Keyboard shortcuts

Press ← or → to navigate between chapters

Press S or / to search in the book

Press ? to show this help

Press Esc to hide this help

Strawberry Polish Club has a wider 1♦ and narrower 1♥♠︎ than Polish Club 2020: Expert. The wide 1♦ aims to solve rebidding problems in the nebulous 1♣ opening. Precision-like narrow major suits are followed by precise educated guesses and hence harder to defend.

Polish Club serves as a gateway to the world of forcing clubs. Its bidding structure is similar to 2/1, the lingua franca of modern bridge.

Hand evaluation

  • HCP: the well-known Milton Work’s 4-3-2-1 count
  • Points: HCP + upgrade
    • Upgrade an unbalanced hand by 1
    • Upgrade by 1 more with 10+ cards in the two longest suits
    • Cancel one upgrade per short suit (0–2 cards) with wasted honors
      • Wasted: any honors other than Ax or Kx
  • Support points: points once a fit is found
    • Trumps: HCP
    • Side suits: HCP + shortness
      • Void = 3, singleton = 2, doubleton = 1
      • Subtract 1 per short suit with HCP
    • Add 1 with 10+ cards in the two longest suits

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

Double-dummy research

I measured how these counts correlate to levels with double-dummy censuses in pons.

Bidding notation

Separate calls with spaces: 1NT - 2♣ (X) XX -. Parenthesize opposing non-pass calls. Write passes as -, but write out P for initial (quantified) passes or a single call, such as a table row offering pass. Implicit P* prepends every auction, assuming that nobody plays significant passes (likely a HUM). Thus P - 1♥ - 1NT - starts with 2-3 initial passes and the 1♥ opener gets to bid.

The header of a bidding table shows the auction so far. Body rows then adds calls. The second header cell states constraints: restrictions on suit variables as inequalities, such as x < y, or the meaning of an opposing call, such as Both majors. Suit variables are lowercase and carry no implicit rules. Start each new round with <br>: 1NT - 2♣ -<br>2♦ -. Do not use <br> in body rows.

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 and B and C or A, B, C. For example, INV, 9–11, 6+♣.
  • Alternatives: write every or explicitly: A or B or C.
  • Grouping: and and or bind tighter than ,, so NAT, 11–14 or 18+, 4+♦ requires natural diamonds with either strength range. Parenthesize an alternative that contains a comma: (11–16, 3=♥) or (17, 4=♠, 3=♥).
  • Oxford comma: a comma before and or or joins clauses, never items: (11–16, 3=♥), (17, 4=♠, 3=♥), or (18+, 3=♥). Items are short enough for A and B and C, and a comma-free list leaves no doubt where it stops.
  • 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 (R) relay tag are unchanged.

The precedence between and and or is undefined on purpose; parenthesize when mixing them. Only : binds looser than everything, so a tag may govern an unparenthesized phrase: eats: shoots, leaves. Thus eats(,) shoots and leaves is unambiguous:

  • eats shoots and leaves is (eats shoots) and leaves
  • eats, shoots and leaves is eats, (shoots and leaves)

References

General methods

Polish Club

Other systems