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Should I Transfer?
Your partner opens 1NT. You hold:
J7642
102
Q32
J32
Should you transfer to 2?
Or should you leave it in 1NT?
What about:
87642
82
832
832 ?
What about all the other lousy hands with a
5-card major?
I used to try to use my judgment. Maybe with the
second hand (no outside help), I would have transferred. Perhaps
the first hand (with the side queen and jack) was more suitable
for notrump, so I would have passed.
Sometimes I guessed right, sometimes not. I'd
drive myself crazy.
Now, I have a better solution. I always (as
100%) transfer. Whenever I have a bad hand (no game interest) with
a 5-card major, and partner opens 1NT, I transfer to the major.
This has been working more than well enough, and I can free my
brain to worry about other (more difficult) areas of the
game. I no longer have to worry about zigging when I should
have zagged.
A few notes:
1) If partner has made a 1NT overcall,
that changes things a bit. Now, I don't automatically transfer
with all 5-card majors. If I have length in the opponents' suit
and/or lots of notrump-looking cards, I might leave it in 1NT. For
example, LHO opens 1
and partner overcalls 1NT, I'd probably pass with :
J7642
J32
J32
32.
With partner likely having heart length (picture
Q1054),
we rate to do poorly in spades. Furthermore, partner's 1NT
overcall could sometimes be off shape, and might even include a
singleton. He might overcall their 1
opening with 1NT holding:
K
Q1054
AQ103
KQJ3.
Opposite such a hand, it would not be fun to
play in 2.
2) If partner overcalls (typically after an
opposing preempt) with a strong and natural 2NT or 3NT, I don't
automatically transfer. High-level notrump overcalls, while
"natural and balanced," are often off-shape. Especially
a 3NT overcall can be based on a running suit. So, when my partner
overcalls notrump at a high level, I am not in any rush to
transfer to a so-so 5-card major.
Those 2 little notes are minor points. Please
don't lose my main lesson, which is to try my theory of always
transferring to any 5-card major when partner opens
1NT and you have a bad hand.
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