Tuesday, March 28, 2006 2:57 AM

Hand Evaluation - The Transfer Concept

PITBULLS:

You build your system around hand evaluation concepts. One common but little understood hand evaluation concept is the transfer. The transfer bid is not just for the strong NT to right side the contract. Transfers preserve bidding room when dealing with two suiters after a 1NT opening . In competition , you can keep the bidding low with transfers after a 1NT opener. The super accept is a concept all into itself associated with transfers.

We like Rubensohl because I do not like RHO jamming us out of the auction after we open 1NT. This advantage has been mentioned in previous articles as the main reason we switched away from Lebensohl to that transfer treatment. However , there is much more to transfers than meets the eyes. Transfers are in effect relays. Relays preserve bidding room as partner is put in a straight jacket so must “puppet” as ordered. Take this hand as an example. ♠x ♥AJ10x ♦AKxxxx ♣xx , partner opens 1NT with the opponents overcalling 2♠. Playing normal Lebensohl , you bid 3♦ forcing & partner bids 3NT. You make one more try by bidding 4♥ so partner bids 5♦ & all pass. Partners hand ♠KQJx ♥KQx ♦QJx ♣Kxx , they lead the club queen so you are –100. Now the Rubensohl auction. You bid 3♣ over 2♠ which is a transfer to diamonds so you have right sided the contract. You now bid 3♥ so you describe your 6-4 by the 3 level !! Partner now bids 3NT ending the auction for +660.

Another advantage of the transfer is the super accept. Same hand but this time the NT opener has ♠xxx ♥KQx ♦QJx ♣AKJx & bids 3♥ as a super accept in diamonds. Partner bids 3♠ and Blackwood gets you to your cold 6♦ . Even without a super accept , you should get to the correct diamond contract . Do not forget that partner may be only competing playing Rubensohl & plans to drop you. A super accept is just that , a super hand.

Kantar has added a twist to his version of Rubensohl ( everybody seems to have their own ideas ) . Kantar has realized that 5-5 in the minors are horrible to describe in competition after 1NT. Kantar reserves spades to describe both minors. If they overcall in hearts, you always have hearts to transfer to spades , so the spade bid is idle. If they overcall in spades , you do not need a spade bid as Stayman is defined as transferring to their suit . Kantar says play a spade Q bid as the minors also. Therefore spades always show the minors playing his version of Rubensohl.

1NT-2♠-3♠-P ♠xxx ♥Axxx ♦KJxx ♣AK opposite ♠x ♥xx ♦AQxxx ♣QJ10xx , you arrive at 6♦ for +1370. Try getting their without a Rubensohl toy showing the minors. Partner will probably just bid 3NT showing no stopper and you bungle to your minor game.

Do not forget a very obvious advantage of Rubensohl that gets overlooked with all the other advantages. You right side contracts from the strong NT hand. Leading up to the strong NT is certainly better than leading thru it. 1NT-2♠-3♥-P 4♥ but with ♠Kx ♥QJx ♦Axxx ♣AQxx you have wrong sided the 4♥ game. Partner holds ♠xx ♥AKxxx ♦Kxxx ♣Jx and 4♥ goes down one but cold from your side.

Transfers after a major opening has many of the advantages of the transfer concept. A transfer does not specify a HCP range so it can be weak to 40 HCP . The bid allows super accepts & gives meaning to sequences where you did not transfer. A simple major raise as opposed to a transfer into the suit can have two different meanings. A transfer can be used as a fit showing major raise if you support partners major later. Not enough players untap the power of the transfer concept.