There are numerous versions of Polish Club in existence. Probably the most widely played is Jassem's `WJ', whose latest version WJ05 has recently appeared in print in an excellent English translation by Dan Neill. My preferred version is slightly different, and this page describes its most important features. The main differences from WJ05 are in the opening bids - all the other changes follow from these. The structure of opening bids is as follows:
| 1C |
| |||||
| 1D | 11-21 HCP with 5+ diamonds, or 4-4-4-1 with 4 diamonds, or 4D-5C. | |||||
| 1H | 11-21 HCP with 5+ hearts. | |||||
| 1S | 11-17 HCP with 5+ spades. | |||||
| 1NT | (14)15-17 HCP balanced. | |||||
| 2C | 10-14 HCP with 6+ clubs, or 5 clubs and a 4-card major. | |||||
| 2D+ | pre-emptive. |
There are three main differences here compared to WJ05. The following sections give a more detailed explanation of what is going on.
In WJ05 we usually open 1D on minimum balanced hands which contain four diamonds. I prefer to open these hands 1C. So all balanced hands in the 12-14 range are opened 1C unless they contain a 5-card card suit. The reason for doing this is to make the 1D opening better defined; however it is also important to consider the effect on those balanced hands which we were previously opening 1D. The bad news is that we can no longer inform partner of our diamond suit. Against that, the Polish 1C opening tends to work well as a description of minimum balanced hands because responder's first priority is to cater for this hand type. For instance, if the opponents interfere at the 2-level, then it is relatively safe for responder to introduce mediocre 5- and 6-card major suits - if opener has a weak hand then he is (almost) guaranteed to have at least a doubleton in support.
As in WJ, the 2C opening is Precision-like, showing either 6+ clubs or a hand with 5 clubs and a 4-card major. However, the hands with 5 clubs and a 4-card major are allowed to open 1C instead: we would nearly always prefer 1C with semi-balanced shape, or with bad clubs. (It is also playable to require a 6-card club suit for the 2C opening, and put all the hands with 5 clubs into 1C.)
Not all hands of 18+ HCP will be opened 1C. If we have a hand with the right shape for 1D or 1H, we usually do not open 1C unless we are strong enough to force to game. It turns out to be fairly easy to show strong hands after these opening bids, whereas if they are opened 1C there are various things which might go wrong. There are two exceptions: firstly, we prefer 1C to 1H if we have a good enough hand to rebid 2H over a negative response; secondly, if we have 20 HCP or more we always open 1C with a balanced hand, even if it includes a 5-card heart suit. (Hands with 18-19 HCP and 5H-3-3-2 shape usually open 1H.)
With spades the situation is different: on hands with 18+ HCP and 5+ spades we open 1C like in WJ. This is partly because hands with spades are not so susceptible to interference as those with diamonds or hearts, and partly because it is difficult to show very strong hands after opening 1S.
Most of our continuations will be the same as in WJ05, but there are some important differences.
Although not absolutely necessary, I believe that this is a big improvement over other checkback schemes, particularly when 1C:1H,1NT may conceal four spades. It works something like this:
Over 1C:1H,1NT:
Higher bids can be given special meanings, e.g. keri splinters.
Similarly over 1C:1S,1NT:
Our 1D opening promises an unbalanced hand. This gives us room for some artificiality in opener's rebids. The following scheme is based on methods developed by Mike Bell:
After 1D:1H -
After 1D:1S -
There is a lot that can be done here. I like to play Kaplan Inversion, which helps to solve various problems and gives you plenty of space to show the very strong hands that are allowed in the 1H bid. 1H:2C and 1H:2D should probably be played as forcing to game, with all game-forcing balanced hands included in the 2C response.