In ACOL, we try to find a suit-fit and then decide whether or not to progress to game or slam. However, using a strong Club system like Blue Club, this procedure may be reversed. Before finding a fit, a Blue Clubber knows whether the combined hands merit interest in game or slam. When he opens 1C he shows a hand of 18+ points. If it's shapely, it might be less e.g. AKxxxx AKQxx x x. In most circumstances, Opener remains in charge of the auction.

To 1C, Responder shows Aces and Kings or a weaker hand. An Ace is 2 Honour controls. A King is 1.

1D = Less than 7 points......1H = 7+ points less than 3 Honour controls (but KQJxx or AQxxx - reply 1H)

1S = 3 Honour controls.......1N = 4 Honour controls........2C = 5 Honour controls................2D = 6 Honour controls

2H = 4-6 points with a 6-card Heart suit.......2S = 4-6 points with a 6-card Spade suit..........2N = 7 Honour controls.

Responses of 1D, 2H and 2S are not game forcing. All other replies are forcing to game.

Opener now knows the combined hand strength in Aces and Kings plus his own Queens, Jacks and long cards. Superficially, with a combined count of 10 or more controls, Opener is potentially interested in a slam. Now we try to find a suit fit. Fit-finding starts with Opener's first rebid. If he bids no-trumps, he shows no 5-card suit. If he bids a suit, it is 5+ cards. With 4 cards in Opener's suit, Responder echoes it to agree. With no full fit for Opener's suit, Responder bids his own 5-card suit or no-trumps. If a hand has more than one suit of 5+ cards, the higher-ranking is bid first. With 6-5 the longer suit is first bid then the shorter suit is bid, twice if necessary, to convey the hand shape. After bidding 5-card suits and finding no fit, fit-finding continues by bidding 4-card suits, lower-ranking first. If either partner has shown a 5-card suit and a 4-card fit has been denied, 3-card support is now shown by echoing the suit. With no fit the hand may be best played in no-trumps. After fit-search, Opener may sign off in game or, if the combined Honour control count is 10+, he may look for a slam. If Responder has extra values he too may look further, even if Opener has signed off in game. Responder's extra values are Voids, Singletons or 2 Queens. A slam-search is initiated by cue-bidding or, more rarely, by Blackwood. Cue-bidding means bidding suits in which first or second round controls are held. A first round control is an Ace or a void. A second round control is a King or a singleton. The cheapest bid is made irrespective of whether the control is first or second round. An example ~

Opener bids 1C holding ~ AKJxx AQ Qxxx Kx..............With ~ Qxx Kxxx KJx xxx Responder bids 1H.

The 1H reply is game forcing. Opener has 6 Honour controls so, a combined maximum of 8 Honour controls means slam is unlikely. Opener bids 1S to show a 5-card suit. With less than 4 Spades and no 5-card suit, Responder bids 1N. Opener bids 2D to show a 4+ suit. Responder now offers 3-card support for Spades by bidding 2S. He knows they are forced to game and he has 2 Honour controls. He has support for both Opener's suits but he does not know if Opener wishes to proceed past game. Opener simply signs off in 4S. Note that Responder's bid of 2S is a strong bid. It shows good secondary support for Opener's Spades and more than a minimum response. If Responder had held a poorer hand which merited a 1H response, he would have shown Spade support by jumping to 4S over Opener's 2D. This is the Principle of Fast Arrival i.e. in a game-force situation, then the quicker the game is bid, the less strength the bidder shows. Say Responder's hand is Qxxx Kxxxx Kxxx void. His initial reply is still 1H. Opener continues with 2S. Responder likes that because not only does he have full Spade support and 2 Kings, he also has a first round control in Clubs. Of course, the count of Honour controls has not revealed that. He knows the Spade game will be bid so he agrees Spades by making the strong bid of 2S. Opener may decide to show no slam interest by jumping straight to 4S. If he does, Responder must decide whether or not to go on. He can now cue-bid knowing that 5S is likely to be safe. Note that after the 4S bid by Opener, Responder would probably be unwise to continue if he held a singleton Club. Anyway, he decides to cue bid. The cheapest bid he can make is 5C which Opener must alert. Opener continues the cue-bidding with 5H which bypasses Diamonds and therefore denies a control in Diamonds. This bid tells Responder that Opener has slam interest but only if Responder has a Diamond control, so Responder bids 6S. If Opener had not bid 5H, but had bid 5S, Responder must not to go to slam.

This short article gives just a brief indication of how Blue Club bidders make decisions. There is more to it!