[TimG]

For those who play transfers after 1X-(DBL), at what level do transfers start?

If after 1H-(DBL) transfers start at 1NT, what do you do with a hand that would have bid 1NT if not playing transfers?

If after 1H-(DBL) transfers start at the two level so that 2C shows diamonds, 2D shows a constructive heart raise and 2H shows a weak heart raise, how do you show club?

Do people think this is a situation where transfers come in handy?

[whereagles]

I play

1M (dbl) 1NT...2M-1 = transfer
1♥ (1♠) dbl/1NT...2♦ = transfer (dbl = balanced, unlimited)

If you have a natural 1M (dbl) 1NT bid, you either pass and dbl later, or bid 2M with Hx in the major.

These transfers are handy in all the above situations, but you have to be careful to define the follow-ups by opener properly. If you don't do this, you're better off not playing them the first place.

[Echognome]

We play transfers starting from redouble. I always ask the question of "wrapping" when it comes to playing them, but generally we use 1NT as showing clubs and 1♠ as showing the balanced hand with a stopper (although because you bid 1♠ you can show it as a balanced hand without a stopper easier). What we do with the true XX penalty-oriented hands is pass.

[rbforster]

Previous discussion

There are various choices about what natural bids to give up if you shift things down by one, whether NT is still natural, etc. My personal choice after some thought is:

1. to pass with penalty-oriented "business XX" hands, hoping to double later for penalty
2. play 1NT as a transfer to clubs, and
3. play XX as a transfer to 1NT, showing a normal "1NT" bid possibly without a stopper, or various other hands with similar or better values like 2-suiters or 3-card limit raises (which bid again over partner's 1N).

[pclayton]

My preference is to play transfers starting with the xx. It just seems to be a benefit to put the doubler on lead in just about all cases.

[xcurt]

Rob F, on Oct 9 2008, 03:31 PM, said:

1. to pass with penalty-oriented "business XX" hands, hoping to double later for penalty

This means you give up on the "I've got a secret" double. I haven't thought through the implications of this, but I guess you can survive transferring to NT and bidding 2NT, invitational, or passing and bidding 2NT, invitational (and implying you would have penalty doubled at least one of the other two suits) since you're probably picking up a trick by putting doubler on lead on a hand where advancer is bankrupt or nearly so.

[FrancesHinden]

I've only started playing them recently, but I play

- transfers from 1NT to 2M-1 inclusive after 1M (x), with xx strong and 1H - x - 1S natural. We like to keep the strong redouble when they are more likely to have to play at the 2-level.

- transfers from xx to 1S inclusive after 1m (x)

the continuations are all rather different depending whether you are at the 1- or 2-level. After 1C x, 1S shows a constructive or better club raise. After 1D x 1S shows clubs and 2C shows a good diamond raise; 1NT is still natural in both auctions but obviously shows a positive desire to play in NT.

With a 'natural' 1NT response to 1M, we pass and then double, which shows about 7-9 balanced usually with a doubleton in partner's major.

[P_Marlowe]

We play transfers starting with 2C.

We started to play them recently, and discovered
that for the start, we wont remember that

XX is artificial
1NT is artificial,

so we decided to start with 2C.

With kind regards
Marlowe

[Free]

Echognome, on Oct 9 2008, 09:20 PM, said:

We play transfers starting from redouble. I always ask the question of "wrapping" when it comes to playing them, but generally we use 1NT as showing clubs and 1♠ as showing the balanced hand with a stopper (although because you bid 1♠ you can show it as a balanced hand without a stopper easier). What we do with the true XX penalty-oriented hands is pass.

I play the same and I'm very happy with it!

[awm]

I'd rather be forced to pass with a random intermediate balanced hand than pass with a really good hand. It's nice to set up a forcing auction when I have the cards for it, in case the opponents continue bidding.

So I play XX = natural, 1♠ = natural, transfers start from 1NT and pass with balanced hands too weak to redouble.