Point-count limits for opening bids of all kinds

Nowadays, opening bids that have specific point-count limits (lower or higher) are generally only NT ones (including the rare 2NT). Only those who play "Strong Club" systems (such as the unforgettable "Neapolitan Club", created by Dr. Chiaradia, and its successor "Blue Team Club", two systems with which Italy won several World Championships) gets the advantage that all other 1-level opening bids have a 10-16 point range (if the 1§ opening bid, as in Neapolitan and Blue Team, shows hands with 17+). This is the main advantage of opening a Strong Club with 17+: the fact that all other opening bids at the level of 1 now have a maximum of 16!

There are still narrower limitations in "Strong Pass" systems, such as those practiced by teams from Poland and New Zealand during various World Championships; here, the opening bid limits at the level of 1 or 2 are typically 8-12, or 7-12. "Strong Pass"-based systems have been heavily discouraged by bridge federations during the past years, although a substantial number of the advantages they offered came from the one simple, and perfectly legal, advantage of precision in point-count delimitation allowed for opening bids at the levels of one and two.

Similar advantages can be gained by establishing a fixed point-count range for all non-forcing opening bids (an agreement which I find extremely opportune) without any need of a "strong pass": more specifically, I propose a point-count range of 9-14, with an overall probability of 48.53%, and an average point-count of 11, close enough to each of the "extremes" in the range. This precise message to partner will often make it possible for him to make a conclusive bid since the first round, placing the opponent in a quandary. Such an advantage is not afforded by classical opening bids adopting a point-count range of 11-20: this is far too vast and disproportionate! In other words, the average of the point-range of 11-20 is too far away from the extreme of 20 to allow partner to reach an "immediate synthesis" in any case.

As for strong hands, and therefore for forcing opening bids (which, in my system, are natural 2-level suit bids), we'll have a 15-21 point-count range (let's keep in mind that 21 is practically the maximum point-range a player will ever have - less than 4 times every 1000 deals). This strength zone presents an overall probability of 13.74% and a weighted average of about 16.5 points. Necessarily, however, these opening bids will be forcing one round; they should be developed according to specific principles, which deserve to be discussed separately: opener's partner, following a forcing 2-level suit opening bid, will have to provide the opener with maximum information on shape and points, and typically it will be up to opener to make the decision - part-score, game or slam (in the latter case he will avail himself with conventions to ask for A's and K's; my preference, specifically, goes to the Warren convention).

This scheme for strong hands is in some way a return to the ingenious "Forcing 2-Bid" invented by Culbertson, albeit with an important variation: minimum point-count limits are substantially smaller (so as to increase sensibly its frequency of use, carrying it into the zone of "practical use"... not just "a couple of times a month for those who play daily"!), which in turn requires adjustments in order to make it possible to stop under game.