Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Hand Evaluation – Serious 3NT ( Super Accepts )

PITBULLS

The overwhelming advantage to the transfer bid is the "super accept" . I can not even imagine playing transfers at all without that excellent bidding concept. Established partnerships have already agreed to various super accepts over their 1NT opener or Rubensohl or transfers after a major opener & a T/O double. However , a super accept is really needed after 2NT opener & Jacoby transfers .

Here is where the "serious 3NT" can help us out with the super acceptance process. Getting to game or slam is the goal for IMPS. I do not believe in designing a structure that allows us to drop a transfer & bail to a partial. That is for matchpoint hounds at best. Pass 2NT with those weak hands with a weak 5 card major . You are just shooting dice one way or the other with a transfer anyway. 2NT may be the best spot rather than a shaky 5-2 major fit at a higher level. Partner does open off colour 2NT’s with a long minor or maybe off shape with 5-4 in the minors or worse 5-4-3-1 with a stiff honour in your transfer suit !!.

Establishing a fit early is Bridge happiness. This elementary Bridge fact means that Q bids kick in immediately & game or slam exploration proceeds. Over 2NT , it is slam exploration we are concerned with. We believe that a simple acceptance of a Jacoby transfer after 2NT should be considered a super accept showing 3 trump or more. The 2NT opener bids 3NT to say we do not like the transfer suit. This means that partner can initiate natural bidding in these sequences . A 4 level bid is not a Q bid as we have no fit established. 5-5's by responder are now simple to bid. ♠Axxxx ♥xx ♦x ♣AQxxx & partner now opens 2NT. You transfer to hearts & when partner bids 3NT not liking spades , 4♣ is a suit with slam interest. When partner accepts your transfer , your 4♣ bid is a Q bid with slam interest in spades possibly a grand slam.

This super accept style means you can still transfer hoping that you can drop partner at the 3 level. However , partner will only accept the transfer with 3 or more trump. ♠xxxxx ♥xx ♦xxx ♣xxx I would simply pass 2NT . ♠xxxxx ♥xxx ♦xxxxx ♣void or similar hands I would take a chance & transfer. I am not sure of the odds that partner has 5, 4 or 3 trump as opposed to just two , taking into consideration all the balanced distributions. The odds must be well in your favour that partner will not have a doubleton. When she does have a doubleton , you are going for a substantial minus in any case.

One concept in Bridge is written in stone. When you make a super accept in a major , 3NT is never , never suggesting a contract. With this simple way of making a super accept leads to innovative uses of the serious 3NT Q bid. When ♥'s are the agreed trump suit , 3NT can have its usual use of denying a spade control while making a slam try. Since you chose this route rather than Q bidding , you have good trump.

2NT-P-3♦-P

3♥-P-3NT ♠xx ♥AKJxx ♦Kxx ♣xxx

2NT-P-3♦-P

3♥-P-4♣ ♠xx ♥J10xxx ♦AKxx ♣Kx poorer hearts

With spades agreed , of course the serious 3NT Q bid is very handy to preserve bidding room & send a slam message .

2NT-P-3♥-P

3♠-P-3NT ♠AKJxx ♥Kxx ♦xxx ♣xx

Instead of Q bidding 4♥ , 3NT keeps the bidding low as you need a ♣ Q bid from partner. When partner Q bids 4♦ with ♠Q10x ♥AQx ♦AKQx ♣QJ10 the auction grinds to a halt. A standard auction is too gruesome to mention. Partner bids 3♠ to your transfer but you not sure she has spades , so you bid 3NT & miss a possible slam ? Your other alternative is to Q bid 4♥ & force the contract to a possible 5-2 fit & the wrong game contract or force Q bidding to the 5 level ?

I think the serious 3NT in these Jacoby transfer auctions always shows good trump or you would have chosen a different route. Nice understanding to have anyway.

Quite often with my partnerships , we open a creative 2NT bid with a long minor or a stiff king in the major and a 5-4-3-1. Having a way to break the transfer to 3NT prevents partner from trying a hopeless major game contract. A 3NT bid after a transfer auction should end all game going tries by responder.

For the matchpoint hounds , 2NT does not mean a game force. You can still pass partner’s transfer but you have the satisfaction of knowing that you are in at least a 5 -3 major fit. You only lose your gamble when partner bids 3NT . So you are in 3NT down 3 instead of 2NT -200 . Lose 3 ☺ Maybe you should have made a creative Texas transfer ?