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Author:
Belladonna & Avarelli
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Description:
DJ Cassell 1st UK 1960 162p; Author: Belladonna & Avarelli Rusted paper, but binding etc strong.
The Roman Club system, although used very effectively by the Italian Blue Team and others, was never popular here in the United States. Part of the reason is that it was outlawed in many events. I think the proper response to that is to play bridge exclusively in events where such a logical system is allowed.This is by no means an ideal bidding system. But it is a very good one. No, there was no information theory analysis done to make best use of bidding room. But I still like it. It has been around for about fifty years, and it is high time for it to be accepted everywhere. With balanced distributions, points are the most important. With 12-16, you bid an artifical one club. 17-20 is one no trump. And with 21-26 you bid one club, but jump on the second round to show that you do not have the 12-16 one club. One diamond is an artificial negative response to one club. When you want to play in a suit contract, distribution is more important than points. Those of us who know the law of total tricks realize that points are truly secondary to knowing the number of trumps each side has. In this system, you play canape, which means bidding the shorter suit first and the longer one second. If you have long hearts with diamonds as your second suit, you open one diamond. After a one heart response, one no trump shows long hearts and a weak hand, two hearts shows long hearts and a strong hand, and three hearts is like a reverse, long hearts and a very strong hand. When your second suit is clubs, you have a problem, because the one club opening is taken. So with hearts and clubs, you open two hearts, with spades and hearts, you open two spades. With diamonds and clubs, you open two no trump! With all these suit openers, you count losers as well as points (losers are at least as important). Opening bids of two clubs and two diamonds are used to describe three-suited hands. Slam bidding has a Roman twist, the infamous Roman Asking Bids (often mispronounced "Roaming Ashcan Bids"). These bids ask about controls in a specific suit. The response tells everyone at the table whether a suit is wide open or not. Blackwood is, of course, replaced by Roman Blackwood. I know most folks will strongly disagree with me, but I think this is an ideal system for total beginners, not just World Champions. The authors tend to support this, noting that for beginners, errors in judgment are more frequent than lapses of memory. This system gives one less leeway than most others, which is a good idea!The book concludes with some useful quizzes, followed by some excellent examples of the Roman Club in action in World Championship play.
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