Saturday, July 16, 2005 9:41 PM

1NT Invitational 5-5's

PITBULLS:

5-5 invitational hands have always plagued partnerships & bidding theorists after a 1NT opening. You have 5-5 in the majors or 5-5 with a major and a minor with partner opening 1NT, how do you handle them ? If you have a terribly weak hand you just pick your major and transfer to it and pass. If you have a game forcing hand you use Jacoby Transfers and transfer to the higher ranking and then bid the lower ranking one. All game forcing 5-5 with a major or both majors are handled this way. With game forcing auctions , you can have additional tools that ask for shortness and are slam orientated. Transfers can only handle weak 5-5’s or strong 5-5’s as there is no room for invitational sequences.

What tool in Bridge distinguishes between invitational hands and game forcing hands? If you guessed the relay , you win (Lebensohl style) . If you have an invitational 5-5 with hearts as the anchor suit you can use the handy relay with transfers. A clever solution is to use both Jacoby Transfers & Stayman to solve the problem coupled with the concept of a major acting as the anchor suit.. Division of labour is required. Invitational 5-5’s with hearts as the anchor suit , are handled by Jacoby Transfers and a relay. Invitational 5-5’s with spades as the anchor suit , are handled by Stayman and a relay.

OK back to the division of labour . Here is how Jacoby Transfers handle 5-5’s with hearts as the anchor suit..

1NT 2¨

2© 2ª

2NT forced relay except confirming hearts as trump & accepting game

3§ 5♥ - 5♣

3¨ 5© - 5♦

3© 6 ©, Game Invite

3ª 6 ©, 5 ª, GF

3© accepts game invite in © breaks relay

What about the invitational 5-5 with spades as the anchor suit ? ? Stayman is the tool to handle these hands with the help of a “puppet or relay” . A relay is a switch that normally tells partner that invitational sequences are coming. Ok. You bid Stayman and partner bids 2♦ so what is 2♥ by you ? This is a Smolen relay in a Stayman sequence showing all the invitational spade hands ( spades is the anchor suit) .

If you have a weakish 5-4 hand and no game interests , you can just pass the spade relay. The sequences are outlined below

1NT 2§

2¨ 2© relay to 2ª

2ª forced (may have a weak 54xx hand) can not break relay

2NT 5 ♠, 4 ♥, Game Invite

3§ 5 ♠ , 5♣ . Game invite

3¨ 5 ♠, 5♦ Game Invite

3© 5 ♠, 5 ♥ Game Invite

3ª 5 ♠, 4 ♥, 31 in minors, Game Only

3NT 5 ♠, 4 ♥, 22 in minors, Game Only

4§/4¨ 5 ♠, 4 ♥, 3/4 m, Slam Try; Bid short minor

Do not forget that when you are looking at an invitational 5-5 with spades as the anchor suit you do not know what the NT opener is going to reply to your Stayman . If she replies spades of course you have found your 5-4 spade fit. If she responds hearts , 2♠ is now a relay to 2NT and now you show your invitational 5-5 with spades as the anchor suit.