The Joy of Bidding

 

Paul Meerschaert is one of Minnesota's finest competitors.  Having earned both two 2nd places in national events and almost 11,100 masterpoints, clearly Paul is a talented and superb player! 

Paul is also an excellent teacher and writer.  If you want to learn how to think about bridge, how to craft a bridge system that works for you - then please enjoy this article that  Paul has kindly crafted and shared with all of us.

Bridge is a great game!  Paul can help you make your game even greater!

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Everyone has a favorite bidding system.  We supplement this system with a variety of our preferred conventions, and mix these two components together with our own unique bidding style, to craft together a convention card to do battle with.  No matter what your preferred bidding methods are they all have the same thing in common.  They attempt to navigate through the roughly 650 Billion different hands we might hold, in an attempt to bid as many of those hands as accurately as possible.  A daunting task to say the least!

In the early 1950’s Olle Willner of Sweden published a series of articles on the effectiveness of transfer bids after NT openers.  Oswald Jacoby introduced English speaking players with a Bridge World article in 1956 with Olle’s ideas of using transfer bids and Walla!  Jacoby Transfers were born. The widespread acceptance with both duplicate and rubber bridge players increased the accuracy and effectiveness of our bidding after a Notrump opener.

Over the years other transfer bids have taken hold.  The majority of bridge players use 1 or more of these transfer bids to increase their accuracy.  Thereby cutting down on the number of those 650 Billion hands they can now bid more accurately.

I myself have been using a variety of transfer schemes for the majority of the past 20+ years of my bridge career.  Recently one of my regular partners Rob Schachter and I started using a version of the short club with transfers in an attempt to increase our effectiveness when bidding.  This is a revisit of sorts for me as many years ago I used a version of this with Bob Balderson, which Bob affectionately called the Minnesota Polish Club.

I would like to introduce a simple outline of its purpose and show a fun hand that Rob and I were able to bid effectively, utilizing this innovative idea.

We are all familiar with the NT ladder.  For most players the ladder looks like this:

1. 11-14 – we open in one of a suit, usually the better minor, and rebid 1NT
2. 15-17 – we open 1NT
3. 18-19 – we open in one of a suit, and rebid 2NT
4. 20-21 – we open 2NT
5. 22-24 – we open 2C and follow up with 2NT
6. , etc.

 

Now with all NT hands with strength other than 15-17 we now open a club.

After-all when you think about it when we have a balanced NT hand, whether its with better diamonds or better clubs, the best description of what we have is a NT opener with its designated strength.

Now watch what happens to our NT ladder with the use of transfers.

1C-1D (showing hearts)-1H = 11-14 NT

1C-1D (showing hearts) -1NT = 18-19

1C-1H (showing spades) - 1S = 11-14 NT

1C-1S (denying a major) – 1NT = 11-14

Etc., etc.

With this simple interpretation we have freed up a whole round of bidding which allows to cut into that mountain of 650 Billion hands in our effort to cover as many of them as we possible can. This may not seem like much to you, but we now have simplified a great number of hands into one easily understandable hand type. 

(continued below the line)

 

Now let’s look at a hand I recently held in a club game, where with using this extra space available, some solid inferences I was able to pinpoint my partners hand effectively enough to bid to a contract no one else was able to find.

I held this beautiful hand:

Void, J, AKQJ9x, J1098xx

Exciting, but remember partners 1C opening might just be a weak NT with xx in clubs.

As I no longer have any need for a 1NT response to this opening (remember on average partners hand will be stronger than yours, it is best his hand plays the majority of NT contracts).  I now have 1NT available for other purposes.

So, after partners 1C opening I now bid 1NT – which is a game force with 5+ clubs

The bidding so far has been:

1C-1NT = Game force with 5+ clubs

Partners next bid is a pleasant surprise.  It is 2NT

This shows any hand with 16+ points.

As he did not open 1NT this eliminates all 15-17 NT openers.  The only hands left are semi-balanced or unbalanced hands with clubs, or balanced 18-19 NT hands.  That mountain of 650 Billion hands have been whittled down by quite a few billion.

Where do we go from here?  I want to take a short break here and talk about short suit game tries versus other methods.  In my opinion short suit tries are a great tool when bidding toward slams, but need to be used with caution when making game tries.  They can be a two-edged sword as we do need to be careful about giving too much information to the opponents.

Perhaps it is best to use one bid and follow up approaches when looking for slam, and another approach with different follow ups when making a game try.  Just a thought worth thinking about!

Back to our hand:

                                    Void, J, AKQJ9x, J1098xx

And our bidding:

1C-1NT (game force with 5+ clubs)

2NT (16+) Narrowed down by our non 1NT opener

I now bid 3H which shows singleton or void, as we are now in a game force, and our focus in on slam bidding, it is both appropriate and useful to use this bid specifically to show shortness.

1C – 1NT*

2NT* - 3H*

Partner now follows up with 3S.

What inferences should we take from this bid.  Remember partner is following along and is having the same thoughts about our bidding conversation that I am.

Partner is not bidding 3NT to show the 18-19 Balanced NT hand.  Translation he likes clubs!  Now whether he really has an unbalanced hand or just a 3^rd tier NT hand with clubs he feels are strong enough for slam purposes is unknown.  But what we do know is partner is co-operating with a club contract!

I am not playing 3NT.  So, I follow-up with 4D, and partner now shows the Ace of hearts.  As I now think he bid 3S with the Ace of spades, and not something else, I feel confident using KC Blackwood.  So, I proceed with 4NT Key Card.   And partner answers with 1 or 4 Key cards.  The bidding so far has been:

            1C   -   1NT

            2NT -   3H

            3S    -   4D

            4H   -   4NT

            5C

What now?  Can it be 1 Key Card? No, it cannot remember we are fairly certain of aces in both major suits.  The only thing missing is the club Queen.  I could now bid 5D asking for the club Q, but partner will not show it with AKxx of clubs.  He will not make the assumption I have 6 clubs.  As bidding inferences tell me he likes clubs I am, right or wrong putting 4+ clubs into his hand.  All that’s left now is placing the contract.  Do I go for the brass ring and bid 7NT, or is it sufficient to settle for 7C.  We do not know partners diamond holding.  His hand might very well be AQxx. Axxx, Void, AKxxx.

I must admit that despite my age, I threw caution to the wind and bid 7NT, because, well I am human and bidding the Grand in NT, is just too dang much fun! (Bidding 7C was worth the same number of match points as 7NT). 

Partners hand was AJxx, Ax, xx, AKxxx

If your use of transfers is limited to just Jacoby Transfers, I encourage you to look for other chances to use them.  There are many options available.  If nothing else it will help you chop down that mountain of hands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Rebecca Anspach]

Interesting and nice bid. I have a question about your bidding system - what do you open when you don't have NT distribution? Are you only using transfers over 1C or NT openings?

[Bob Balderson]

After 1C-1S, do you rebid 1N with 11-14 and 2N with 18-19?

Could the 1N/2N rebid be opposite a zero count (since 1C is forcing)?

If so, seems like a potential problem/hole in the system. One of the few disasters Kurt and I had playing MN Polish was when the 20-count patiently passed 1C and doubled 1N for penalties and we had nowhere to go.

[Bob Balderson]

As a follow-up, I think the answer is to play 1C-1D as either 4H+ or no 4CM and 0-7. Therefore, 1C-1S is either 8+ balanced or diamonds, varying strength. Then, it's safe to rebid 1N or 2N after 1C-1S assuming you have ways to get out in diamonds and show slam tries in diamonds.

[Paul Meerschaert]

Actually Rebecca, I use transfers after major suit openings, one club, NT bids, and when we overcall a major at the one level. We also use transfers after they double 1C or one of a major. And we are thinking of using transfers in some other situations. One club is opened with all balanced hands (outside of 15-17). This means 1D not only promises diamonds but it also denies a balanced hand. One of a major has the same parameters it always had, balanced or unbalanced.

Bob - 1C-1S 1NT is 11-14, and 2D shows the 18-19 balanced, and a 2NT rebid is a club diamond reverse. This seems awkward but other than remembering it, and it's follow up it appears to work just fine. Unlike your Polish Club, 1C is not forcing. There are safeguards for bidding with minimal value though, including the flexibility of playing in 3 of a minor, afforded by using 1C-1S-2D as 18-19 balanced. We now can get out with hands like xx, xxx, xx, Qxxxxx

[Paul Meerschaert]

That's an interesting idea Bob, and I would embrace it if I saw a major flaw with the structure as it is. As I feel the key to any bidding system is distribution and not strength, I am now giving up the auction 1C-1D-2H showing the 11-14 NT with 4 hearts, to me that seems like a very important and common hand type. You would need to incorporate a bid to show this hand, and still be safe when partner has that weak hand with no major.

[Bob Balderson]

I like it. Because you've given up the sexy 2C opener (I assume your 2C opener is strong since 1C isn't forcing), you can cover a lot of other awkward hands.

Ques: Can you get out in 2D with something like xxx, xx, Qxxxxx, xx if you respond 1S and partner rebids 1N? Or get out in 3D if partner reverses into 2N?, Or, do you just pass 1C and hope for the best?

[Paul Meerschaert]

I can get out in 2D if partner re-bids an 11-14 NT via 2 way New minor hence with 10xxx, x, qxxxxx, xx. The bidding can go 1C-1H-1S-2C and partner is forced to bid 2D. The following structure applies after 1C-1S-2D (18-19 NT) 2NT is a puppet to 3C which is qxxxxx of clubs or worse. 2H, is a NT invite, 2S puppets to 2Nt, and now all your 3 level bids are specialty hands