Roman Club
Encyclopedia
Roman Club is an artificial bridge
bidding system
devised in the 1950s by Giorgio Belladonna
and Walter Avarelli
of Italy's
Blue Team
. They used it to win twelve WBF World Teams Championships
, three Olympiads and numerous European and National titles. A variant, Little Roman or Arno, was played by their Blue Team-mates Massimo D'Alelio
and Camillo Pabis Ticci.
Once radical, Roman has long been superseded by more advanced relay systems, but it was remarkable for the ideas it introduced or fostered in the bridge world. So was teammate Eugenio Chiaradia's Neapolitan Club and its offspring, Forquet
–Garozzo's
Blue Club
.
principle (shorter suit first).
The general responding structure divides hands into:
Like opener, responder may make their first bid in a 3cs to prepare a canapé.
The strong emphasis on distribution of openings simplified the bidding structure in many respects but did not overcome the classical weakness of canapé, where it is very difficult to distinguish strength range as easily as in a long-suit-first system. Opening three-card suits was also an obvious exposure in competition.
Unlike many other artificial systems, Roman does not use 2 bid for hands with primary or secondary club suit (2/2 offer some compensation though). As result, some hands with club suit are difficult to bid (e.g. both 1=3=4=5 and 2=2=2=7 hands have to be opened 1 with rebid in clubs).
The Roman bidders used a negative double only up to 1 overcall
over their 1 opening, and not elsewhere, making the balanced structure also vulnerable to interference. Nonetheless, the emphasis on distribution was a lesson well-learned by later theorists in relay systems.
Roman's supposed weakness in competition promulgated by advocates of the bidding systems widely promoted in North America (particularly 2/1 enthusiasts) have emphasized the supposed difficulty of clarifying strength in canapé and complain of the sheer complexity of the system (much greater than the contemporary Schenken
or later Precision
) led to its present obscurity in ACBL-sponsored events. Along with Blue Club
, the other major Italian system, Roman has remained popular in European countries. In the 50s and 60s it was ground-breaking in its strong hand classification, artificial sequences and asking bids, which laid foundations for the Relay and Forcing Pass systems that succeeded it. Under the guidance of Benito Garozzo the basic system has undergone several major revisions which have improved its deadly accuracy in game and slam bidding.
Contract bridge
Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table...
bidding system
Bidding system
A bidding system in contract bridge is the set of agreements and understandings assigned to calls and sequences of calls used by a partnership, and includes a full description of the meaning of each treatment and convention...
devised in the 1950s by Giorgio Belladonna
Giorgio Belladonna
Giorgio Belladonna was an Italian bridge player, one of the most famous in bridge history. He won 16 World championship titles with the Blue Team, playing with Walter Avarelli and Benito Garozzo...
and Walter Avarelli
Walter Avarelli
Walter Avarelli was an Italian bridge player, a member of the famous Blue Team, with whom he won 9 Bermuda Bowls and 3 World Team Olympiads in the period 1956-1972....
of Italy's
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Blue Team
Blue team (bridge)
The Blue Team represented Italy in international contract bridge tournaments, winning sixteen world titles from 1957 through 1975. From 1964 to 1969 and during a 1972 comeback, the team comprised three regular pairs: Walter Avarelli–Giorgio Belladonna, Pietro Forquet–Benito Garozzo, and Massimo...
. They used it to win twelve WBF World Teams Championships
Bermuda Bowl
The Bermuda Bowl is a trophy awarded to the winners of the Open series in the World Team Championship in contract bridge and is named for the site of the inaugural tournament held in 1950...
, three Olympiads and numerous European and National titles. A variant, Little Roman or Arno, was played by their Blue Team-mates Massimo D'Alelio
Massimo D'Alelio
Massimo D'Alelio neapolitan, was a famous Italian bridge player. He won 10 world championship titles with the Blue Team, playing with Eugenio Chiaradia and Camillo Pabis Ticci.-External links:* *...
and Camillo Pabis Ticci.
Once radical, Roman has long been superseded by more advanced relay systems, but it was remarkable for the ideas it introduced or fostered in the bridge world. So was teammate Eugenio Chiaradia's Neapolitan Club and its offspring, Forquet
Pietro Forquet
Pietro Forquet is an Italian bridge player, one of the most famous in bridge history. He won 15 World championship titles with Blue Team, playing with Eugenio Chiaradia, Guglielmo Siniscalco and, for the most part, Benito Garozzo. Apart from his excellent play, he was renowned for his nerves of...
–Garozzo's
Benito Garozzo
Benito Garozzo is one of the most famous bridge players in the history of the game. He has won 13 world championship titles with the Italian Blue Team, playing with Pietro Forquet and later Giorgio Belladonna...
Blue Club
Blue Club
Blue Club is a bridge bidding system, developed mainly by Benito Garozzo. It was used by the famous Blue Team and became very popular in the 1960s and has been in decline since.The main features are:...
.
Overview
Roman Club can be classified as a "small club" system, where 1 opening bid has a wide range of meanings. In Roman, it includes weak balanced hands, stronger hands with secondary club suit, and very strong hands. Other 1-bids are made in strict accordance with canapéCanapé (bridge)
Canapé is a bridge bidding system where the second suit bid is always longer than the first. The name Canapé refers to a small bite presented before a big meal....
principle (shorter suit first).
Opening bids
Roman is notable for its emphasis on distinguishing opening hands into groups by distribution and responding hands by strength. The general opening bid structure is:- Balanced hands:
- 1 12-16p and 21+p.
- 1NT 17-20p.
- One or two suited hands:
- 1, 1, 1 12-20p canapé openings which may be in a 3 cards if 15+p.
- 2, 2, 2NT 12-16p canapé openings with the shorter suit and , , respectively the longer suit.
- 1 17-20p canapé opening with the shorter suit, rebidding 2 conventionally then continuing as for the openings from 2-2NT.
- Three suited hands:
- 2 12-16p.
- 2 17-20p.
- Unbalanced hands of 21+p (game forcing) are opened 1, continuing with a jump in a new suit or 2+ over a negative.
The general responding structure divides hands into:
- weak, typically bidding the first-step response,
- semi-positive, typically bidding and rebidding a suit or showing preference for opener's suit, and
- positive, bidding 1NT (except over 1) with 12-15p balanced or "reversingReverse (bridge)A reverse, in the card game contract bridge, is a bidding sequence designed to show additional strength without the need to make a jump bid; specifically two suits are bid in the reverse order to that expected by the basic bidding system. Precise methods and definitions vary with country and...
"—bidding a higher suit after a lower to show an unbalanced canapé hand of 12+p.
Like opener, responder may make their first bid in a 3cs to prepare a canapé.
The strong emphasis on distribution of openings simplified the bidding structure in many respects but did not overcome the classical weakness of canapé, where it is very difficult to distinguish strength range as easily as in a long-suit-first system. Opening three-card suits was also an obvious exposure in competition.
Unlike many other artificial systems, Roman does not use 2 bid for hands with primary or secondary club suit (2/2 offer some compensation though). As result, some hands with club suit are difficult to bid (e.g. both 1=3=4=5 and 2=2=2=7 hands have to be opened 1 with rebid in clubs).
The Roman bidders used a negative double only up to 1 overcall
Overcall
In contract bridge, an overcall is a bid made after an opening bid has been made by an opponent; the term refers only to the first such bid. A direct overcall is a bid made directly over the opening bid by right-hand opponent; an overcall in the 'last seat' is referred to as a balancing...
over their 1 opening, and not elsewhere, making the balanced structure also vulnerable to interference. Nonetheless, the emphasis on distribution was a lesson well-learned by later theorists in relay systems.
Other features
Some other innovations Roman collected into their system included:- Suit asking bids. In several positions, bidding a suit in a game force asked responder to describe their length and strength in the suit using about six steps. There were variations on these asks titled Beta, Gamma and Delta, depending on context.
- Control asking bids. The Alpha ask ignored length and simply asked for Controls (Aces and Kings) in the specific suit, contrasting with more common cue bidCue bidIn contract bridge, a cue bid is a term that applies to two types of bid:*A bid of a suit that has already been bid by opponents.*A slam-investigating bid made during an auction's later rounds that shows control of a suit...
s, which show controls.
- Roman Cues and Roman Blackwood. Cue bidding aces, kings, voids and singletons more or less indiscriminately supported an aggressive and somewhat adventurous approach to slams, and area of bidding where the Blue Team invariably shone.
- Defined two-suiters in defence Both weak and strong 5-5 shapes were given defined bids in competition over one or two level openings by opponents. Taking these hands out of other defensive calls simplified other bidding.
- Exclusion bids after partner's double. In response to partner's takeout doubleTakeout doubleIn the card game bridge, a takeout double is any call of "double" that shows a desire to compete for the contract by further bidding. Many takeout doubles nearly require partner to bid; partner should pass for penalty with an appropriate hand, but that is uncommon...
, responder could bid their shortest suit with a semi-positive response, simplifying the process of finding a fit and enabling takeout doubles on other than classical shapes.
- Systematic light lead-directing overcalls
- 1NT overcalls on 17-20p without requiring a stop in the bid suit. These measures provided implicit strength limitation for other defensive actions as well as within these bids.
- Rusinow leadsRusinow leadsRusinow leads is a bridge convention used as part of defensive carding. Rusinow leads are commonly used only on the opening lead against a suit contract....
and Odd-Even signalsSignal (bridge)In the card game of contract bridge, partners defending against a contract may play particular cards in a manner which gives a signal or coded meaning to guide their subsequent card play; also referred to as carding.-Standard signals:...
. Leading the second-highest of touching honours and using the parity of a card to show attitude or count were both more efficient than the classical methods, and emphasised the extent to which the system was constructed as a whole, from opening through responses, slam bidding, defensive bidding and finally defensive card play.
Roman's supposed weakness in competition promulgated by advocates of the bidding systems widely promoted in North America (particularly 2/1 enthusiasts) have emphasized the supposed difficulty of clarifying strength in canapé and complain of the sheer complexity of the system (much greater than the contemporary Schenken
Howard Schenken
Howard Schenken was an American bridge player, writer, and long-time columnist. In his career, Schenken won three Bermuda Bowl titles, and set several North American records: he won the Life Master Pairs five times, and the Spingold and Vanderbilt Trophy twelve and ten times, respectively...
or later Precision
Precision club
Precision Club is a bidding system in the game of contract bridge. It is a type of strong club system that was invented by C. C. Wei and used to good effect by Taiwan teams in the early 1970s...
) led to its present obscurity in ACBL-sponsored events. Along with Blue Club
Blue Club
Blue Club is a bridge bidding system, developed mainly by Benito Garozzo. It was used by the famous Blue Team and became very popular in the 1960s and has been in decline since.The main features are:...
, the other major Italian system, Roman has remained popular in European countries. In the 50s and 60s it was ground-breaking in its strong hand classification, artificial sequences and asking bids, which laid foundations for the Relay and Forcing Pass systems that succeeded it. Under the guidance of Benito Garozzo the basic system has undergone several major revisions which have improved its deadly accuracy in game and slam bidding.