Friday, November 17, 2006 2:15 AM

Wolffe relay - Club hands

PITBULLS:

The flat strong club hands are a problem in standard bidding. There are no forcing to game bids that described a nice 6 card club suit with a balanced hand. Club slams can be easily missed by concealing your nice 6 card suit with a 2NT rebid. A 3NT rebid should be a gambling 3NT in your minor with an outside card. Most experts do resort to a 2NT rebid with these hands as a way out. Playing Wolffe relays , there is a way to describe these hands. When partner relays to 3♦ , break the relay with a 3NT bid . This shows these hand types.

The main purpose of the Wolffe relay is to show a flat slam try in partners minor , by relaying & bidding 3NT by responder. This excellent treatment is too valuable to waste by not playing Wolffe relays. The next main advantage of Wolffe relays is the negative inference of not using the relay. This means all natural bids are strong and slam invitational. This is a great advantage for slam hands.

The Wolffe relay also allows you to bid a 4 card major with a 5 or 6 card diamond suit & bailing out in diamonds after partner bids 2NT. The Wollfe relays also describe the 4-4 in the major hands if partner bypassed a 4 card spade suit after rebidding 2NT. Wolffe relays also show solid major slam tries and broken suit slam tries. Wolffe relays are far superior to NMF.

Back to the strong club hands. I held this hand tonight . ♠Qx ♥AJx ♦Kx ♣AKQ10xx which I opened 1♣ and BJ bid 1♦. Bidding 3♣ non forcing and invitational makes no sense at all so you rebid 2NT. Breaking the relay shows this hand if partner does decide to relay, but what if she does not ? Of course she has a good hand because she is bidding naturally, so a 3NT bid by opener at her first opportunity should show this hand type.

Bailing out in partners club suit is difficult playing Wolffe relays. You must subside at the 4 level which may be another one down but it is still better than being in 3NT down 4 vulnerable or doubled. Partner must relay and after the 3♦ bid , 4♣’s ends the auction. This is the 2NT rebid forcing to 4 of a minor part of our system J.