Transfers have become a larger and larger part of both competitive and constructive bidding.  These transfers help with playing the contract from correct side, but they are also effective in searching for a fit while keeping the auction at a low level.  One auction where transfers by Responder can be helpful is after Opener has started with a suit opening bid at the 1-level (1X) and then made a jump rebid of 2NT – showing a balanced hand with 18-19 points.  Let’s see how transfers by Responder in this auction can help our side describe our hands in the limited space below 3NT. This treatment replaces Modified Wolff Signoff after a 2NT rebid.

When our side opens the bidding 2♣, we need an agreement about how we handle our responses.  There are a variety of ways to handle this -- 2♦ waiting, Steps, Controls, 2♥ Bust. People have strong opinions about 2♥ for showing a bust. The players who dislike it are worried about “wrong siding” a ♥ contract. The players who like it like knowing that 2♦ is game forcing, determining if we are going to game or not immediately.

When partner opens the bidding 1-minor (1m), a jump shift to 2-Major (2M) by Responder can be used for a variety of different hand types.  Both the standard approach of a strong jump shift and the common approach of a weak jump shift leave a lot to be desired.  The modern style is for good hands to go slow, which makes a strong jump shift less appealing because it eats up valuable bidding space.  With players responding to a 1m opening bid with 1M more and more aggressively, this makes using a weak jump shift less common even if it is our agreement.  For these reasons many experienced partnerships choose to use these jumps to 2M for other constructive bidding purposes.  Let’s look at uses of these jump shifts that can help us with some problem hands for Responder.

When we use Inverted Minors to raise partner’s suit, the traditional approach is to show Major suit stoppers and determine whether we can play a notrump contract.  A more sophisticated approach is to use an artificial structure that allows Opener to show their hand type and strength and allow Responder to determine where to play the final contract (and who should be declarer in notrump).  A similar approach to this structure can be used in 1♦ – 2♣ auctions as well.  Let’s look at some of these methods in detail.

Another approach for using 2♥ and 2♠ responses to 1-minor suit opening bids is to use these bids to show a variety of problematic hands that have length in both Major suits.  This method, called Reverse Flannery, is particularly effective after a 1♦ opening bid.  It originally comes from Precision where 1♦ is the only “natural” 1-minor opening bid.  Let’s look at how this works and see what types of hands these agreements can help us bid better.

When the auction begins 1X – 1Y – 1NT (where X and Y are different suit bids), the modern treatment is to play Two-Way New Minor Forcing.  This approach uses both 2♣* and 2♦* as artificial and forcing bids by Responder.  2♦* is an artificial game forcing bid, while 2♣* is generally used to start invitational bidding sequences.

New Minor Forcing is an excellent convention for continuing the auction when Opener has shown a balanced hand that is weaker than opening 1NT. But after a New Minor Forcing bid, the auction often gets complicated if we don’t go straight to game.  It can be confusing whether we are inviting game or trying to make a slam try – which bids are forcing and which bids are non-forcing?  2-Way New Minor Forcing is an upgrade to New Minor Forcing that allows Responder to better describe their hand and simplify and clarify the rest of the auction.