3NT with P/C.

Competitive bidding

Competition does not affect auctions at 3NT and above.

Over (Dbl)

We keep things simple over a strong double (10+ HCP). Everything is natural.

Over (2 ♣ )

We play systems on over 1NT-(2 ♣ ). Most bids keep the same meaning. This is because 2 ♣ is so low that we can treat it as (mirrored) (1 ♣ )-1NT.

• If there is no anchor suit, we completely ignore the 2 ♣ bid.
• With one anchor suit X, we treat it as (1X)-1NT, where systems on also applies.
• With a major and a minor anchor suits, we ignore the minor suit.

We recommend Leaping Michaels over a sole anchor suit. Take natural clubs for example.

The real headache is when (2 ♣ ) shows both majors e.g. Landy. We recommend reverse Unusual vs Unusual.

Note that we pass when we can penalize both majors. A delayed double is for penalty since a takeout can usually penalize the other major.

Over (2 ♦ ♥ ♠ )

We play BTU Transfer Lebensohl against overcalls 2 ♦ ♥ ♠ (link lost). Specially against 2 ♠ , we use Larry Cohen's version to avoid declaring hearts via Stayman.

https://www.larryco.com/bridge-articles/transfer-lebensohl

Over (2NT)

We have a special Unusual vs Unusual structure over 1NT-(2NT) because we have not yet shown a suit.

Ekren 2 ♣

Ekren is an artificial preempt showing 4+ cards in each major. It is originally at 2 ♦ . We move it to 2 ♣ to fill in the removed Precision and leave space for Multi.

Multi 2 ♦

Our Multi 2 ♦ shows a 6-card weak two of either major.

Suggested defense: Multi vs Multi

I regard Multi vs Multi as a specialized version of Unusual vs Unusual. X remains "penalizing" either suit but longer. Cuebids are reordered and show unbid (minor) suits.

https://chrisryall.net/bridge/multi-v-multi-2d.htm

We frequently pass 2 ♦ x with 4+ diamonds to ease slam exploration, especially for minor suit slams.

When RHO bids, X is penalty and usually short in the other major. We play Rubinsohl here because we need to bid diamonds. Please refrain from penalizing with length in both major suits. It is usually better to make our own contract than setting their doubled partscore.

After opener shows their major, doubler always penalizes when holding the same suit. This action is mostly safe because doubler sits behind the opener. More importantly, this treatment creates a negative inference that a pass implies holding the other major.

• (2 ♦ )-X-(2 ♠ ); (3 ♥ )-X = Usually hearts
• (2 ♦ )-X-(2 ♠ ); (3 ♥ )-P = Spades!

Muiderberg 2M

Weak twos in this bidding system show exactly 5 cards in the bid major and a side minor suit. Multi 2 ♦ already takes care of 6+ cards.

Unusual 2NT opening

The unusual 2NT opening is a preempt with 5+ ♦ and 5+ ♣ .

We advise against opening 2NT for (30)55 in the first two seats.

BTU 4-level preempts

In National Taiwan University Bridge Club (BTU), we use a 4X scheme that conveys approximately 0.58 more bits than traditional or Meckwell Namyats.

• 4 ♣ : solid major suit without any outside A/K
• 4 ♦ : semi-solid major suit with 0–1 outside A/K
• 4M : non-solid (1.5+ NLTC) major suit