Stayman and Blackwood barely touch the surface of the gamut of conventions available for those with open minds and a desire for improvement. Of course, many of the bidding conventions created over the years are somewhat useless, even inane, such as the convention known, for a very good reason, as Byzantine Blackwood. Just trying to remember all the rules involved in this convention would give you a headache.

Transfers

When your partner opens 1NT or 2NT, most of the time her hand will be stronger than yours. That's not a big news flash if your partner's 1NT shows 15–17 and 2NT shows 20–21. The point is covered in that old defensive maxim: Lead up to weakness and through strength. When the dummy is on your right, you lead the suit in which dummy is weak, hoping to promote some high cards in that suit in your partner's hand. When the dummy is on your left, you often play the suit in which dummy has strength, again hoping this will be advantageous for your partner.

By the use of transfers, you can force the opponents to “lead up to strength” in your partner's hand, usually not to their advantage. Here is a complete deal to illustrate the point.

The contract is 4 ♠. Do you see what a difference it makes if South can be declarer instead of North? If North is declarer, she will certainly get the lead of the ♣ J from that good sequence East holds. The declarer's queen will be trapped, and no matter what the declarer does, the defenders will subsequently take two club tricks, the ♦ A and one spade. That's down one.

Now look at it with South as declarer. West is in a bind. If he leads a heart, it's right into the declarer's A-Q. If he leads a club, the declarer will play low and make his queen. If West leads a diamond, it helps the declarer set up his long suit, and a neutral spade lead gives the declarer the timing to set up his diamond winners and get rid of losers from the dummy.

This type of advantage for the declarer is demonstrated over and over because of a convention most modern players use — the transfer bid.

Here's how it works. When the opener starts with 1NT and the responder has at least five cards in a major suit, she “transfers” the bid of that suit to the opener by bidding the suit directly “under” the suit she possesses. In other words, with spades, she bids 2 ♥ and with hearts she bids 2 ♦.

Versatile Transfers

Besides protecting the declarer's high cards, the transfer structure also allows for invitational bids not available without them. Without transfers, the invitational hand with a five-card major is very difficult. Simply bidding the suit at the two level is a signoff — your partner is not invited to bid again. Jumping to three of the major shows a hand good enough to be in game. There is no bid for the hand in between.

Using transfers, there is an excellent system for handling all the variations. Here it is:

After partner opens 1NT

Five or more hearts or spades and 0–7 HCP: Transfer to the major and pass.

Exactly five hearts or spades and 8–9 HCP: Transfer to the major and bid 2NT.

Six or more hearts or spades and 8–9 HCP: Transfer to the major and raise the major.

Exactly five hearts or spades and 10+ HCP: Transfer to the major and bid 3NT.

Six or more hearts or spades and 10+ HCP: Transfer to the major and raise to game in the major.

Note that when the responder bids 2NT or 3NT, the opener is free to pass without a fit (three or more cards) for the responder's major. Over a 2NT invitation, 3 ♠ by the opener shows a spade fit but not a maximum hand. Over 3NT, the opener may pass with no fit or bid game in the major.

Note also that when the responder has at least six of a major, she knows her side has at least eight of that major between them, so she is safe in not giving the opener a choice between no-trump and the major.