销魂账赵熙之 全文阅读:1NT openings and continuations – The Walsh way.

1NT openings and continuations – The Walsh way.

This article was written by Quodomine and explains a system of responses to a 1NT opening. It is written with a 15-17 NoTrump in mind but can be used for any opening range:

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This system of responding to a 15-17 HCP 1NT was taught to me by a partner many years ago. He described it as “Walsh” though I have never seen  it  ascribed elsewhere to Rhoda Walsh. Please feel free to e-mail this website if you have any information of the origins of this treatment.

The unique feature of the system is the use of two-way bids to play in 3 of a minor OR show different game forcing hands which are sometimes difficult to describe in standard methods. The full gamut of responses is as follows:

2§    =  

2¨     =   Jacoby transfer to ©’s

2♥     =   Jacoby transfer to ª’s

2ª     =   Minor suit Stayman (game forcing)    OR    to play in 3¨

2NT  =   Relay to 3§, to play                  OR    a 3-suited game force.

3§/¨ =   Invitation to 3NT with a 6 card suit and two top honours

3©    =   5-5 in the majors, non-forcing

3ª     =   5-5 in the majors, game forcing

4¨/© =   Texas transfers 

The loss incurred with this scheme is a small one, in order to play in 3¨ responder will usually be declarer. The gains are in discovering good minor suit games and slams when a NoTrump contract is poor, and there is also the ability to describe good 3-suited hands to the 1NT opener.

Minor Suit Stayman needs no further elaboration but the 3-suited hands preceded by a relay to 3§ do. These hands may be 5440, 4441 or 5431 in shape with no 5-card major, a minimum of 10 HCP and in the case of 5431 the 3-card holding must contain a minimum of QJx. Basically the 3-suited hand shows it by bidding the singleton over the forced 3§ puppet bid or bidding 3NT with a singleton §.

Paul Quodomine         9-10-08           Pattaya Bridge Club               www.pattayabridge.com

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A few examples of how to respond with 3-suited hands, together with how they can be bid using the ‘Swedish’ system and the ‘Quested’ System are given in the document “Responding to 1NT with 3-suited hands”.