Sunday, February 09, 2003 7:03 PM

Wolff Relays - Revisited

PITBULLS:

A 2NT rebid quite often leads to some pretty clumsy auctions and good slams are missed or you arrive in the wrong contract or you are in game when a partial will do nicely . I think reserving the 3♣ bid as a relay opens up so many possibilities and gives up so little . The biggest advantage of any relay in bridge is the negative inference that you have a different set of meanings to bids if you did not relay.

The most obvious one is the 3NT bid . If you chose to relay first and then you bid 3NT you are making a mild slam try in partners minor . Partner can have 3 ,4 or 5 of the minor but you do not care because she has the option of passing 3NT and you have done your duty . Supporting partners minor initially can just be trying for a preference to your major or getting to a different game than 3NT.

The relay can differentiate between broken suits and solid suit slam tries . If you relay before you bid your suit again at the 4 level you have a broken suit slam try . If you do not relay and take it slowly but still insist on your major you are making a solid suit slam try .

With the relay , you can distinguish between slam tries and distributional hands just trying to find the best game or elicit a major suit preference . Going through the relay first and then continuing to bid should be a slam try . Bidding naturally without the relay should be just natural with no slam interest and just describing your distribution for the best game. The 2^Nd auction below should be strong enough to play in 4NT .

1♣	1♠
2NT	3♦
?

1♣	1♠
2NT	3♣
3♦	4♦/4♣/3♥

1♦	1♠
2NT	3♥

The auction above is natural with slam interest . The relay keeps the level the same but indicates no slam interest immediately . This is quite an advantage for low level slam investigation.

Of course a handy use of the relay is bailing out to a partial . You responded 1♠ with K1098 x J1098xx xx over partners 1♣ and 2NT rebid . Nice that you can bail out to 3♦ with the 3♣ relay . The only time the relay is broken is if the 2NT bidder has 3 card major support. Sometimes this is passed.

Klimo has invented his own relays over 2NT , Cabay has his own relays and of course Wollf relays are used by many partnerships. One thing is clear is that a 2NT rebid quite often spells trouble with a non established partnership. Having a 3♣ relay will clarify a lot of auctions and win IMPS.