February 19, 1998

The Polish Club: Summary and 1C Auctions

This report describes only the unique features of the the Polish Club bidding system -- the auctions that proceed from the nebulous 1C opening and, to a lesser extent, the club showing 2C opening. The system mandates no unusual procedures for auctions that begin with the remaining constructive openings (1D, 1H, 1S and 1NT). Partnerships may use their favorite five card major style, noting that:

Two companion papers discuss workable approachs to these suit and notrump openings. The remainder of this report is divided into these sections:

Learning a new system is often a struggle for a while. I have marked the inessential bids with an asterisk (*) to help the reader initially focus on the important sequences. Two excellent writeups on related systems can be found at http://ace.alleg.edu/~varvel/auc.html and http://www.novasoft.com/~binkley/bridge/chicago-club.html.

The 1C Opening

The Polish Club system opens 1C on all hands of 19+ points (except the 22-23 point balanced hands which are opened 2NT) and weaker hands (12-18 hcp) unsuited for any other opening bid. There are three of these weaker types:

  1. 12-15 hcp, balanced, with no five card major and fewer than four diamonds. Opener may have 5 clubs (e.g. 2335), but in this case will not have a four card major. (The 2C opening describes the 12-15 point x4x5 and 4xx5 hands, along with one suited hands with six or more clubs.) Opener may have as few as two clubs (specifically 4432) when less than 19 points, but generally has three or more. Note that hands in this range with four diamonds (and possibly longer clubs) prefer the 1D opening.
  2. 12-18 hcp and specifically 4414 (short diamonds).
  3. 16-18 hcp and either six or more clubs, or five clubs and a four card major.

After a forward going response opener can generally clarify the situation on his next bid: jumps and reverses show the big (19+ point) hand types, a minimum club rebid shows the 16+ club hand, a minimum diamond rebid is always artificial and strong. Other rebids are natural. The rebid structure after a 1D response (usually showing 0-6 points) is necessarily more constrained.

Constructive Responses and Continuations to 1C

The 1D response to 1C is artificial and usually shows a weak hand (0-6 hcp or 7 without a five card major) but is also used on some stronger hands that lack a major. The auctions that begin 1C-1D make more sense once the remaining (constructive) responses are understood so they will explored first.

Responding with Balanced Hands Lacking a Major

Most 1C openings are balanced minimums, 12-15 points. Catering to this the system uses a ladder of NT responses that deny a four card major and  suggest notrump possibilities. When opener isn't balanced his hand types fall into just a few rather specific categories which his rebid can describe quite clearly. This makes the space consuming 2NT and 3NT responses much more playable than they are in standard systems. Here is the schedule of balanced hand responses:

After a 1NT response opener passes all weak balanced and three suited hands, raises to 3NT with the 19-21 point balanced hand, or 2NT or 3NT with an otherwise suitable 16+ club hand. Opener's minimum club rebid shows some sort of strongish club hand with reservations about notrump. 3NT after 1C-2NT is to play. Other rebids (xD, xH and xS) after both 1NT and 2NT responses show 19+ points. Here is the schedule of opener's strong rebids after 1C-xNT:

Responding to 1C With a (four or more card) Major Suit

The 1H and 1S responses to 1C show four or more cards in the bid suit and 7 or more points, possibly as few as six points with a suit of  five or more cards. These responses may be made with a longer minor, the ambiguity is sorted out in subsequent rounds if need be.

After 1C-1major opener has a variety of ways to show stronger hands while largely retaining the natural (and limited) meaning of his raises and minimum rebids. Opener's 1S and 2C rebids are forcing and are used on a variety of otherwise awkward hands in addition to their natural uses. Here is the general plan for opener's rebids after 1C-1major:

*Edward Sheldon suggested that the 2H and 2S responses to 1C could be pressed into effective service to show a five card suit, 7-10 points and four clubs. This bid makes it more difficult for the opponents to enter the auction and keeps you from missing your club fit (which is certain to exist when opener doesn't have support for responder's major, the worst case being 4234.)

Responder to 1C has Clubs

The responding structure for hands that are dominated by a club suit is based on the presumption that opener will generally have the balanced 12-15 point 1C hand. The various possibilities for responder include:

Responder to 1C has Diamonds

As in the club case described above, the responding structure for hands that are dominated by a diamond suit is based on the presumption that opener will generally have the balanced 12-15 point 1C hand. There are parallels to the club structure, but also differences. Here are the possibilities:

The 1D Response to 1C

The 1D response is used on those hands that cannot make one of the constructive responses described above. Generally this means 0-5 hcp, or 6 without a five card major. (Put another way, positive responses start at seven points, six with a five card major.) There are, however, five hand types that are stronger than this yet cannot effectively be developed with a constructive response to 1C that are also started with a 1D response. Discussion of these anomolous auctions was scattered in the previous sections. Here is a consolidated summary the positive hand types that use an initial 1D response:

  1. 7-10 point hands without a four card major that are unsuitable for 1NT, e.g. x xxx Kxxxx AJxx. When opener now rebids 1H or 1S responder rebids the long minor. Although slightly misleading, there is rarely sufficient strength for game so little harm is done. In the case where opener's major suit rebid actually was strong, you will get another chance to clarify your strength.
  2. 10-12 point hands with 6+ diamonds. After opener's minimum rebid jump to 3D. (Could also be 10-12 and xx54 after 1C-1D,1S, see case 3 below.)
  3. 10-12 point hands with 5+ diamonds and 4+ clubs (unsuitable for 2NT, not strong enough for 2D) rebid 2S over opener's 1H (1C-1D,1H-2S), or 3D over 1S (1C-1D,1S-3D).
  4. 13+ point hands with a powerful 6+ card club suit and slam interest that would be difficult to express after 1C-2C. After opener's expected 1H or 1S rebid, continue with:
  5. 16+ point balanced hands lacking a four card major or five card minor, jump to 2NT after opener's 1H/1S rebid.

Opener's Rebids After 1C-1D

With all minimum (12-15 point) hands opener must rebid 1H except with exactly 2 hearts and 4 spades (specifically 4234, or possibly 4225 with weak clubs where opener elected not to open 2C) where 1S is rebid. (Note that this could be a doubleton heart when 3235.) This approach allows the maximum signoff flexibility at the one level. Although these bids are non-forcing, a decent responding hand having support should raise opener's rebid, particularly 1S, as there are some distributions where opener will rebid in this way with 19-21 points (e.g. 4414, 4xx5 and x4x5 hands). See below.

With an intermediate (16 to about 22 point) hand opener has more rebid options after 1C-1D. In the 16-18 point cases opener will be either 4414 or have long clubs:

With 19-22 or so (but less than game forcing strength) opener, after 1C-1D, rebids:

  1. with long clubs and an unbalanced hand:
  2. with long diamonds and an unbalanced hand (this is the most awkward case):
  3. with a major suit:
  4. a balanced hand (which may contain a five card major):

Hands that want to force game regardless of responder's holding use the 2D rebid after 1C-1D to show much the same as a standard 2C opener -- nine or more tricks or, if balanced, 26+ points. It requires that game be reached or that the opponents be doubled if they enter into the auction. A natural rebid structure can be used but there are better alternatives. Here are two of them.

Bidding 'one under' responder's natural rebid often saves space and puts the declaration in the strong hand.. The whole scheme after 1C-1D,2D looks like this:

Note that opener is under no obligation to accept a transfer response. Acceptance in a suit constitutes trump agreement whereas in notrump initiates the agreed upon notrump search structure.

Here is a simpler alternative approach that, after 1C-1D,2D, melds better with the constraints that the 1D response has already imposed on responder's hand:

After these rebids the auction proceeds naturally.

Interference after 1C

When the 1C opening is doubled (for takeout or to show clubs) responder operates as if the opening was natural. Should the auction proceed 1C-X-p-p opener's redouble asks responder to bid something. Here is the the rest of the structure after 1C-X:

After a (usually natural) overcall your usual freebid approach can be used, i.e. negative doubles, constructive or non-forcing freebids, natural NT bids. It is recommended that a cue bid of the overcalled suit be used to show a good hand with clubs. You will want to discuss whether competitive jump shifts are to be weak (complements forcing freebids) or strong (if the freebid in that suit would be non-forcing.)

The 1D Opening

General, auctions after the 1D opening operate along standard lines. The only unusual area concerns the case when opener has four diamonds and longer clubs, and a good hand. (With a weak hand treat the clubs and diamonds as if they were equal length.) Here is the recommended rebid structure after 1D-1S with the various strong (16-18) hands:

Alternative Treatments

Many alternative treatments can be incorporated into the Polish Club system. Here is a popular one.

Weak 1NT Opening

It is possible to play a weak (12-15 point) 1NT within the system. It is recommended that these openings do not have a four card spade suit which is unlikely to get lost in a competitive auction after a 1C opening anyway. The adjustments to the system are are:

An excellent writeup of a Polish-like system with weak 1NT openings can be found at http://ace.alleg.edu/~varvel/auc.html.

Review of Oddball Sequences

1C-1D, 2D

This bid creates a game forcing auction and is used on hands that, in traditional methods, would open 2C. Responder's only strong rebid at this point is 2H, which shows 4-7 points, any distribution. All of the remaining responses show 0-3 points and transfer to the next higher bid (2S->2NT). 3S shows 5-5 in the minors, 0-3, and 3NT shows 5-5 in the majors, 0-3. The subsequent auction is natural except after opener's 2NT rebid (1C-1D,2D-2H,2N and 1C-1D,2D-2S,2N) the notrump system is on .

1C-1H/S, 2C

In this sequence opener will always have at least 16 points and usually six clubs, but could have an otherwise awkward hand with shortness in partner's suit or various minor two and three suiters. Responder's jump shift rebids are forcing, non-jump rebids are not, except 2D is artificial and of at least invitational strength to which opener rebids naturally.

1C-1H/S, 2D

This bid shows 19+ points and support for responder's major, at least three, and asks responder to clarify his hand. Responder's rebids are oriented toward disclosing strength and discovering if a real (8+ card) fit is present. With only a four card suit and a minimum hand (6-9) responder rebids a second suit, or, with 4333, 3NT. With a four card suit and 10 or more points responder rebids 2NT. With five or more cards responder rebids his suit at the two level on a good hand and at the three level on a weak hand. When responder's suit has been rebid, either by responder, or opener, a fit has been confirmed and the auction proceeds with cue bids and/or some form of  Blackwood.

1C-1NT, 2D and 1C-2NT, 3D

These diamond rebids show minor suit interest, 19+ points (after 1NT) and request shape clarification. Responder necessarily has at least seven cards in the minors (3-3 at most in the majors). He rebids minimum NT to show no five card minor and a major to show five in the corresponding minor (hearts show clubs, spades show diamonds). After 1C-1NT, 2D responder may have a six or seven card minor. This can be shown with three level rebids, 3C and 3D showing six and 3H and 3S showing seven.

1C-2C

This shows 10+ points and at least five clubs. Opener's rebids are nominally notrump oriented with 2D used on balanced hands which would accept an invitation and 2H/S used to start weaker hands. The 2D rebid is also used as the first move on 19+ point hands.

1C-1D On More Than 5-6 Points

There are five cases where a 1D response is made holding more than six points. These are hands that couldn't easily be bid with an available positive response. These hands are distinguished from their weak brothers by responder's unusual rebid. The problem hand types are: 

  1. 7-10 point hands with shortness in one or both majors. After opener's minimum rebid show a long minor.
  2. 10-12 point hands with 6+ diamonds. After opener's minimum rebid jump to 3D.
  3. 10-12 point hands with 5+ diamonds and 4+ clubs. Rebid 2S over opener's 1H; 3D over 1S.
  4. 13+ point hands with a powerful 6+ card club suit. Jump rebid to 3C or 3H/D/S: a singleton or void.
  5. 16+ point hands without a four card major or five card minor. Jump to 2NT after opener's 1H/1S rebid.

1C-1S, 3H and 1C-1M, 3NT

These unusual jumps show various unbalanced 19-21 point hands containing five diamonds and shortness in responder's suit. The 3H rebid shows four hearts, thus 1453; the 3NT rebid shows four clubs, thus 1354 or 3154. The remaining distribution with five diamonds, 4153, presents no problem as opener can simply rebid 1S (forcing) aftger 1C-1H.

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