Tuesday, August 27, 2002 5:44 AM

 Forcing NT – Relays

 

PITBULLS:

 

            Subash plays 2 of a minor then 3 of a minor non forcing over a major opening . He realizes that the 10-12 HCP single minor hands are hopelessly difficult to describe after a forcing NT .If partner rebids a minor and you fit it with these 2/1 fix  hands , games and slams are missed regularly . If you still want to preserve those bids as a 2/1 game force then read on . Hearts and a minor rebid after a forcing NT is no problem because the 2 spade bid is available . A spade opener and a minor rebid still presents a  serious problem . Some experts have come up with his solution that I think is workable with established partnerships . After bidding a forcing NT to a spade opening , he plays a direct minor raise as strong and the invitational minor hands with a 2NT rebid . You still bid 2NT with a normal invitational bid also .This duality works because he has devised a relay system around the 2NT rebid that has a number of very good advantages besides freeing the direct minor raise as a strong minor raise hand . Partner is allowed to pass 2NT with flat dogs but if she does not , all bids have a systemic  meaning !!

 

            We have devised a relay system where opener can “get out” with a weak 5-5 or a weak 6-4 over a 2NT rebid by the forcing 1NT responder  . He also has bids to show a strong ( under a jump shift) 5-5 , 6-4 or 5-1-4-3 or 5-3-4-1 hands . This is useful also as a 4♥ game might be reached or 3NT with no stopper in the stiff avoided . I think serious partnerships should play his treatment or at least parts of it .

 

            First it is very useful to bail out of 2NT with weak 5-5 hands or weak 6-4 hands . We use the most natural bids to describe the strong hands . If you rebid diamonds over 2NT or bid 3♠ you have a strong  5-5 or a strong 6-4 respectively . This is very easy on the memory as it is consistent with Lebensohl .

 

            O.K. all other bids over 2NT are to play a partial and have a systemic meaning . Good partnerships use impossible “idle” bids and give them a meaning . This meaning is normally a relay which brings in a number of additional inferences. In this auction ,  3♣ over the 2NT rebid is idle and Fred uses it as a relay to 3♦ . After partner relays to 3♦ , 3♠ is the weak 6-4 . 3♥ is impossible so he uses it to show the weak 2 suiter in spades and diamonds . 3NT is available after the relay so he uses it to describe the stiff heart hand 5-1-4-3 . If you do not relay , and bid 3♥ ( your 3 card suit) you are showing the strong 5-3-4-1 and showing you stiff club .

 

            The above is our treatment of spades and a diamond rebid . The relay is not so hard on the memory and has great advantages . Do not forget that you can still pass 2NT with a flat dog or bid 3NT with a suitable flat hand and not bothering going thru the relay .

 

            The spade/club hands have more room to maneuver . Therefore you have two idle bids to play with as relays . Again we use the natural bids to show the strong hands . 3♣ shows the strong 5-5 and 3♠ shows the strong 6-4 .. 3♦ is idle so that is used to relay to 3♥ and now 3♠ shows the weak 6-4 and 3NT shows the weak 5-5 . We has the luxury of using 3♥ as a relay also so partner must bid 3S and then 3NT shows the stiff heart hand again 5-1-3-4 .

 

            The heart/minor hands have the advantage of the 2 spade bid being idle and available for the 1NT bidder . You can still use some of the relays with heart openers also . Hearts and diamonds are the same treatment virtually as the spade/diamond hands as 3♣ is available for the relay to 3♦ and 3♠ can be used as the weak 5-5 hand and 3♥ as the strong 6-4 and 3NT as the stiff spade 1-5-4-3 . The direct 3♠ can show 3-5-4-1 .

 

            Hearts and clubs are similar. The natural bids are strong  - 3♣ shows the strong 5-5 and 3♥ shows the strong 6-4 . A direct 3 spade bid shows the 3-5-1-4 hand and the 3♦ relay shows the weak 5-5 and 6-4 hands . 3♠ over partners 3♥ relay shows the weak 6-4 and 3NT shows the weak 5-5 .

 

            Using idle bids as relays make a lot of bridge sense to me . These bids are so impossible on the auction that they twig the memory that they must be a relay . Fred uses them wisely so you can differentiate between weak and strong 5-5’s and 6-4’s over a 2NT bid by a forcing 1NT bidder . He uses the relays to show the weak hands and natural bidding  for the strong hands which is a memory aid in itself . I think the memory work is worth it .