By Valerie Rhead
Some players have fifteen years of experience and continue to learn. Other players have one year of experience fifteen times because they fail to realize that in bridge you must never stop learning.
One way to improve your bridge game is to learn conventions that can make your bidding more accurate. However, this can be overdone. If you learn too many fancy conventions, one member of the partnership may forget them or use them incorrectly, and your score will plummet. Some conventions are of use so rarely that it is not worth the space in your memory to include them. I still remember, when I was a newbie, an expert player looked at my convention card and just shook his head. I was playing more conventions than he was.
Two conventions that players should learn, however, and learn well, are TRANSFER and STAYMAN to respond to partner’s No-Trump opening. They are essential for two reasons. First they help you find those magic eight-card fits in the major suits, and second, they keep the good hand hidden from the opponents. Even when your strength is in the minor suits, TRANSFER and STAYMAN can rescue you from unplayable No-Trump contracts. Also, situations that would benefit from the use of these conventions come up frequently, so it’s worth the effort to use them.
The Jacoby TRANSFER convention is named after its founder Oswald Jacoby (1902-1984) who promoted this method to both find the magic eight-card major fit and also to keep partner’s strong hand hidden after partner’s No-Trump opening. We will look today at this convention as it applies to the major suits (Spades and Hearts). In the case where the responder is answering a No-Trump opening bid, a player may show a long major suit (5 cards or more) by making a TRANSFER bid. She bids the suit below the long suit. For example, if she has 5 hearts, her bid would be two Diamonds. Because the two Diamond bid does not mean Diamonds, opener must announce “TRANSFER” immediately to alert the opponents. An attractive feature of the TRANSFER bid is that it can be made with as few as zero high-card points. (It is easier to play with a seven card fit at the two level than to try to play one No-Trump with a weak dummy.)
After the TRANSFER bid, the opener completes the TRANSFER (two Hearts). The responder is still the captain. If she is weak, she will pass at this point. If she has 8-9 points, she will make an invitational bid (three Hearts with 6 hearts or two No-Trump). With 10 points, responder will bid game (four Hearts with 6 hearts or three No-Trump) and opener may correct to the four Heart game. The same sequence is followed if the opening hand is strong enough for a Two-No-Trump opening, but dummy needs only 4 or 5 points to take the partnership to game.
In the following weeks we will look at the strategy for “Minor Suit Transfers” and then STAYMAN.
If you wish to promote an activity in your bridge group or ask a bridge question, send the information to vrhead23@gmail.com and I will include it in this column.
HUNTSVILLE DUPLICATE BRIDGE CLUB
Games for the Huntsville Club are Tuesdays, 7:15pm, Trinity United Church 33 Main Street. Please arrive 15 minutes early. Contact Susan [email protected] for information and partnerships.
The following winners are for Tuesday, Jul 19 with 14 tables playing a Mitchell movement. North-South 1. Betty Fagin and Brian Brocklehurst; 2. Bob Schives and Bruce Elliott; 3. Chris Karn and Vern Foell; 4. Liz Barnes and Bev Howard; 5. Joyce Ruttan and Wayne Ruttan; 6. Marilyn Waltho and John Waltho; 7. Val Rhead and Peter Rhead; East-West 1. Susan Marshall and Jan Roberts; 2. Don Norman and Ross McArthur; 3. Fay MacDonald and Mary Whitehead; 4. Ann Cassie and Bruce Cassie; 5. Julie Anne Guselle and Catherine MacMillan; 6. Gail Titus and Paula Coleman; 7. Betty Robinson and Earla Burke
MUSKOKA DUPLICATE BRIDGE CLUB (Bracebridge)
Games at the Bracebridge Club are at the Knox Presbyterian Church, 120 Taylor Road 7pm Monday evenings. Please arrive 15 minutes before game time. For information or partnerships, call Brian at 705-645-5340 [email protected]
The following winners are from Monday, Jul 18 with 15 tables playing a Mitchell movement. North-South 1. Val Rhead and Peter Rhead; 2. Bob Schives and David Bryce; 3. Mary Luke and Donna McIntosh; 4. Mary Whitehead and Helen Pearson; 5. Gail Lederer and Hazel Bowes; 6. Bev Parlett and Vern Foel; 7. Betty Fagin and Brian Brocklehurst; 8. Andrea Killackey and Terry Killackey; East-West 1. Art Insley and Don Evans; 2. Betty Rintoul and Bev Howard; 3. Jennifer Thompson and Heather Hamilton; 4. Liz Barnes and Lyn Walisser; 5. Kel Andresen and Jim Smith; 6. Joanne Garvey and Kelly Andresen; 7. Mary Sedgewick and Jayne Joyner; 8. Ann Cassie and Bruce Cassie
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