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Opening BidsThe basic strategy behind Precision Club is to put less strain on the Intermediate Opening by restricting them to an 11-15 point range. This is achieved by reserving the 1♣ Opening for almost any hand that contains 16 or more points. The key advantage gained is that Responder is able to guage more easily whether the hand belongs in part-score, game, or slam territory. Sequences such as 1x-Pass are far more common in Precision than is most other systems. In 2/1, Standard American and ACOL (etc) Responder is under considerable pressure to respond with a 5-7 count simply by virtue of the fact that Opener may have anything up to a 20-count. In Precision, though, this is not the case and Responder can happily pass knowing that the chances of a game being missed are very small. |
When Opener has bid 1♣, on the other hand, Responder holding 8 or more points knows that game values are almost certainly present and the emphasis now is on conserving bidding space as much as possible to allow for an efficient exploration of what the optimum contract is.
Opening Bids
The full range of Precision Club opening bids is as follows:-
| 1♣ | This opening shows any hand with 16 or more points. The only exception is
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| 1♦ | 11-15 points with any distribution unsuitable for an opening of
1♥,
1♠, 1NT or 2♣. In practice this usually means
one of the following hand-types:
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| 1♥ | 11-15 points with a 5-card or longer Heart suit. If a Spade suit is also held then it will be shorter. Hands with a 5-card Heart suit and a 6-card or longer Minor are opened with 1♥ | |
| 1♠ | 11-15 points with a 5-card or longer Spade suit. Hands with a 5-card Spade suit and a 6-card or longer Minor are opened with 1♠. 5-5 hands with both Majors are also opened with 2NT. | |
| 1NT | When Vulnerable, 13-15 points with any balanced or semi-balanced distribution not containing a 5-card Major. When Not Vulnerable, 10-12 points (This also affects the 1♦ Opening). Continuations include non-promissory Stayman, the 2-way 2♦, 4-suit transfers, INTRO & Transfer Lebensohl. |
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| 2♣ | 11-15 points and either:
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| 2♦ | 16-23 points and any 4441 distribution | |
| 2♥ | Weak 2. Typically 5-9 points and a 6-card or longer Heart suit. | |
| 2♠ | Weak 2. Typically 5-9 points and a 6-card or longer Spade suit. | |
| 2NT |
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| 3♣ | 11-15 points with a 6-card Club suit and a 4-card Major (not with a void Diamond) | |
| 3♦ | Normal Pre-empt | |
| 3♥ | Normal Pre-empt | |
| 3♠ | Normal Pre-empt | |
| 3NT | Gambling (ACOL-style). Typically a long solid minor with no outside stops | |
| 4♣ | A good 4-level Pre-empt in Hearts | |
| 4♦ | A good 4-level Pre-empt in Spades | |
| 4♥ | A poor 4-level Pre-empt in Hearts | |
| 4♠ | A poor 4-level pre-empt in Spades | |
| 4NT | Extremely Unusual. A 5-level pre-empt with both Minors, at least 6-5 | |
Hand Evaluation
Precision does not normally "count" distribution points when assessing an Opening Bid. Hence a 15-count with
a 6-card Major does not get "promoted" to a 1♣ Opener automatically.
General playing strength does play a part, however, particularly when all the points held are "pure" (ie: pulling their
full weight and in the long suits) and controls are good (Controls in the Precision sense of Aces and Kings). Hence a
hand such as...
♠ AQJxxx
♥ AKJxx
♦ xx
♣ -
...would certainly be promoted to a 1♣ Opener, since game is a good
prospect in whichever of Opener's suits Responder can tolerate, let alone support, whilst...
♠ KJxxxx
♥ KQ9xx
♦ A
♣ Q
...would definitely not be promoted, despite the 6-5 shape, since the Minor suit honours are not pulling their full weight
and the porous nature of the Major suits would mean that fairly good support from partner would be required.
Having said that, most Precision pairs adopt a fairly aggressive style of bidding, particularly when it comes to Weak Twos and Pre-empts. Many pairs use Multi-style 2-level Openers (and some also at the 3-level). This takes the pressure off some of the Opening bids in that the more extreme distributions, or ones that are difficult to handle, can be handled elsewhere. For an example of the ways in which that can assist, see the Complex System Notes (links in the left-hand menu). These kinds of bids are commonly disallowed in Pairs events and short Teams matches, however, and so are not included in this system.
General Issues
It will be seen from the Intermediate Openings above that any hand containing a 5-card Major is opened with 1♥ or 1♠ even if the hand is semi-balanced or contains a longer Minor suit. This is not just because of the premium for Major suit contracts, but also because it puts less strain on the 1♦ and 2♣ Openings, the responses to which are complex enough the possibility of a 5-card Major entering the picture.
Complex System
There is a "Complex" version of this system, which is essentially what Jason Hackett and I used to play. I do not touch on this in the BIL Sessions but will be aiming to include it towards the end of the course of sessions in IAC. The Opening Bids for the Complex System are as follows:
| 1♣ | This opening shows any hand with 16 or more points. The only exception is
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| 1♦ | 11-15 points with any distribution unsuitable for an opening of
1♥,
1♠, 1NT or 2♣. In practice this usually means
one of the following hand-types:
|
|
| 1♥ | 11-15 points with a 5-card or longer Heart suit. If a Spade suit is also held then it will be shorter. Hands with a 5-card Heart suit and a 6-card or longer Minor are opened with 1♥ | |
| 1♠ | 11-15 points with a 5-card or longer Spade suit. Hands with a 5-card Spade suit and a 6-card or longer Minor are opened with 1♠. 5-5 hands with both Majors are opened with 2NT | |
| 1NT | When Vulnerable, 13-15 points with any balanced or semi-balanced distribution not containing a 5-card Major. When not vulnerable, this shows 10-12 points (This also affects the 1♦ Opening). Continuations include non-promissory Stayman, the 2-way 2♦, 4-suit transfers, INTRO & Transfer Lebensohl. |
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| 2♣ | 11-15 points and either:
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| 2♦ | Multi, showing one of the following hand-types:
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| 2♥ | Reverse Roman, showing 11-15 points and 4-card Hearts with 6-card Diamonds. | |
| 2♠ | Reverse Roman, showing 11-15 points and 4-card Spades with 6-card Diamonds. | |
| 2NT |
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| 3♣ | 11-15 points with a 6-card Club suit and a 4-card Major (not with a void Diamond) | |
| 3♦ |
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| 3♥ | 5-9 points and at least 5-5 in the Majors | |
| 3♠ | Multi, showing one of the following hand-types:
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| 3NT | Gambling (ACOL-style). Typically a long solid minor with no outside stops | |
| 4♣ | A good 4-level Pre-empt in Hearts | |
| 4♦ | A good 4-level Pre-empt in Spades | |
| 4♥ | A poor 4-level Pre-empt in Hearts | |
| 4♠ | A poor 4-level pre-empt in Spades | |