Editing Precision Club (section)

== Advantages and disadvantages ==
Advocates of Precision say that it is generally more efficient (and precise, as the name would suggest) than systems such as Standard American. Because all opening bids except 1{{Clubs}} are limited, the responder almost immediately knows the hand potential and the chances for a part score, game or slam.

Critics of Precision question the wisdom of combining a strong club with 5-card majors. This causes certain hand shapes to bid awkwardly, and a high percentage of hands are opened with one diamond, including in some cases hands with only a doubleton diamond.

{{blockquote|This is so absurd that I wish to go on record in stating that the Big Club cannot be played with any hope of success if you attempt to use it by bidding only 5-card majors.|[[Howard Schenken]]|Howard Schenken's Big Club, Simon and Schuster, 1968}}

{{blockquote|My opinion on Precision is that combining five-card majors with a forcing club is like trying to mix oil and water, and it has serious structural defects…"|[[Bob Hamman]]|Smith, Mark. World Class: Conversations with the Bridge Masters, Master Point Press, 1999}}

The main disadvantage of the strong-club system is its vulnerability to preemptive bids. Knowing that they rarely can make game against a strong-club opening, experienced opponents will compete in the bidding with distributional hands, regardless of strength, and rob bidding space from the opening side.