halle1 (03/28/83)
I have played several systems over the years, including Precision and a canape modification we tried. I have not played any varieties of Neopolitan, so I can't talk from experience, although I am reasonably familiar with the system and can therefore comment. Blue Team Club's major difference from Precision is that it uses a Canape approach, i.e. short before long (a VERY simplified definition). There has been heated debate for 35-40 years about whether Canape or "Standard" methods produce superior results. Either will work most of the time, the question is which is better the rest of the time. The only real advantage I see to Canape is that it may make competition more difficult for opponents since the real suit is unknown. However, it also makes vigorous preemption more effective since partner cannot be consulted easily. I'd call this pretty much a tossup. The notrump is different, too, but there are at least a half dozen published ways of handling 1NT with Precision, so this is irrelevant. Also, opponents tend to be unfamiliar with BTC which may help, but that is not an argument for the system. EHAA would do the same. I congratulate you on your success, but I think the reason is not that you play Blue Team Club, but that you have discussed it at length and know what most every sequence means in detail. If a partnership would do that with any system, their results would improve dramaticly. Remember, Garozzo, Forquet, and Belladonna now play Precision; souped up quite a bit, but not Canape. Does that mean anything? One further question. Do you see any difference in effectiveness with different scoring? Do you do equally well at IMPS as you do at Match Points?