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The BS Club - Introduction A few years ago, Bruce Berris and I were playing a two-system convention card. When not vulnerable, we played an aggressive Precision variant, with 10-12 opening 1N bids, 2C to promise a 6-card suit, and a nebulous/preparatory 1D opening to fill the gaps. When vulnerable, we played souped-up Kaplan-Sheinwold (a natural system with 12-14 NT). While we liked our Big Club system, and we did very well with it in non-competitive auctions, we detected some problem areas when the opponents had the bad taste to interfere. 1.Over 1C: We had to limit ourselves to playing the big club only when non-vulnerable, so that we would not have to be forced to guess at a high level too often. 2.Over 1D: Since the 1D opener covered so much ground (13-16 NT, long diamonds, or long clubs, unsuitable for 2C or Precision 2D) we often found ourselves unable to compete effectively in a minor suit when the opponents overcalled and raised a major. This was a disaster at matchpoints, and lost IMPs 5 at a time at teams. Finally, we read Matula's "Polish Club" book, we had a few encounters on Okbridge with Swedish experts who played the Carrot Club. I took a few trips to the Old Country, which resulted in my learning and gaining mixed appreciation for the Roman Club system. Thus was born the BS Club (does BS does stand for what you are thinking, or for Berris-Scaramuzzi? You decide). The keystone: we open 1C to show either a mini-NT (11-13, fairly balanced) or a Big Club (17+, any shape). Responses are natural, with the exception of a negative 1D response. After a 1-level response, opener has the option of going to a relay structure when he forces to game. 1D is natural, 12+-16, almost always 4 or more cards, usually 5 or more, always an unbalanced hand (this allows us the neat twist of using a 1N rebid artificially). 1M is 11-16, almost always 5 or more. We use Woolsey-style 2/1 continuations. 1N is 14-16, balanced. 2C is like in Blue Club: 11-16, 6+ clubs, or 13+-16, 5+ clubs and a 4-card major. For a while we played 2D in a light Precision style: 11-14, singleton diamond, 3-4, 4-3 or 4-4 in the majors. This opening bid is very infrequent. At the moment we are experimenting with lumping those hands where appropriate with the other opening bids, and reverting to a weak 2D opener. A good alternative, unfortunately ACBL-legal only in Mid- and Super-Chart events, is to play the Wilkosz 2D: 5-10 HCP, 5-5 or better in two suits, not both minors. 2M is a weak-2 bid. 2N is a big balanced hand, 22+-24 HCP Higher bids are normal preempts, with 3N being reserved for a solid minor suit with nothing outside. We avoid the annoying competitive problems above, since when we open a suit we have it, and when we open 1C, the two types of hand are easily distinguished. If the opponents interfere over 1C, they can't afford to be as wild as over a big club, since they may easily have a game, thus sparing us big guesses. Our accuracy in non-competitive auctions is excellent, even if maybe a little inferior to big club systems. We could probably make some improvement by rewriting the relay structure, but we are already at or beyond the memorization limit, so that the relays are designed for ease in remembering. But mostly, it's fun for us to play: it's flexible and accurate at the same time, has lots of scope for the exercise of bidding judgement, and it drives the opponents batty, especially when coupled with the Overcall Structure
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