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Transfers With 4 Card Suit


eagles123

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I might consider it with QJT9 and out but the short answer is no:

 

- They haven't doubled 1NT yet. 2M might get doubled

- If they double 1NT, we might be able to scramble. If they double 2M which could be a 4-2 fit there is no escape

- If p has has 4-card support he will often superaccept

- If p has 3-card support, he might compete after opps balance

- If p has 2-card support, it is likely worse than 1NT even if they don't double

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a general question, is it ever right to transfer over 1N with a 4 card suit

 

- does this depend on the strength on 1NT

 

if so what would be an example hand where you would transfer

 

many thanks

 

Eagles

 

I presume by this you mean "is it right to use a standard transfer that normally shows 5 cards ...", I would say no, but over a wide range no trump a system using systemic 4 card inv+ transfers can be useful.

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the answer is yes. if you're playing a weak no trump, and have something close to 0, 4th hand is likely to have a penalty double. by transferring you make it, on the whole, more difficult for them to extract a penalty, even if they play double of the transfer as showing a hand which would have doubled 1nt.

 

this is rather scoring and vulnerability dependent. at teams it's often best to take your medicine in 1nt. but at pairs you're often getting a bottom for a moderate penalty, say 500 against 430.

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Playing Stayman and at least red suit transfers, then it would be non standard - though as noted as above you'll sometimes get away with it.

 

If you play Keri (or mods thereof) transfers on 4 (on some hand types) are routine - but then you're not playing Stayman in that way of doing things, 2 being used for other things.

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Bidding directly 4-card suit with bad hand after weak nt have some appeal, but normally transfering to 4-card major is bad, you give extra chance to paly doubled, and as mentioned earlier, runouts after nt should handle bad hand with 4-card major that cannot stayman.
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Xfers with a 4 cd suit are a lie sometimes used to escape partner's 1NT opener when you have a hopelessly weak hand and are non-vul. It can work on a given hand, but it erodes confidence. It can occasionally get you in serious trouble when pard superaccepts. It's like having a man who lies about having sex with some floozie. It may be the best way to go in the short term, but eventually it usually becomes a problem.

 

P.S. For what it is worth, I don't see the sense in playing Xfers over the weak NT. Fantunes and others do it, but they have a very complex and integrated system. Google 'Moscow Escapes' just for fun.

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a general question, is it ever right to transfer over 1N with a 4 card suit - does this depend on the strength on 1NT

if so what would be an example hand where you would transfer

IMO Transfers are artificial not natural bids. After a natural notrump bid, there are several conventional treatments that involve transfers to four card suits. In Tiger Bridge (1970), Jeremy Flint advocates 4 card transfers to escape undoubled, when partner opens a weak 1N and you have a weak hand. The hope is that 2M is less likely to be doubled than a weak notrump. He also suggests responding 3N with a weak hand and a long minor as an alternative tactic! In 1966, playing a weak notrump, Peter Pinder and he were 1st and 2nd in the McKenny Trophy
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I must admit, I transfer to a 4 card major almost always when I have a void or a singleton in the other major, and a hand that is so weak that wouldn't consider inviting.

 

I can't really complain of the outcome. With a doubleton in the other major was always disastrous, though.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Bidding a 4-bagger like it was a 5+ bagger is OK (out of desperation) if you are playing opposite a weak or Kamikazi NT opener and you are very weak yourself. Playing Xfers opposite weak NT openers makes no sense to me, although a few top pairs do so for reasons I don't understand. You might enjoy googling 'moscow escapes bridge'.
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