OCP Super-Precision

Complex OCP System

The "Simple" OCP System is a development that came after the so-called "Complex" version. Indeed it's a version that has come about only over the last decade or so when I started teaching Precision on Bridgebase. The "Complex System" was what Jason Hackett and I normally played back in the late 1980's and early 1990's. In Pairs Congresses we had to omit the 3♠ Opening, which the EBU would only gives us a licence to play in longer Teams matches, but otherwise we were then able to play it pretty much "as is". Much of the Simple and Complex Systems are identical: The only areas that were significantly different were the continuations over the 1♦ Opening, and the 2♦, 2♥, 2♠, and 3-level Openings apart from 3♣. Indeed it has to be said that 95% of the advantages to be had from playing OCP come with the Simple System. The Complex System is enormous fun to play, but functionally it is not greatly superior to the Simple System. There are some hand-types that are specifically catered for in the Complex System, but most of those are relatively uncommon types, and the Simple System either copes with them in other ways or simply ignores them.

What I have said above should not dissuade you from giving the Complex System a look, however. It is great fun, not to mention a challenge, to play the Complex System, and in some areas it does add that final 5% of functionality. The Complex System gives us betters tools for slam investigation over 1♦ and took some hand-types out of the 1♦ Opening (eg: hands with a 4-card Major and 6-card Diamonds). The Complex System also gives us a number of weak Openings with extreme distributions that the Simple System would struggle to show with any accuracy (eg: 5-9 with at least 6-6 in the Minors), and some extreme distributional Intermediate Openings that would nevertheless not qualify for a 1♣ Opening (eg: lower-range Major/Minor 5-6 2-suiters). It achieves this by the use of a Multi 2♦ Opening. This in turn frees up the 2♥ and 2♠ Openings which we used to reduce the pressure on 1♦. All of the 3-level pre-empts were combined into the 3♦ Opening, which freed up 3♥ to be weak with both Majors, and 3♠ to be another Multi-style Opening.

Notes

1. The sections highlighted in light blue above are those where the Complex System differs significantly from the Simple System. Each of those Openings now has its own page.
2. You can, to some extent, cherry pick parts of the Complex System you want to play and ignore others (or play something different). For example:
   • Some OCP pairs prefer to play Lucas Two's (Muiderberg) in preference to the OCP Reverse Roman Twos
   • It is relatively easy to modify the 2 and 3-level Openings so that they are Compliant with ACBL GCC Rules or those applied by the English Bridge Union (EBU)
   • Generally speaking, you can use the Complex 1♦ instead of the Simple System 1♦, but keep the rest of the Simple System. Some small adjustments are required, though, because the Complex 1♦ makes no provision, for example, for 11-15 hcp hands with a 4-card Major and 6-card Diamonds.