Transfer bids have become one of the cores of NT bidding for many years. It allows for great precision where responder has a 5+card major suit after partner has opened 1NT. In old standard bidding, if partner opened 1NT and you had less than 8 HCP and a 5-card suit other than clubs, you simply bid that suit at the 2-level, saying to the NT opener: Partner, stop, I don’t have enough points to be interested in game, but I have at least 5 cards in this suit – in fact I might have no points – if you bid again it is at your own peril. If you had 8-9 HCP and a 5-card major, you would bid 2♣, i.e., Stayman, and if partner did not bid your 5-card major, you would now bid your major at the 2-level, if possible – otherwise you might bid your suit at the 3-level or bid 2NT. Bidding your suit at the 3-level generally forced partner to game. With 10+ HCP, after bidding Stayman, you would bid your suit at the 3-level if partner did not name it. Generally, people did not simply jump to the 3-level in their major without bidding Stayman because that bid was generally saved for 6-card suits and 10+ HCP. If you had 8+ HCP, you would generally ignore a 5-card minor and bid 2NT or 3NT as appropriate. We have discarded these bids in modern days in order to use transfer bids. Partner opens 1NT and you hold 5 hearts (but not 4 spades in addition to the 5 hearts). You may have anywhere from 0 to 25 HCP (although if you have20+ HCP, you will almost certainly end up playing NT and you do not need to even think about transfers). Bid 2D. Partner should alert this bid by saying “Transfer” or “Transfer to Hearts”. The NT opener must now bid 2H. After the NT opener bids 2H, you will clarify your hand as discussed below. If partner opens 1NT and you hold 5 spades (but not 4 hearts in addition to the 5 spades), you bid 2H, which partner should alert by saying “Transfer” or “Transfer to Spades”. The NT opener must now bid 2S. After the NT opener bids 2S, you will clarify your hand as discussed below. Please note that the NT opener really has no discretion but to accept the transfer, even if the NT opener has only 2 cards in your major. With 4-5 card support for your major, some players have special bids to show this extra support, but that is for a more advanced lesson. If the NT bidder does anything other than accept the transfer, the NT opener has violated the system, and you have no idea, at least in theory, as to what partner is doing. Let us assume for the moment that partner has opened 1NT and you have transferred partner to hearts by bidding 2D. Partner obeys and bids 2H. Now you can clarify your hand. For this purpose, we must look at your hand and decide whether you have a minimum hand, a game invitational hand, or a game forcing hand. You must also determine whether your hand is balanced or unbalanced.
A game invitational hand has 8-9 HCP. A game forcing hand has 10-14 HCP. We will save hands with 15+ HCP for discussions about slam bidding in a later chapter. For this purpose, a hand is balanced if it has no singleton or void and is unbalanced if it has a singleton or void. After partner bids 2, if you have a minimum hand, PASS!!! If partner has only 2 hearts, the contract will still play better in the 5-2 heart fit than in 1NT a vast majority of the time. Please note: Occasionally there is a 7 HCP hand that, because of the shape and texture of the cards, you may consider invitational. Use your judgment; however, most 7 HCP hands should be passed. After partner bids 2H, if you have a game invitational hand, i.e., a hand with 8-9 HCP, you have 2 bids available to you. With a balanced hand, bid 2NT. This tells partner you have exactly 5 hearts and exactly 8-9 HCP. You are giving partner the choice of passing 2NT or bidding 3H with a minimum NT opening (15 to a bad 16 HCP) or bidding 3NT or 4H with a maximum NT opening (a good 16 to 17 HCP). With an unbalanced hand, you have 2 choices: you can bid 2NT as if the hand was balanced, or you can bid 3H. Some people believe that the 3H bid promises a 6- card suit. This is a matter of style and for partnership discussion. I believe that this bid should show a game invitational hand with 5+ cards. After your 3H bid, partner can pass with a minimum NT opener or, with a maximum NT opener, bid either 3NT with 2 hearts or bid 4H 3+ hearts. After partner bids 2H, if you have a game forcing hand, you have 2 options. First is to jump to 3NT. This says partner, we have enough values for game. My hand is probably balanced. If you have 2 hearts, pass, if you have 3+ hearts, you should probably bid 4H. The second choice is to bid a new suit (which will always be at the 3-level). This says that you have enough values for game, your hand is unbalanced, and I am bidding a suit that is at least 4 cards long, quite possibly 5 cards long. You can bid 3NT if you wish, you can bid 4H, or you can raise my second suit. The same set of bids applies if your suit is spades and you transfer partner to spades by bidding 2H. The following tables summarize the responder’s rebids and the NT opener’s 2nd rebids in transfer auctions: Partner has opened 1NT and you bid 2D or 2H, transferring partner to hearts or spades and partner has obeyed by bidding 2H or 2S. Your choices are as follows:
Minimum (0-7 HCP) Pass Pass Invitational (8-9 HCP) 2NT Raise to 3-level (3H or 3S) Game Forcing (10-14 HCP) 3NT New suit (3-level)
follows:
Minimum (15-16- HCP) Pass Bid suit at 3-level (3H or 3S) Maximum (16+-17 HCP) 3NT Bid suit at 4-level (4H or 4S) You have opened 1NT, partner has transferred you to hearts or spades and has raised the major to the 3-level. Your choices are as follows:
Minimum (15-16- HCP) Pass Pass w/3-card support, you may go to 4 w/4+ card support Maximum (16+-17 HCP) 3NT Bid suit at 4-level (4H or 4S) You have opened 1NT, partner has transferred you to hearts or spades and has rebid 3NT. Your choices are as follows:
Minimum (15-16- HCP) Pass Bid suit at 4-level (4H or 4S) Maximum (16+-17 HCP) Pass Bid suit at 4-level (4H or 4S) You have opened 1NT, partner has transferred you to hearts or spades and has rebid a new suit at the 3-level. Your choices are as follows:
Minimum (15-16- HCP) Bid 3NT, raise partner’s suit or bid a new suit Bid suit at 4-level (4H or 4S) Maximum (16+-17 HCP) Bid 3NT, raise partner’s suit or bid a new suit Bid suit at 4-level (4H or 4S) If partner has opened 1NT and you have a 6-card major suit, things change a little bit. First, you know that you have an 8-card trump fit. You don’t care if partner only has 2-card support. Second, your 6-card suit makes your hand worth more than its HCP’s alone would indicate. Therefore, we treat the hand a bit differently. With less than 6 HCP, you really have no interest in game unless you have unusual distribution (such as 2 singletons), so you simply want to stop at the 2-level. Therefore, you transfer partner just as if you had a 5-card suit, and then pass. With 6-7 HCP, you are interested in game, but do not want to force partner to game. Therefore, you transfer partner just as if you had a 5-card suit, and then raise your suit to the 3-level. Partner doesn’t know if you have 5 or 6 cards in your suit, but will assume 5 cards. If partner passes, then you probably don’t belong in game and you are in the right place. If partner bids 3NT, bid your suit again at the 4-level. Partner has chosen to go to game so you can now insist on playing in the 8-card fit. With stronger hands, 8+ HCP, we have a different convention which will be discussed in another article. One other issue with transfers before we move on. If you have 5 cards in each major, we have a special sequence. If you have a weak hand with no game interest, transfer partner to hearts, and then bid 2S. Partner can pass 2S or correct to 3H. Even if you have no HCP’s, this should be relatively safe because of your distribution and partner’s strength. If you have a good hand, you can transfer partner to spades, and then rebid 3H. This tells partner that you are 5-5 in the majors and you want to be in game. Generally, with this distribution, 8 HCP is enough to insist on game. Some people have special bids to show 5-5 in the majors with an invitational or strong hand, but this is a discussion for later. |
Encyclopedia of Conventions - Convention of the Week
Grand Slam DBC
Weekly Game Schedule
Mondays & Wednesdays: 7 pm
Tuedays: 12 pm
Sundays: 1 pm
Tuedays: 12 pm
Sundays: 1 pm
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