This Week in Bridge
(597) Transfer Advances Over Negative Double
© AiB Robert S. Todd
Level: 10 of 10 robert@advinbridge.com
General
When our LHO opens the bidding, partner makes a simple overcall, and Responder makes a negative double, then we are in the position of the Advancer. We can choose to play transfers in this position as well. By doing so, we give ourselves an additional step and we often allow ourselves more ways to raise partner. These transfer bids also cause some more difficulty for the opponents – making the meaning of their bids less clear. Let’s see how they work.
Transfers by Advancer over a Negative Double
When partner makes a 1-level overcall and Responder makes a negative double, let’s see how we use transfer responses. Our transfer bids start with a Redouble, we usually keep 1NT as a natural bid, and the cuebid remains the limit raise (the approach is called “transferring through the cuebid.”)
We do not promise a lot of points for making these bids, but the fewer HCP we have, the more shape we should have.
Example 1
Opener Partner Responder Advancer
1♣ 1♠ X __?
XX* Transfer to ♦, usually 6-card ♦ suit, almost any values possible.
1NT Natural, usually about 8-11 points.
2♣ Cuebid, limit raise or better. 3+card ♠ support, 10+ points
2♦* Transfer to ♥, usually 6-card ♥ suit, most any values possible.
2♥* Constructive ♠ raise, 7-9 points, 3-4 card ♠.
2♠* Weak raise to 2♠, 3-7 points, 3 card ♠.
The most useful bids in this structure are the ways to raise partner. The cuebid, limit raise, is similar to when we play natural bidding, but here we have a constructive raise and a weak raise. This weak raise lets us apply the law of total tricks (raise partner with 3-card support), but not have them get too caried away, thinking that we have a decent hand.
Let’s look at another example so we have a sense of how these transfer advances worth in other auctions:
Example 2
Opener Partner Responder Advancer
1♦ 1♥ X __?
XX* Transfer to ♠, usually 5-card ♠ suit, almost any values possible.
1♠* Transfer to ♣, usually a 6-card ♣ suit, almost any values possible.
1NT Natural, usually about 8-11 points.
2♣* Constructive ♥ raise, 7-9 points, 3-4 card ♥.
2♦ Cuebid, limit raise or better. 3+card ♥ support, 10+ points
2♥* Weak raise to 2♥, 3-7 points, 3-4 card ♥.
Some players play these transfer advances even when Responder has not made a negative double – when they have passed. But this is a bit more complicated because there is no XX available to start the transfer – this means we either need to use 1NT as a transfer bid or settle for having one fewer transfer bid available to us. For this reason, many partnerships only use this approach when Responder has made a negative double.
Conclusion
We keep finding more ways to use transfer bids in competition. Transfer bids by the Advancer give us some more ways to describe our hand. They are particularly useful in giving us more ways to raise partner’s suit. It is great to be able to raise partner with 3-card support and a very bad hand. If you like gadgets, especially transfer bids, consider adding these to your bidding system.