A previous treatise of mine entitled “The Third Hand Club” had the following introduction:

“It is made quite clear on official convention cards that both persons in a partnership must have identical cards to show to the opponents. This is sensible, and honourable. It would sow considerable confusion if one opponent thought you were playing one system, and the other another. Nevertheless, the design of the convention cards sometimes makes it difficult to express the full extent of the tactical variations, to any basic system, that modern tournament players may adopt.

Historically Basic Acol varied its opening bid of One No Trump according to Vulnerability. Then there were players who used what became known as the Three-quarters No Trump. This was weak all the time except when Vulnerable against Non-vulnerable. Once one changes one’s NT strength many other differences follow when 1NT is not opened. At the two level also there is a case to be made that Acol Twos work better in first, second, and fourth position, but Weak Twos in third position [See S J Simon’s “Design for Bidding”].

When opening the bidding in third or fourth position, most players too, implicitly take into consideration that partner must have passed. Various liberties are sometimes taken, or condoned, particularly in third position. In turn, the passed partner may or may not alter the standard responses to make allowance. These modifications may be systemic, or heuristic, by partnership agreement. They rarely have appeared as explicit items on the convention cards.

The purpose of this book is to present a system, or style, when you are considering opening the bidding in third position, that explicitly takes into account the fact that partner has not bid, therefore is assumed to hold at most 11 hcp, or a very poor 12. If it appeals to you and your partner you will need a separate convention card just for third-position opening bids.”

As from August 1st 2006, the English Bridge Union introduced a new “Orange Book”: its handbook of EBU directives and permitted agreements. It re-emphasises the importance of making explicit those deviations from the usual accepted strengths of opening bids in particular and of overcalls in general. It recognises that in third position liberties may be taken but insists too that these be explicit on the convention card. Consistent with another of its aims of increasing the opportunity of the average player to experiment with bidding theory, it also allows a partnership to have second convention card for special situations, but:

“10 A 8 A partnership may play two Basic systems at different positions or vulnerabilities only in level 4 or Unusual Systems competitions, and only where rounds are of 7 boards or more.”

The Third Hand Club system was an experimental academic exercise to explore the possibilities of such a situation. The constraints of 10 A 8, however, mean that there would be few opportunities, in practice, for players to use such a system regularly. Nevertheless, being surprised how cohesive the Third Hand Club emerged, I now feel it appropriate to develop the style for use at all positions and vulnerabilities. The Orange Book acknowledges the existence of the two key elements of this system which I now re-christen “The Roseman Club”. These elements are covered by the Basic 1C opening and the Strong Diamond as allowed by the EBU at levels 3 & 4.

“11 C 11 1C opening - basic This may be played to have any meaning, forcing or not, as long as this does not include unbalanced hands with 5+ Hearts or 5+ Spades (unless there is a minor suit of equal length or longer). This includes therefore 4 E 1 (e): the Either/or Club, forcing, artificial, showing a strong hand, or a weaker hand (such as a weak no trump).

11 C 12 Strong Diamond A 1D opening may have any combination of meanings if it is forcing and promises a minimum of at least 16 HCP or ‘extended Rule of 25’ (Rule of 25, or equivalent playing strength, subject to an absolute minimum of 14 HCP).