January 2025 - 53

Newer Players
Ask Jerry
BY JERRY HELMS
askjerry@jerryhelms.com
jerryhelms.com
Dear Jerry,
A disaster occurred on the following
auction, playing 14+-17
notrump:
1NT Pass 2d Dbl
2h Pass 4h All Pass
When partner voluntarily
accepted the transfer, after the
lead-directing double, I assumed
he had at least three hearts, and
holding the following:
sA 4 hA 9 7 6 2 d8 4 2 cQ 9 3,
I jumped to 4h. His hand?
sJ 5 3 h8 3 dA Q 5 cA K J 6 2
We were cold for 3NT with the
diamond finesse working, but
down several in 4h with a bad
break. Was I wrong to assume
partner held at least three
hearts? Shouldn't he have passed
the double with only two hearts?
Carl
Hi Carl,
Perhaps 75% of the questions that I
answer via email all either start or
could start with " Partnership agreement. "
In this situation, I have empathy
for both of you. I suspect that
many players feel as you do that with
a doubleton heart, opener should
pass the double and accept the transfer
only when holding three or more.
While this may be mainstream, I do
not think this is the best agreement.
By agreement, I prefer to play that
when a transfer bid is doubled, opener
should accept the transfer any
time he knows we have a home! What
exactly is a home? I consider either
three or more cards in the suit you
are transferring into, or a stopper in
the bid that was doubled means we
have a home. Look at the following:
1NT Pass
2s Pass
If you held:
sA 7 6 3 2 h7 3 d9 6 2 c7 5 3
your intent was to transfer to spades
and pass. Now you can pass 2s.
If however, you held:
sA Q 7 6 2 hJ 7 3 dQ 6 c7 5 3,
you should now bid 2NT, as a game
invitation. You know your partner
has either three or more spades or
a heart stopper. He gets the chance
to make the last mistake ... I mean,
decision!
If instead you held:
sK 10 7 6 2 hJ 10 7 dA Q 6 cQ 3
you would simply jump to 3NT, secure
that you either have a spade fit,
or a heart stopper, or maybe both!
The negative inference is that when
your partner passes, he does not have
a stopper, and he has at most two
cards in the suit you have requested
him to bid. What are you supposed
to do? Good question. A redouble is
commonly used as a re-transfer, asking
partner to complete the transfer
despite the lack of support. Many
times when you don't know what
to do, being sure of what not to do
leaves you in a much better place. If
opener doesn't have a stopper, and
you don't have a stopper and you
know partner has at most two cards,
just do the best you can!
If I were asked to assess the blame
on this deal, sadly I would give the
majority to your partner, who chose
the same action I would have chosen.
2h Dbl
?
Without a specific partnership agreement,
I think most would assume
at least three cards in the suit being
transferred into. Because of the probable
misunderstanding, I would have
simply passed and later stated my
preference.
For those who may be interested, I
answered a question virtually identical
to this one approximately 15
years ago. Funny thing, my guess is
there are a number of readers now
who were not reading my columns
many years ago who may be reading
it now but may not remember this
scenario.
Keep in mind, any agreement is
better than no agreement. 2
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January 2025 | Bridge Bulletin |
53
http://www.jerryhelms.com http://www.acbl.org/portfolio http://www.acbl.org/
January 2025

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