Archives - Minor Suit Transfers

Minor Suit Transfers

After a 1NT opening, many partnerships use 2♠ as a transfer to Clubs, and 2NT as a transfer to Diamonds. This can we a used as a way to escape to 3 of a minor with a weak hand (Responder will have at least a 6-card suit), or as a prelude to a more contractive auction. One important point for partnership clarification, after, say 1NT 2♠ (transfer to Clubs), is the difference between a rebid by Opener of 2NT and 3♣. Normal practice is for one of these bids to say "I like Clubs" and for the other to say "I don't like Clubs". The most common method (though not necessarily the best) is for the intermediate bid (2NT here) to be encouraging. Similarly, if the auction starts 1NT 2NT, then 3♣ says "I like Diamonds" and 3♦ says "I don't".

24th May, 2006 Board 16 Dealer West E-W Vul

♠ A75

♥ J2

♦ K2

♣ JT9542

South West North East

Pass 1NT Pass

Pretty much everybody plays Jacoby Transfers for the majors. Many also play Minor Suit Transfers, part of which is that it gives Opener the chance to say (in this case) “I like Clubs” or “I don’t like Clubs”. South has a reasonable hand, and it would no doubt be improved if Partner said “I like Clubs”. But, this whole preamble, we confess, has been nothing but a red herring! South’s hand is good enough to gut it out in 3NT regardless of North’s opinion of his Clubs. Just because we have a gadget available, does not mean that we have to use it indiscriminately!

7th June, 2006 Board 8 Dealer West None Vul

♠ J84
♥ Q84
♦ Q
♣ Q98532

East South West North

1NT Pass
??

After West opens 1NT, and East will have three possible plans:

Plan A: Just play it in 1NT ... those Queens certainly look No-Trumpish, but we do have a singleton Diamond, and the Club suit is so weak that it may not set up unless Partner has a good fit.

Plan B: Play it in 3♣. Most partnerships have a way to get out in 3 of a minor after a 1NT opening, most usually after a transfer sequence.

Plan C: Play it in 3♣ or 3NT, depending upon Opener’s opinion. If you play 1NT 2♠ as a transfer to Clubs, and if you further distinguish between Opener’s rebids of 2NT and 3♣ (one of these should like Clubs, the other one should not like Clubs), then you can try 3NT if Opener has a Club fit.

We would choose to play in 3♣, regardless of whether or not Opener said he liked Clubs, we don't think the hand is likely to provide game. Our second choice would be to pass 1NT. Trying for 3NT is a bit optimistic in our opinion … say that East transfers to Clubs, and West says “I like Clubs!” … now East bids 3NT, and, on the actual hand, although Opener has a maximum, all Aces and Kings, including 3 Clubs, 3NT has no play on a Diamond lead … even on a non-Diamond lead, Clubs must be 2-2 for the contract to make.

6th September, 2006 Board 15 Dealer South N-S Vul

♠ 6

♥ 8762

♦ 62

♣ A98652

North East South West

1NT Pass

North clearly is not going to game, and with that distributional hand would like to play in one of her suits. In the old days, this hand was a piece of cake … North would bid 2♣ (hoping for a 4-4 Heart fit), South bids 2♦, and North signs off in 3♣. In modern-day bidding, most partnerships play that sequence as strong … no doubt an admirable treatment, but not useful on this hand.

Nowadays, it’s more common to use 4-suit transfers, which means that the way to escape to 3♣ is via a 2♠ transfer … so that’s what we’d do, giving up on any chance of finding a 4-4 Heart fit.