Strong club system

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In the game of contract bridge, a strong club system is a set of conventions that uses an opening bid of 1♣ as an artificial, forcing opening that promises a strong hand. Compare this with Standard American, which uses the opening of 2♣ for a similar purpose.

Generally, because of the lower level, the strong 1♣ opening can be assigned a minimum strength much lower than would be advisable for standard 2♣ opening. Commonly, the strong 1♣ will promise 16 or more high card points. All other bids would therefore be limited to a maximum of 15 high card points. Different authorities vary on the minimum for a strong 2♣ opening, but a typical figure is 22 high card points.

There are two generally acknowledged strengths of the strong club systems: (1) accuracy in uncontested slam-strength auctions, because the bidding starts at such a low level when opener has a fairly strong hand. (2) the fact that all other opening bids have their strength capped by the strong club means more accurate judgment and scope for tactical operation both in constructive and competitive bidding. The generally acknowledged weakness of such systems is the fact that the opponents can aggressively overcall the 1♣ bid to deprive the stronger opponents of their bidding room, and that the loss of the 1♣ opening bid often causes strain on other opening bids, most often 1♦ and 2♣.

The original strong club system was the Vanderbilt Club, invented in the 1920s by Harold Vanderbilt. For many years, the most popular strong club systems were the Schenken Club in the US and the Neapolitan and Blue Team Club systems in Europe. Both are four-card major systems. The former is patterned closely after the standard American bidding of the time and the latter is characterized by canape (bidding the second-longer suit) in many situations.

Precision Club is another example of a strong club system. It uses five-card majors (opening 1♥ or 1♠ promises five) which makes them very powerful at the cost of opening 40% of hands with 1♦.

To utilize fully the space vacated by the strong club opening, many strong club systems, such as Moscito, use what is known as relay bidding, where one hand only is described. Many other strong club systems have also been devised.