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Jacoby Transfers |
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This is an extract from the ‘Beginner's Pages' and the basic Jacoby transfers convention is briefly covered. Jacoby transfers are covered in much more detail in chapter 3 of the advanced NoTrump bidding book. |
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When partner opens 1NT then he has said it all – a balanced hand in the 15-17 point range (playing a strong NoTrump), with at least two cards in every suit. |
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| Hand 1 |
Hand 2 |
Hand 3 |
Hand 4 |
Hand 5 |
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| ♠ |
982 |
♠ |
J92 |
♠ |
K92 |
♠ |
K92 |
♠ |
K92 |
| ♥ |
Q10852 |
♥ |
AQ1052 |
♥ |
AQ1052 |
♥ |
AQ1052 |
♥ |
AQ1052 |
| ♦ |
J87 |
♦ |
J87 |
♦ |
J87 |
♦ |
A107 |
♦ |
A107 |
| ♣ |
Q9 |
♣ |
95 |
♣ |
95 |
♣ |
Q5 |
♣ |
A5 |
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Consider these five hands after partner has opened 1NT (15-17). They all have a decent 5 card ♥ suit and either ♥'s or NT could possibly be the final contract with all five. But Hand 1 is weak, Hand 2 is invitational, Hand 3 is worth game, Hand 4 is slam invitational and Hand 5 is definitely worth slam. So how do we inform partner that we have a ♥ suit and then also tell partner about our strength? |
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With traditional natural methods you bid naturally. So 1♥, weak with hand 1. With Hands 3,4 and 5 you bid 3♥, forcing. Quite what you are meant to do with hand 2 is undefined. Just toss a coin? Of course it's totally unworkable, you cannot define weak, invitational and strong hands with just two bids (2♥& 3♥ ); the solution was found by Oswald Jacoby. With all of these hands your first bid is 2♦ , a transfer that says that you have 5 ♥ 's (any strength) and requests partner to bid 2♥ , regardless of his strength or ♥ holding. The same applies with a ♠ suit, when 2♥ is the transfer bid. |
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Once opener complies with our transfer request, we then show the strength of our hand. In all of these examples we have a 5 card ♥ suit. Our initial transfer promises at least 5 cards in the suit and so we do not repeat it. All of these hands are relatively balanced and so NoTrump is the natural rebid. |
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How does the bidding progress with our 5 example hands? |
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| Hand 1: |
1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - pass. This hand is not strong enough to bid again. You need 8-9 points to invite and so the only options are to pass the original 1NT or to transfer and then pass. Transferring usually works out best. |
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| Hand 2: |
1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - 2NT. An invitational sequence. With a minimal hand, opener may either pass or bid 3♥ . With a maximum he bids either 3NT or 4♥. |
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| Hand 3: |
1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - 3NT. This shows game values with 5 ♥ 's. If opener has 4 ♥ 's he will convert to 4♥; if opener has only 2 ♥ 's he will pass 3NT; if opener has 3 ♥ 's he usually chooses to go for the 5-3 fit but may pass 3NT with good holdings in the other suits. |
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| Hand 4: |
1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - 4NT. This is a slam invitation showing a 5 card ♥ suit. |
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| Hand 5: |
1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - 4♣ . As we use 4NT as a natural slam invitation this is Gerber, asking for aces on the way to slam. Ace asking conventions (Blackwood and Gerber) are covered elsewhere. |
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Fine, but what does responder do if he has an unbalanced hand and so does not want to bid No Trump at his 2nd turn? Perhaps a 6 card suit, or a 2nd suit? Llet's have a look at responding hands that are not relatively balanced: - |
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| Hand 6 |
Hand 7 |
Hand 8 |
Hand 9 |
Hand 10 |
Hand 11 |
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| ♠ |
2 |
♠ |
J9 |
♠ |
92 |
♠ |
92 |
♠ |
J9 |
♠ |
92 |
| ♥ |
Q10852 |
♥ |
AQ1052 |
♥ |
AQ1052 |
♥ |
AQ1052 |
♥ |
AQ10652 |
♥ |
AQ10652 |
| ♦ |
J8754 |
♦ |
J872 |
♦ |
KJ874 |
♦ |
AK107 |
♦ |
872 |
♦ |
KJ87 |
| ♣ |
Q9 |
♣ |
95 |
♣ |
9 |
♣ |
A5 |
♣ |
95 |
♣ |
9 |
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Consider the first 4 hands after partner has opened 1NT (15-17). They all have a decent 5 card ♥ suit but this time they also have a 2 nd suit, so how should we bid them? |
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They all have a decent 5 card ♥ suit and either ♥ 's, ♦ 's or No Trump could possibly be the final strain with all four. But Hand 6 is weak, Hand 7 is invitational, Hand 8 is worth game and Hand 9 is worth slam. How do we inform partner that we have a ♥ suit plus a ♦ suit and then also tell partner about our strength? |
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We start off with a 2♦ transfer bid with all of the hands. |
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Once opener complies with our transfer request, we then show the strength of our hand. In the examples 6-9 we have a 5 card ♥ suit. Our initial transfer promises at least 5 cards in the suit and we can now bid our 2 nd suit naturally (if we are strong enough). But be careful, a transfer followed by a 2 nd suit is always game forcing. |
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So how does the bidding progress with our first 4 example hands (6-9)? |
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| Hand 6: |
1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - pass. This hand is not strong enough to bid again. You need 8-9 points to invite and it's best to play unbalanced hands in a suit contract. You are not strong enough to look for a ♦ fit as a 3♦ bid would be game forcing. |
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| Hand 7: |
1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - 2NT. An invitational sequence, you cannot bid ♦ 's as that would be game forcing; you really have no option but to treat the hand as balanced. With a minimal hand, opener may either pass or bid 3♥ . With a maximum he will bid either 3NT or 4♥ . |
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| Hand 8: |
1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - 3♦. This shows game values with 5 ♥ 's and 4+ ♦ 's. Partner should know enough to select the best game contract - 3NT, 4♥ or (rarely) 5♦ . |
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| Hand 9: |
1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - 3♦. This sequence starts off the same, you inform partner of your two suits and later investigate the best slam. |
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The last two hands (10&11) have a 6 card ♥ suit, how do we handle them? We start with a transfer and then bid the suit naturally - 3♥ is invitational to game and 4♥ is to play: - |
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| Hand 10: |
1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - 3♥. This shows an invitational hand with 6 ♥ 's. Partner will either pass or bid 4♥ . |
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| Hand 11: |
1NT - 2♦ - 2♥ - 4♥. This shows game values with 6 ♥'s. Partner will normally pass. If you play Texas Transfers then this sequence is mildly slam invitational. |
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Remember, you need a 6 card suit to transfer and then bid the suit again. If you transfer and then bid a new suit, this is game forcing |
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For a much more extensive coverage of transfers, refer to chapter 3 of the No Trump bidding book. |
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Pattaya Bridge Club - |
www.pattayabridge.com |
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