Partner, that's super!

Here’s a simple and useful tool that should be part of your bidding arsenal.

In this example, you and your partner are playing 15-17 HCP for a 1 NT opening. After a 1 NT opening, your agreed responses include Stayman and Jacoby transfers.

♠ K Q x x   ♥ A K x x   ♦ Q x x   ♣ K x

You	Partner
1 NT ??	2 ♦

Partner’s 2♦ bid is a transfer to hearts. Your call?

ANSWER: Bid three hearts, a “super-accept” of the transfer to hearts.

THE PRINCIPLE:  A “super-accept” of a Jacoby transfer – accepting the transfer, but one level higher – tells partner that you have a "super" hand for playing in the transfer suit. Specifically, you should have very good four-card support, and be at the upper end of your notrump range. Partner can take it from there based on her hand.

When I held that notrump opener recently, my partner had a weak hand with an unimpressive six-card heart suit. He was planning to pass after a routine heart transfer:

♠ x x   ♥ 10 9 7 6 x x   ♦ K x   ♣ Q x x

But after my super-accept 3♥ bid, partner realized that four hearts was now within reach. The heart suit split 2-1, so we only lost the obvious 3 aces, making four. Other pairs, who didn’t play the super-accept bid, were only in two hearts.

So the super-accept can help you find skinny game contracts, but where it really pays off is slam bidding. Recall that responder, holding game-going values but only a five-card major suit, usually bids 3NT after opener accepts the transfer. If opener has a three- or four-card fit, opener can correct to four of the major. But the correction to four of the major doesn’t show extra values, and opener has no way to know if responder has extras.

For example, suppose partner holds a decent hand for game but not quite enough to push for slam:

♠ A x   ♥ Q 10 x x x   ♦ K x   ♣ A x x

Without the super-accept, your auction will probably go

You	Partner
1 NT 2 ♥ 4 ♥	2 ♦ 3NT Pass

Partner is stuck after your bid, knowing you might have three baby hearts and a minimum 15-point hand. If that’s really the case, you’ll be lucky to make four, much less five or six.

But look what can happen when partner knows you have good four-card support and a maximum. Now she knows the heart suit has, at most, one loser. From there it’s just a matter of making sure we have enough aces, either by Blackwood or a cue-bidding sequence. Partner’s hand again:

♠ A x   ♥ Q 10 x x x   ♦ K x   ♣ A x x

You	Partner
1 NT 3 ♥ 5 ♦	2 ♦ 4 NT 6 ♥

Super-accepts are also on after a 2NT opening and a Jacoby transfer at the three-level; in this case, opener jumps to four of the major.