Swedish Club system notes

[Kungsgeten]

I've written some system notes in English which may be of use for people wanting to play Swedish Club (1♣ is 11-13 bal or 17+). There's already some notes at Dan's page, but this structure differs quite a bit from those. Enjoy!

 

Swedish Club opening

[glen]

Nice set of notes, great structure, thanks!

[gwnn]

I agree that it's an interesting system, thanks for sharing!

 

However, I don't understand the Lakebeach 2♣ structure.

 

What if I have a 1336 18-count and it goes

1♣-1♠

2♣-2♦

 

Now I can't bid 2♥ since I don't have 4 hearts, and I can't bid anything else since I don't have both minors.

[Kungsgeten]

With 1336 you would bid, 3C (single-suited), not 2C. Perhaps I've missed that. Lakebeach shows a two-suiter with a 5+ minor.

[gwnn]

Yes, there was no 3♣ in the original list and 2♣ was just described as 5+ unbalanced. I'm not hating, I'm trying to write up a system too and I find little annoying mistakes all the time. :(

[Kungsgeten]

No offense taken at all. This is a condensed translation of my Swedish system notes (with some modifications) and I must have missed that part. I'll update later :-)

[WellSpyder]

I agree that it's an interesting system, thanks for sharing!

Yes indeed. I play a Swedish-inspired 1♣ (with the difference that our mini-club always includes a 4-card major), and also use 1N and 2♣ as transfer responses. But I haven't really found a satisfactory way of including a forcing 1♥ rebid, which I would like to do to allow GF hands to be included. I will look at this approach more closely.

 

I couldn't follow the auction after opener rebids 1♠, though. Suppose opener has, say, a 4234 12 count, and responder a 2344 8 count. It looks like the auction starts 1♣ - 1♦; 1♠ - 1NT. But opener's possible responses now all seem to assume an unbalanced hand? [EDIT: Perhaps it's as simple as opener being expected to pass 1NT with the mini-club hand?]

[Kungsgeten]

Yes after 1♣-1♦; 1♠-1NT the mini-club opener must pass (and the maxi-club opener must bid). In general after a negative response the mini-club opener can not take any action. Mini-club opener in general passes responder's rebid, with the following exceptions:

 

1♣-1♦; 1♥-2♣. Responder shows 0-7 with 4+ hearts. Mini-club bids 2♥.

 

1♣-1♦; 1♥-2♠. Responder shows 5-7 with 6+ clubs. Mini-club bids 3♣. We play (but its not in the English notes I've linked to) that 2NT by opener in this sequence asks if responder has a shortness somewhere.

[whereagles]

have you ever tried lowering the two-way club to 9-11 or 15+?

[Kungsgeten]

have you ever tried lowering the two-way club to 9-11 or 15+?

 

No, I haven't. I think it is possible but there's a problem: If playing strong club opener can pass with a minimum if the opponents interfere. If playing a weak/strong opening (Polish club, Swedish club, two-way pass etc) the general approach is that opener must act with the strong hand. It may be possible to not play this way though. I think 15 hcp may be a bit low if opener must act (I even think 17 points is a bit on the weak side sometimes). Jan Eric Larsson has developed a system called Tangerine Club where the 1♣ opening is 8-9 balanced or 15+, you may have a look at that.

 

A while ago I had an idea of a "Swedish pass" which used the ranges you suggest. It used the Moscito structure, but a more natural approach would work too. Still, the problem would be if opener have to act with all 15 baggers when opponents bid.

 

Pass = 9--11 balanced or 15+

1C = 0--8 hcp

1D = 4+ hearts, 9--14

1H = 4+ spades, 9--14

1S = 4+ diamonds, 9--14

1N = 12--14

2C = 6+ clubs, 9--14

Higher = Weak

[whereagles]

You may remember I had an idea similar to "Swedish pass", in which pass = 0-8 or 15+, with the rest of openers nat 9-14 (meaning, you could use whatever suit selecting scheme you like.. 5533, always 4+ cards, 5443, 5542, artificial 1C/D for bal/unbal no 5M hands, etc.).

 

That system was played at a major national tournament and the issue of "must always act with the 15+ variant" came up once in 100+ hands. Pard passed with a flattish 15 and saw it go, V vs V,

 

pass (1S) pass (2S)

??

 

now he didn't think he was worth a 2NT bid (shape was unsuitable for takeout X) and decided to pass again. With like 5 HCP I smelled a rat, but ok.. lol. Right he was, as any action would have led to at least -200. I wasn't too pleased with this breach of discipline, but hey since you can't argue with success, I only said: "just make sure you keep getting it right" :)

 

Bottom line seems to be that forced action starting from 15 doesn't seem to be that much of a problem in practice, even against top competition.

 

My problem is, as usual, system regulations. I can't play a two-way pass on 99% of the tournaments and was wondering whether a scheme such as

 

pass = 0-8

1C = 9-11 bal or 15+

1D = unbal 5+ in a minor, 9-14

1M = 5+ nat, 9-14

1NT = 12-14

 

could replace it. This is legal in 99% tournaments here and is HARDER for opps to defend than a natural two-way pass. I actually emailed local and european authorities alerting to this inconsistency of the current systems policy, but no luck so far lol.