nige1, on 2014-March-03, 10:38, said:
I've seen many strong pairs who win consistently playing what I consider to be absurd methods. Good bridge is what wins tournaments, not systems.
I remember buying a copy of Simply Blue and being disgusted with it. Unfortunately, my bridge books are in storage so I don't know whether or not I kept it.
The best sources of information about Blue Team Club are:
1. The "Bible" (The Italian Blue Team Bridge Book by Garozzo and Forquet). It's difficult but not impossible to find a copy at a reasonable price. It contains more examples and more detail than the Garozzo - Yallouze book, which is really more like a simplified summary.
Sometime in the late '60s, a well known player/director learned to speak and read Italian just so that he could read the original "Bible," which included things left out of the English translation. There were also a few things that Garozzo and/or Forquet admitted having left out of the "Bible" because they were too complicated for average players. I've never been able to get my hands on that information.
2. The ACBL World Championship books from the years the Blue Team played Neapolitan or Blue Team Club. There's nothing better than seeing how the system was actually played (there were a few surprises) but those are almost impossible to get these days.
The World Championship books show example after example of very long auctions in which the Italians cue-bid their way to slams, particularly grand slams, missed at the other table. It's worth studying the Roman Club and Little Roman Club slam auctions as well as Garozzo-Forquet's to understand the amazing subtlety of Italian cue-bidding.
Omar's book is a fun read but not nearly complete enough to learn the system.
X showed a preference for bidding rather than defending