TRANSFER BIDS

By Larry Matheny

 

Transfer bids have been around a long time and their applications continue to grow.  Today we are going to limit our discussion to major suit transfer bids over opening bids of 1NT and 2NT.  We will use 15-17 1NT openings and 20-21 for 2NT.

 

JACOBY TRANSFERS

 

Oswald Jacoby was one of bridge’s greatest innovators.  His idea of transfer bids was introduced in the 1950’s and today they are used by most players.  Simple stated, the JTB is a method of getting the opening notrump bidder to bid a long major suit held by his partner.  This is accomplished by responder bidding the suit just below the long suit.  This permits the strong hand to become declarer and receive the advantage of the opening lead.  This also has the advantage of having the strong hand concealed instead of being exposed as dummy.  Let’s look at two examples:

 

               Hand #1                                                          Hand #2

S643  HAQ865   DJ  C10832                          SJ109532  HQ65   DK3  C108

 

SAQ4  HK97   DKQ109  CK97                        SKQ7  HK107   DAQ109  CK97

 

SOUTH         NORTH                                         SOUTH         NORTH

 1NT                2D                                               1NT              2H

 2H                Pass                                             2S              Pass

 

If the South hand is dummy on hand #1, a spade or club lead might not be good for declarer.  Hand #2 is vulnerable to a club lead if North is declarer.

 

Another benefit is that transfers allow you to show a second suit at a lower level.  For example holding:  S6  HAK865   DKQ1032  C103

 

WITHOUT TRANSFERS                                  WITH TRANSFERS

     1NT    3H                                                       1NT    2D

     3NT    4D?                                                     2H     3D

                                                                          3NT

 

Using transfer bids, when opener shows no interest in either of your red suits you can pass 3NT knowing you have shown your hand.  However, without the transfer bid you must either pass 3NT without showing your second suit (and shortness in the black suits), or show your second suit at the four-level perhaps missing your best game.

 

Transfer bids may be used with weak, invitational, and strong hands.  When partner opens 1NT and you have a semi-balanced hand with a five-card major, here are the ranges for your rebid after transferring:

 

Range           Rebid 

0-7              Pass                                          

8-9               Bid 2NT inviting game                            

10-15            Bid 3NT giving partner a choice of games                             

16-17            Bid 4NT inviting slam

 

As always, some high card points are better than other points so you must use judgment when evaluating your hand.  

 

Now that we understand the purpose for the transfer bids, let’s look at some ways for responder to show different types of hands.

 

WEAK HANDS - It’s almost always best to transfer into a 5-card major if you are weak. 

Partner opens 1NT and you hold:

 

SAQ1087  H985  D765  C93       Transfer to spades and Pass

S87  HQ10932  D973  C932       Transfer to hearts and Pass

 

INVITATIONAL HANDS - Partner opens 1NT and you hold:

 

SAQ1087  H985  DQJ7  C93      Transfer to spades and then bid 2NT

SK87  HKJ10932  D97  C93       Transfer to hearts and invite with 3H

SA10874 HKJ54  D98  CJ3        Bid 2C and if partner responds 2D, bid 2S

SKQ98 HKJ984  D87  C87         Transfer to hearts and then bid 2S 

 

FORCING HANDS - Partner opens 1NT and you hold:

 

SAQ1087  HK98  DQJ7  C93      Transfer to spades and rebid 3NT

SKQ10987  H98  DQJ7  CK3      Transfer to spades and rebid 4S

SQ10873  HQ8  DAQJ87 C3      Transfer to spades and rebid 3D

SAJ9  HAK1093  DK3  CJ93       Transfer to hearts and rebid 4NT (inviting slam)

 

A question that must be addressed is “If a rebid of 4NT is natural, how do we check to make sure we are not missing two aces?”.  An easy method is to jump to 4C after transferring or use 4NT after a suit is agreed.  Here are some more examples: 

 

            Hand #3                                                             Hand #4

SAQJ987  HKJ  DAQ9  CJ3                           S AQ1087  HKJ  DAQJ7  CJ3

 

SK103  HAQ2   DK962  CK97                         SK94  HAQ83   DK96  CK97

 

SOUTH         NORTH                                         SOUTH         NORTH

 1NT                2H*                                             1NT              2H*

  2S                 4C(ace asking)                            2S               3D

  4H                 6S                                               3S                4NT

 Pass                                                                  5D                6S                                                                                                         Pass

                                        *transfer

Holding hand #3, North transferred to spades and then jumped to 4C to check on aces.  Finding one he bid the slam.  Note that a club lead could be fatal if North declared the hand.  In hand #4 North only held a five-card spade suit so he transferred and then forced by bidding a new suit.  When South rebid spades showing three (or more), North launched Blackwood before bidding the slam.  Again, the club king was protected with South as declarer.

 

Now let’s give opener a chance to rebid.  You open 1NT and partner bids 2H:

 

SK87 HAJ93  DKQ7  CQ109     Bid 2S

SKQ87 HKJ93  DA7  CA109     Jump to 3S  - super accept

 

You open 1NT, partner bids 2H, you bid 2S, and he rebids 2NT:

 

SK7 HKJ93  DA97  CA1098        Pass   

SK87 HAQ93  DK7  CKQ98        Bid 4S

SKQ HKJ93  DA87  CA1098       Bid 3NT

 

 

COMPETITIVE AUCTIONS

 

Sometimes your opponents are rude and interfere so let’s look at some competitive sequences.  Your partner opens 1NT and RHO bids 2H:

 

SAQ10987 H3  D873 C975         Bid 2S (non-forcing)

S987 H832 D 976 CJ743  Pass and later thank RHO (optional)

SA87 HKJ93  D97  CQ1098       Double (thanking RHO here is rude)

 

You open 1NT, LHO passes, your partner bids 2D, and RHO doubles:

 

SAK87 HK3  DQ97  CA1098       Pass – this denies holding 3+ hearts

SAK8 HKJ10  DK97  CQ1098     Bid 2H - accept the transfer

 

Now let’s look at some auctions over partner’s 2NT opener.  One difference is that you can’t invite game.  Any bid showing a major(s) over partner’s 2NT is forcing to game except, of course, a transfer followed by a Pass. 

 

WEAK HANDS - Partner opens 2NT and you hold:

 

S987 HJ109873  D65  CJ7         Transfer to hearts, Pass, and hope.

 

STRONG HANDS - Partner opens 2NT and you hold:

 

SAQJ97  H95  DQ87 C1093       Transfer to spades and rebid 3NT

S2  HKJ1095  DQJ1087 CK3      Transfer to hearts and rebid 4D (forcing)

SA109872  HQ10985  D8 C3      Transfer to spades and rebid 4H (non-forcing) 

SAKQ9872  HAK85  D8 C3       Bid 4C (Gerber)

 

 

TEXAS TRANSFERS

 

The Texas Transfer convention is often used with Jacoby Transfers.  While it is not necessary to use Texas, it can be helpful.  Using Texas you bid 4D to transfer to hearts and 4H to transfer to spades.  Your suits are of course 6+ in length since partner may only hold a doubleton.  Here are the reasons for Texas.

 

First, using Texas simplifies these auctions:

 

1NT    4H                          1NT    4H                         

 4S   Pass                        4S    4NT  (Blackwood)   

 

Another reason is that Texas allows you to make a mild slam try.  When you transfer at the two-level (Jacoby) and then rebid four of your major, you show extras.  If you had no interest in slam you would have just used Texas and signed off.  Here are some example hands with slam interest:

 

SAQJ987  HKJ5  DQ8 C98         Transfer to 2S and then raise to 4S      

SA72  HAKJ985  D9 CJ109        Transfer to 2H and then raise to 4H

 

I hope by now you realize how valuable transfer bids are.  The methods I presented are fairly standard but, as always, there are different approaches so be sure to discuss these with your partners. 

 

I will end this lesson with more examples for you to consider.

 

 You are using both Jacoby and Texas.  Partner opens 1NT and you hold:

 

SQJ1065  H2  D8765   CJ52      Transfer to 2S and then Pass.

SAJ1065  HK73   D932  C103    Transfer to 2S and rebid 2NT (inviting game).

SK74  HAK932   D643  CQ9       Transfer to 2H and rebid 3NT (choice of games).

SAJ9  HAK1093  DK3  CJ93       Transfer to 2H and rebid 4NT (inviting slam).

SKQ765  HK3  DAJ1098  C8      Transfer to 2S and rebid 3D (forcing).

SQJ10987  HA43  DK87 C6       Transfer to 4S and Pass.