The Modified Cottontail Club

The Modified Cottontail Club

A bridge bidding system based on the Cottontail Club system and Good, Better, Best.

 

Jan Eric Larsson published a revolutionary book on conventions and systems: Good, Better, Best. He tested many bidding systems and conventions using thousands of computer simulations which led to startling results. It seems that we now have an objective comparison of conventions and systems. One important conclusion is that we should open a weak hand with any five card suit as a weak two bid. The gain is approximately 0.2 IMPs per board compared with opening six card suits only. On the other hand three level openings should be made on a seven card suit, not on a six card suit. The conclusions on many conventions and systems can be found in the book.

 

The best system according to the book is “The Cottontail Club". Unfortunately there is no extensive description available, only a summary of the opening bids. The Cottontail Club is based on The Tangerine Club. A 20-page document on The Tangerine Club can be found on the internet.

 

This document describes a system named “The Modified Cottontail Club". I used several conclusions from the book Good, Better, Best to The Cottontail Club resulting in The Modified Cottontail Club. In summary these changes are:

• use strong NT openings,
• use opening bids that occur frequently,
• use many natural bids.

Larsson concluded that The Cottontail Club is the best system of the ones he tested and the version with a 16+ 1♣ opening bid wins from the 15+ 1♣ opening. Replacing the weak 1NT opening by a strong 1NT opening makes is logical to replace 16+ 1♣ opening by a 15+ 1♣ opening bid. Using this system you could expect a gain of 0.4 IMPs per board compared with a standard system. This equals to 10 IMPs per match of 24 boards!

 

Table of opening bids and responses:

 

Opening bid	HCP	Meaning	Responses
1♣	15+	0+ ♣, every 15+ HCP hand, except 1NT and 2NT hands	As Precision
1♦	10-14	3+ ♦	standard
1♥/♠	10-14	4+ ♥/♠, canapé possible	2♣ = relay
1NT	14-16	NT distribution	standard
2♣	10-14	5+ ♣, four card ♥/♠ and 3325 possible	2♦ = relay
2♦/2♥/2♠	4-9	Any 5+ card, weak two	2NT = relay
2NT	20-22	NT distribution	standard
3♣/3♦/3♥/3♠	4-9	7+ card	standard

 

The NT ladder is:

11-13 HCP: open 1♦/1♥/♠/2♣ and rebid NT

14-16 HCP: open 1NT

17-19 HCP: open 1♣ and rebid NT

20-22 HCP: open 2NT

23+ HCP: open 1♣ and jump rebid NT

For the responses and rebids after the 1♣ opening you can choose any Precision variant. For the responses and rebids after the 1♦, 1NT, 2NT and 3♣ and higher opening bids you can use a standard system, e.g. Stayman and Jacoby transfers.

 

The 1♥/♠ openings can be bid on four card suit. The canapé principle is used for these opening bids. This means that your shortest suit first is bid first. If your rebid is a second suit it should be at least five cards. When using 2♣ as a relay the system could be like this:

 

Opening bid	Responses	Rebid	Meaning
1♥	2♥ = 4+ ♥, 0-11 HCP		The law of total tricks
	1NT = 7-11 HCP		To play
	2♣ = relay, 12+ HCP	2♦	5+ ♦, unbalanced
		2♥	5+ ♥, balanced or unbalanced
		2♠	5+ ♠, unbalanced
		2NT	balanced
1♠	2♠ = 4+ ♠, 0-11 HCP		The law of total tricks
	1NT = 7-11 HCP		To play
	2♣ = relay, 12+ HCP	2♦	5+ ♦, unbalanced
		2♥	5+ ♥, unbalanced
		2♠	5+ ♠, balanced or unbalanced
		2NT	balanced

 

The 2♣ opening bid differs from Precision, because a balanced distribution is possible. The Precision approach can be adapted like this:

 

Opening bid	Response	Rebid	Meaning
2♣	2♦ = relay, 12+ HCP	2♥	5+ ♣ & 4 ♥
		2♠	5+ ♣ & 4 ♠
		2NT	balanced
		3♣	6+ ♣

 

For the weak two opening bids Larsson suggests the Ogust/ Blue Club responses, which is an easy convention. I think it will be useful to adapt this system to distinguish between five card and six card suits:

 

Opening bid	Response	Rebid	Meaning
2♦/2♥/2♠	2NT = relay, 16+ HCP	3♣	4-6 HCP, five card suit
		3♦	4-6 HCP, six card suit
		3♥	7-9 HCP, five card suit
		3♠	7-9 HCP, six card suit

 

The notes above give only an outline of a system. In the Cottontail Club system the weak two 2♦ opening is replaced by another weak opening (a weak three-suited) compared with The Tangerine Club system. This can be an improvement on the system above.

 

The book Good, Better, Best and the Cottontail Club system deserve more attention and I hope that these notes will help achieving this.

 

Daan van der Meij                 

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