Last time we talked about using the stayman convention to ask partner, who opened one notrump, if he has a four-card major suit. But, let’s assume you hold a five or six card heart suit; so you already know that you should probably bid game in hearts, but, for tactical reasons, it would be better if the notrump hand remained hidden from the opponents.
We can accomplish this by using a new tool – the Jacoby transfer convention. When partner opens one notrump and you hold six hearts, you bid one suit lower, two diamonds, which instructs notrump partner to bid the next higher suit: hearts. You know partner holds at least two hearts; since you hold six hearts and at least 10 HCP points, you then raise to four hearts because you know you belong in game and have the golden fit: eight hearts.
But what if you hold 10 HCP and only five hearts? How can you let partner know you only have five hearts so that, if he has only two hearts, he can play in notrump?
Once again, you would invoke the transfer bid of two diamonds so that partner rebids your heart suit; THEN, you jump bid three notrump, giving partner the choice of playing in three notrump (if he has only two hearts) OR going on to four hearts (if he has three hearts). This is a pretty slick way of making sure that you and partner arrive at the best contract for the partnership.
Now, what if you have six hearts but hold only eight or nine HCP? In this case, partner opens one notrump, and you still respond two diamonds telling partner to bid two hearts. With the golden fit of eight hearts, you know the partnership belongs in a heart contract, so you bid three hearts, which “invites” partner to go to game (four hearts) with a 16 or 17 HCP hand, otherwise, just stop at partscore.
But that still leaves the nasty little problem of you holding eight or nine HCP and only five hearts – now you have two issues – the question of hearts or notrump AND the question of partscore or game! What to do, what to do?
In this case, you still respond two diamonds (transfer), and partner bids the required two hearts. Now you bid TWO notrump, which tells partner that you hold only five hearts AND only eight or nine HCP. Finally, your notrump partner can respond to your two notrump by passing or bidding three hearts, three notrump or four hearts depending on the strength of his hand and number of hearts. Pretty slick, eh?
Thus far, we have always dealt with an opening hand in the 13 to 21 point range. What if you hold a really strong hand with 22-plus HCP? With a hand this strong, going to game is almost guaranteed – but how do you handle such a strong hand? The answer to this question will be subject of the next column.
Good luck and good bridge.
