[duck_72]

Is anyone aware of any top pairs that play their 1NT opening bid as 14-16 in a Polish Club framework? Help would be appreciated

[Gerben42]

I wouldn't count on it, since that combination is a very problematic one. The reason is that hands too strong for 1NT must be opened 1♣ and this way the balanced 17-counts are tough to bid.

[Free]

Isn't that more like Swedish Club?

[mgoetze]

I would say the distinguishing feature of Swedish Club systems is that there are no intermediate club hands in the 1♣ opening. This might make it more workable to push 1NT down to 14-16, or it might not.

[Tomi2]

polish players like to upgrade a lot, in fact I feel, that more 14 counts are opened 1nt than not, last time I saw one of the top pairs opening on a flat 14 count with no 5 card suit, no good intermediates and some doubleton ace...

but few of them actualy claim to play 14-16. Some do, Brewiak-Sarniak, polish venice cup pair, or Tuczynski-Jassem, polish juniors come into my mind. they alert their 1NT and 1CL opening as "one point fewer than normal"

[WellSpyder]

mgoetze, on 2011-August-24, 03:28, said:

I would say the distinguishing feature of Swedish Club systems is that there are no intermediate club hands in the 1♣ opening. This might make it more workable to push 1NT down to 14-16, or it might not.

I play a Swedish-style Club together with a 14-16 1NT, which seems to work fine. (1♣ shows 11-13 balanced, 16+ unbalanced or 17+ balanced.)

[cwiggins]

Tomi2, on 2011-August-24, 04:40, said:

polish players like to upgrade a lot, in fact I feel, that more 14 counts are opened 1nt than not, last time I saw one of the top pairs opening on a flat 14 count with no 5 card suit, no good intermediates and some doubleton ace...

but few of them actualy claim to play 14-16. Some do, Brewiak-Sarniak, polish venice cup pair, or Tuczynski-Jassem, polish juniors come into my mind. they alert their 1NT and 1CL opening as "one point fewer than normal"

Upgrades of 14 counts to 15 counts is not surprising, even in a 2/1 GF context. The questions are:

• What do they do with 17 HCP hands? Do they upgrade none, a few, most, or almost all and open 1C?
  
• What do they do with 11 HCP balanced hands? Open none, a few, most, almost all?

I see many 2/1 players upgrade 14 counts to 15 frequently. I rarely see them upgrade 17 HCP counts or open 11 HCP counts. The resulting ranges are:

• 12 - bad 14
  
• Good 14 to all 17
  
• 18-19
  
• etc.

For those who aren't alerting "one point fewer than normal," perhaps they are using this scale?

Personally I don't like these ranges. For me, part of the reason to open 1NT with 14-16 is to be able to open 11 HCP most of the time.

[Tomi2]

cwiggins, on 2011-August-29, 20:34, said:

Upgrades of 14 counts to 15 counts is not surprising, even in a 2/1 GF context. The questions are:

• What do they do with 17 HCP hands? Do they upgrade none, a few, most, or almost all and open 1C?
  
• What do they do with 11 HCP balanced hands? Open none, a few, most, almost all?

I see many 2/1 players upgrade 14 counts to 15 frequently. I rarely see them upgrade 17 HCP counts or open 11 HCP counts. The resulting ranges are:

• 12 - bad 14
  
• Good 14 to all 17
  
• 18-19
  
• etc.

For those who aren't alerting "one point fewer than normal," perhaps they are using this scale?

Personally I don't like these ranges. For me, part of the reason to open 1NT with 14-16 is to be able to open 11 HCP most of the time.

those who alert indeed open light, 11 bal.
cant remember the women pair, who plays the 14-16 nt opening too light against me, but the juniors open some "crappy" hands.
the reason for the upgrades is imo, that most Polish tournaments are relatively large MP tourneys, where the better players, don't need just to score 150 to win the event, they go for 400 / 600. If they think they are better declarers than their partner (and most are probably ) and the rest of the field (this is true for most polish declarers), then they simply open 1NT to gain all positives.
-you will be declarer
-you will often play an agressive but not chanceless contract
-they won't disturb the bidding as often as after the 1cl opener
-if partner passes, opps are probably cold for some partscore that scores higher than n*50(or n*100)

upgrades from 17 to 18 are less common, because you have to open 1club and once everybody is bidding, you will have to commit at some poit, that you have 18-37 points, often it will be difficult to show your shape/strength well, but in all cases you will be below minimum in a wide range