Those Useful Conventions - Transfer Advances (Part 1)
Marc Smith

This month and the next we take a look at one of the best-kept secrets of expert bidding: transfers.

Most of you play them in no-trump sequences, so you understand the concept. As you know, transfers allow you to describe many more hand types than do natural methods. The primary reason for this is that you can use the same initial bid (the transfer) to cater for weak, intermediate and strong hands. There are many other situations in which transfers can also be very useful. In the 1970s, Jeff Rubens introduced the concept of using transfers in response to an overcall. This is one of the most significant bidding innovations of recent times and yet, for some reason, the idea never caught on outside of expert circles. Quite why this should be so is particularly perplexing, since Transfer Advances of Overcalls have one major advantage over just about every other convention ever devised: they do not take away a single natural bid.

Let's start with three bidding problems:

In each case, the auction starts:

You would like to bid 2 on each of these hands - but for a different reason. With Hand A, you would want 2 to be non-forcing and non-invitational, since 2 will surely be a better contract than 1. Furthermore, if the opponents bid again, you want partner to compete if he has some kind of diamond fit.

When you are dealt Hand B, you want to bid a natural and constructive 2.

With Hand C, you want to investigate a slam. Ideally, you would like to start with a descriptive and forcing 2 before supporting hearts.

With your regular partner, you will have agreed to play a change of suit in response to an overcall as showing one of these hand types. On the others, you will have to find some other way of bidding your hand. Wouldn't it be nice if you could bid 2 on all of them, and have it mean whatever you want? Transfers give you that luxury. So, how do they work?

First - when do transfers apply? You can set your own parameters for using Transfer Advances with your regular partner, but here is one rule that works effectively:

Transfer Advances apply after any second-seat non-jump suit overcall at the one, two or three level.

Next, which bids become transfers? Here is the basic premise:

Bids between a simple cue-bid and a simple raise are conventional (rotated).

Thus, a transfer into overcaller's suit now becomes the sound raise. (If this sounds obscure, do not give up - yet!)

Other bids are unaffected, but here is a sound set of principles that works effectively:

Many of you will already follow some variation of these, but I have included them here for the sake of completeness.

The basic concept of the Transfer Advance is that you rotate the meaning of all bids between and including the simple cue-bid to the bid below the raise. That may sound complicated, but a couple of examples should make it clear. Let's say the auction begins:

 RHO You LHO Partner - - 1 1 Pass ?

Most pairs would use a bid of 2 as a sound spade raise and 2 as a weak raise. Playing Transfer Advances does not change this at all, because there are no bids between the cue-bid (2) and the bid below a raise (2).

Now, let's change the auction slightly RHO You LHO Partner - - 1 1 Pass ?

Now there are two relevant bids: 2 and 2. Playing standard methods, 2 would show a sound spade raise and 2 would be natural and either weak, constructive, or forcing depending on your preference. Playing Transfer Advances, you simply switch the meaning of those two bids.

Thus: RHO You LHO Partner 1 1 Pass 2

This 2 bid is now a transfer to hearts. (We will see later how the auction continues.)

RHO You LHO Partner 1 1 Pass 2

This is now the sound spade raise. Think of the 2 bid as a transfer to spades.

Now let's look at the auction with the most space between the bid suits: 

RHO You LHO Partner 1 1 Pass ?

In standard methods, 2 and 2 would be natural and 2 would be used to show the sound spade raise. Rotating these bids, 2 becomes a transfer to diamonds, 2 a transfer to hearts, and 2 a transfer to spades (i.e. the sound raise).

Notice that no natural bids have been lost: any hand that you could show with your current methods can still be shown, albeit via a different route.

This structure works equally well to give you much-needed extra space at higher levels: 

RHO You LHO Partner - - 2* 3 Pass ?*

Weak two

Using Transfer Advances:3 = natural and forcing3 = transfer to spades3 = good hand with a club fit

And even higher: RHO You LHO Partner 3 3 Pass ?

3NT = natural
4 = at least five diamonds
4 = at least five hearts
4 = slam try in spades
4 = normal raise

Next month, we will take a look at how the auction continues after your transfer. What does partner do? How do you describe your hand when he completes the transfer?