If you are playing on BBO a lot, chances are, you will run into Polish Club (or WJ, short for “Common language” in Polish). At first, the system will seem confusing, and in an online tournament, asking about/explaining each artificial bid is chaotic. People on both sides get annoyed. This is understandable; many Polish Club players are usually playing against other Polish Club players and aren’t used to what are “basic” questions to them.

So in this (relatively) short video I decided to show you the basics of Polish Club. Actually, it is very similar to “standard” or “natural” bidding, and if you just remember 1 or 2 special sequences, you’ll understand how it works in no time. If you decide to play the system, you probably need to agree with your partner on which version (there are several: WJ00/05/10/15/20) you want to try. If you just want to be a little familiar with the system, then this primer should be more than enough.

Finally, you can easily make Polish Club ACBL-legal if that’s important to you, e.g. for speedballs. I show how around the 4:30 mark.