Simple Transfer Bids are used after a player has opened 2NT and their
partner holds one five-card Major suit .
In response to 2NT: Responder bids 3 ♦ This shows at least 5 Hearts.
Opener Alerts and normally bids 3 ♥
You could agree to jump
to the four level with a maximum and good Heart support.This will help responder to decide whether to look
for a Slam if borderline
If Opener just bids 3 ♥ then responder
either Passes (5+ Hearts and NO points) bids
3NT (only 5 Hearts) or 4 ♥ (At least 6 Hearts and no slam
interest.
In response to 2NT: Responder bids
3 ♥ showing 5+Spades and the bids are as for Hearts.
As with 1NT many players use Transfers and then ignore the information as they hope to get the extra 10pts
if making 10 or 11 tricks.
Occasionally they will get a good score but on balance I think playing in the suit (assuming a fit, of course)
is better when you know at least one hand must have a shortage somewhere.
The above is relatively simple if you only have one five card suit but what do you do with 5/5 or 5/4.
With 5/5 See Stayman after 2NT Opening
With 5 Hearts and 4 Spades Transfer to Hearts
and then bid 3 ♠
With 5 Spades and 4 Hearts it is more difficult
but there is a way to cover this in Stayman. 5 Card Stayman over 2NT
As with 1NT over 2NT a direct bid of 3 ♠ seems to be redundant.
There's not a lot of point in using it to "transfer" to a Minor although you could if you wanted to
A simple way to use it is to make it an asking bid in the Minors when you have Slam prospects in Clubs
or Diamonds.
It can very complicated if you only have one Minor but with two it is quite simple and for that reason
I suggest only using a 3 ♠ bid if you have something
like ♠ A42 ♥ 83
♦ K765 ♣ KJ67
Bid 3 ♠ asking Partner to bid a 4+Minor if they have one or 3NT without. With anything better you would
probably explore for 6NT
See Stayman
after 2NT Opening
See 5 Card Stayman
after 2NT Opening
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