The Viking Precision Club was developed in Norway starting in 1978. With it, Glenn Groetheim and his partners have had some fantastic results in European and World Championships.

It is particularly good for bidding slams with with minimal HCPs. With game going hands, one of the partnership takes charge as 'Captain of bidding', making a series of relay bids. With them, he first of all finds out the exact shape of his partner's hand and then can ask about Aces, Kings, Queens and even Jacks, if necessary.

This hand gives you a flavour of the technique:
(1)...1S shows 11-15 HCPs with at least 5 Spades (all stronger hands are opened 1C)
(2)...1NT after 1H or 1S is a game forcing relay asking for North's shape and strength
(3)...2S shows a minimum (11-13) with a single suiter of at least 6 Spades
(4)...2NT is a relay asking for more info
(5)...3C, the 1st 'step', shows 6322 shape with the 3 card suit as yet unknown.
(6)...3D is a relay asking for which suit is the 3 carder
(7)...3NT, the 3rd 'step', identifies Hearts as the 3 carder
(8)...4C is a relay asking for Aces
(9)...4H, the 2nd 'step', shows 0 or 3 Aces
(10)..4S, is to play if 0, or a relay for Kings if 3
(11)..5C, the 2nd 'step', confirms 3 Aces and 0 or 3 Kings
(12)..6S South knows North is minimum, so can only have the 3 Aces he has shown, so there can't be 7S

Note that at stage (7), if North had showed 3 clubs or 3 diamonds instead of 3 hearts, South would have signed off in 4 Spades instead of relaying, knowing that there was no ruff for 12 tricks.

David and Mary Marshall have been using The Viking Club with great success for over 2 years. However, it is not for the casual partnership or for those with a faulty memory.

For more details contact Mary or Ron who have copies of Glenn's excellent instruction book or go to the Viking Club website.

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