Transfer to Minors in NT

ACBL's SAYC has two ways to show 6+ card minor suits in response to a 1N opening bid.

With a "bust":

• 1N - 2 (transfer to 3)
• 3 - Pass = club bust or bid 3 with a diamond bust.

"Invitational":

• 1N - 3 = 6+ card suit and invitational to 3NT

If you play with a random partner and agree to play SAYC in general, you are expected to play the above bids unless you agree to other methods. The rest of the bids on this page are not part of SAYC.

Other Minor Suit Bids:

Another way of playing Minor Suit Transfers is this:
• 1N - 2 (transfer to 3)
• 3 - Pass
  And 
• 1N - 2N (transfer to 3)
• 3 - Pass

The problem with this method is that you can no longer make a direct 3 bid as invitational to 3N, although you can still bid 2N to invite game in NT and this has the advantage of not revealing your hand to the opponents.

Another option given on the BridgeBum.com site which lets opener show target suit quality is this:

With 4+ cards and 3+ HCP in the target suit, opener can super-accept the transfer by bidding 1 place below the target suit. Example:
1N - 2
3 - normal acceptance of the club transfer
2N - super acceptance of the club transfer. 
To super-accept a diamond transfer, opener would bid 3.

If a super-accept solidifies the honors in responder's hand to give him 6+ quick tricks, he can bid 3N (or more if he had intended to bid more to show slam interest).

If interested in this method, click the BridgeBum link above to see responder's rebids and more. They have a complete treatment there.
If the BridgeBum link no longer works, click on this line.

Responder's Rebids (where 2 transfers to 3 and 2N to 3 with 6+ )

1N - 2 (Transfer to 3 with 6+ .)
3 - ...  (Opener bids 3 without good Clubs.)
 ... -  P  (Responder passes with <8 HCP.)
 ... - 2N (Responder invites game with 8-9 HCP.)
 ... - 3N (Responder bids game with 10-12 HCP or more if hand is not slammish.)
 ... - 3// = (singleton or void, 11+ points)
 ... - 4 (Minorwood slam investigation.)
 ... - 4// = (Very good 4+ card suit. Slam try in clubs.)
 ... - 4N (Invites slam in clubs or NT.)
 ... - 5 (sign-off)
 ... - 5// = (Exclusion Blackwood.)
 ... - 5N (Invite grand slam; opener bids 6 with a min, 7 or 7N with a max.)
 ... - 6/6N (sign-off)

Rebids after opener bids 3 or 3 on a 2N transfer to diamonds are similar to the above.

To invite NT over a 1N opening, bid 2 (Stayman) and then bid 2N over any response.

Close


A method on Larry Cohen's web site uses super-accept by opener to show hand strength rather than target suit strength. After 1N-2...

With a minimum, opener bids 2N and responder can sign off with 3 if he wishes.
With a maximum, opener bids 3 and responder...
• signs off in 3 with a bust OR
• bids 3N if he had an invitational hand OR
• explores for slam using any of the bids shown in the next section.

Minor Suits with Slam Interest:

ACBL SAYC says that a direct bid of 3 shows 6+ cards and slam interest but that
3 only shows 3NT interest, so following are some non-SAYC alternatives: 
Using a direct bid of 3 to show slam interest.
On 12/22/2018, the Becker bridge column in the newspaper had a deal with this hand:
T Q5 A98642 AK852 and this bidding
1N - 3
3 - 4
4 - 6 
3 shows 6+ cards and slam interest and 3 and 4 are both showing aces. 
Minorwood uses a transfer to 3 and then a bid of the same suit on the 4 level as Roman Keycard Blackwood. After a 4-level keycard-showing response, 4N is a natural sign-off if he wishes.