After a player has opened 1NT and the next hand Doubles, assuming you have
very few points, say less than 6, as Responder there are a number of "escape mechanisms" that you can use.
Some players advocate a Redouble to say that they haven't got a five card suit and assume that if
opener has one they can safely play in it (a guaranteed 5-2 fit unless Responder is 4-4-4-1).This only works
if Opener has a five card suit otherwise the lowest 4 card suit is bid.
Another way is to bid your lowest three card suit and if it is Doubled opener bids up and you hope that
you can find the best fit, Doubled or not.
There are many conventions around. David Stevensons excellent web page has four pages of them so if you are interested go there and have a look but beware most have a lot to remember and many have serious drawbacks
My experience is that
if you have a balanced hand with either no single five+ suit or you haven't two four
or five card Majors - pass and hope.
Another important point to remember- half the time if you have five points the Doubler's partner may have
less than six
Do the Maths- Minimum Partner 12 - Doubler 15 - You 5 - total 32.
Maximum Partner 14 - Doubler - 18 You - 5 - total 37.
Doublers partner has between 3 and 8 and half the time will bid, letting you off the hook.
Obviously with a five card suit or longer you can just bid it- perfectly simple escape.
I would like to extend that to cover all five card suits and 4/4 or 5/5 in the Majors
(remember we are talking about very weak hands)
Transfer Bids work as follows
Partner opens 1NT: Next hand Doubles (or it goes Pass-Pass-Double and back to you)
Redouble is a Transfer to 2♣ and all other initial bids are Transfers
to the next suit- i.e 2 ♥ is a
Transfer to 2♠
But with one added twist- After a Redouble and the
mandatory 2 ♣ response you
rebid 2 ♦ (with 4/4 or 5/5 in Majors) and Opener bids their best
Major or 2 ♥ if equal.
Not perfect but nothing is in Bridge
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