[miamijd]

apollo1201, on 2020-September-25, 00:31, said:

Interesting methods, thanks (not « advertised » in my country). With a former partner we had actually tried to imagine some kind of transfers but just played in one event.

There are two commonly used methods:

1. Wolff Signoffs:

After 2NT, 3 of responder's original major is slam-going with 6+, and 3 of the other major just shows 5-4.

3C and 3D have special meanings.

3D first - that is GF and checkback to see if opener has 3-card support for responder's major or 4 cards in the other major. Some like to show 4OM first; others like to show 3 in the bid major first. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, but either will work. 3NT shows neither 4OM nor 3 in the bid major.

3C is a puppet demanding opener bid 3D. Now:

1. Responder can pass if he just wants to play 3D. Perhaps responder bid 1D over 1C and now just wants to sign off in 3D.

2. Responder can bid 3 of his original major to sign off there.

3. Responder can bid 3 of the other major to indicate a hand that is slam-going in the other minor. That is:

Axxx xx x AQJxxx

After 1D - 1S - 2NT, responder can bid 3H to show a hand with slam interest in clubs.

4. Responder can bid 3NT to show a hand with mild slam interest in opener's minor

5. Responder can bid 4C to show a hand with strong slam interest in opener's minor.



2. Transfers
Every suit transfers to the next higher suit. 3S shows clubs, but opener generally bids 3NT over 3S. You can pretty much intuit all the meanings. For example, you check for 3 of responder's major by transferring back into responder's major and then bidding 3NT:

1D 1S
2NT 3H(transfer)
3S 3NT

This shows 5H and a game-going hand.

I strongly prefer Wolff signoffs; they make a lot more intuitive sense to me. But that's just me.

Cheers,
Mike

[apollo1201]

miamijd, on 2020-September-25, 11:01, said:

There are two commonly used methods:

These are definitely not common where I live, thanks for sharing.

Here, it is more basic, but no memory load.

3m - GF with fit for opener, either mildly slamming or just GF but with a likely side singleton that prevents being sure of what the best game is, NT, m or M

3om - checkback of M

3M - 5-cd, slammish

3OM - if H, 5S + 4H, if S, 4H + 4S in case opener skipped his S (depending on honor position we might bypass S to rebid 2NT, but it would be better to swap 3H/3S so that opener becomes declarer in S)

4m/4om - clearly slammish

So not really sophisticated!

[Stephen Tu]

miamijd, on 2020-September-24, 14:40, said:

I don't think I want to be in 4H. In fact, I don't think I want to be in hearts at all. I want to be in clubs, and in IMPs, I want to be in 5 of them. How to get there is tougher.

Are we sure 5c is better than 4H? It's not clear to me. What's the line? Play on clubs first or hearts first? What line in clubs? If clubs split 3-1, might have to end up hooking the hearts anyway. In hearts we can survive 2 clubs offside if the hearts split 3-3 with Q onside.[Edit: Never mind, 5c is probably better by maybe 10%. I think I would probably play ca, if nothing falls play another club; if an honor falls start trying to ruff hearts then do various things if the HQ shows up etc.]


As for pilowsky, of course you should not get to 4H, just play 2H and play better to make 4 is normal. Looking at both hands, 4H is probably close to 50%, so you'd want to be there at IMPs, but that's only looking at partner's hand and knowing he has great club fit, aces in your short suits, and the KH. Opposite the vast majority of hands 4H will be a terrible contract and often even 2H might be in jeopardy, so you stay as low as possible.

[dsLawsd]

This hand is too strong for a 15-17 1NT. So 1♦-1♥ followed by 2NT or even 3♣at IMPs. Your heart K is pulling full value so game is at least 50%, probably considerably more. Hand evaluation is great for balanced no-trump, but requires more judgment at suits. At matchpoints one will have to rely on partner's judgment as to whether to venture to game or not. That might depend upon the strength of the field or section and the state of your score up to that point.

At rubber bridge game should be reached IMO.