Caroline Club is a strong club bidding system based on a system played
by Sukoneck and Ekeblad in the 1990s. It was developed largely by
Steve Altus, Douglas Bone, Scott Benson, and Bert Hackney. Caroline
Club has been modified since its development, so different versions have begun
to appear. It is hoped that this website will encourage further adoption
of Caroline Club and discussion of various new extensions.
Caroline Club is a canape big club system. The system uses a mini-NT and
canape major suit openings. Hands with 54 shape are handled with
intermediate 2-bids and 1D is a catch-all opening. All 10+ hcp hands
are opened in first or second seats, so the system leads to fairly
aggressive entry into the auction.
I make no claim that the concepts within Caroline Club are optimal.
Most of the early adopters of Caroline Club do not now or never have
played professionally or semi-professionally, so this system hasn't
been battle-tested.
Please credit Sukoneck and Ekelblad (and others) for the good parts of
the system and leave your scorn for the rest of us, as the system
presented here is not that originally created by Sukonek-Ekeblad.
Caroline Club is a lot of fun to play, and it is relatively easy to
learn. The basics can be digested in a few minutes though the more
detailed sequences require a few hours of study. This assumes that
the would-be Caroliner is familiar with modern approaches to the game,
some of which are incorporated as appropriate.