Dear Ed & Peter,

If I bid 1NT and opponent bids 2♣ can my partner still do Jacoby transfer by bidding 2♦ or 2♥?
Thank you

Marc Rawitt

Reply from Ed Hoogenkamp ('South'):

Dear Marc,

It is regarded as standard practice to drop conventions like Jacoby after an intervention. Either the bids of the partner of the 1NT opener are natural or he switches to other conventions like Rubensohl or Lebensohl. The basic idea is that he must be able to bid a natural, competitive 2♦.
Of course you are free to agree with your partner to drop the natural 2♦ bid and to stick to Jacoby transfers. No problem and probably a good agreement.
But this is an agreement so if you happen to play with a strange partner without having discussed this topic, he will treat 2♦ (and 2♥) as natural.

I think Peter always uses Jacoby transfers - in any bidding sequence. His partners force him to do so; this way the contract is always in the strong hand (i.e not Peter's... :-)

Un saludo desde Barcelona

Reply from Peter van der Linden ('North'):

Dear Marc,

Ed does not mention it but 2♣ is the only intervention after which you can still apply Jacoby transfers. And I think, like Ed, this is not a bad idea for who needs a natural 2♦ bid?
Not so after for instance a 2♦ overcall. You have lost that bid so you have no choice now but to drop Jacoby (do not play a double of the 2♦ overcall as a Jacoby transfer to 2♥, such a double should simply be for penalties!).

But... I would give some thought to the meaning of their 2♣ bid. Suppose it is conventional, which is standard practice here in Europe. It might for instance show both majors. The partner of the 1NT opener might double 2♣ then, meaning: 'I have a stack in at least one of the opponent's suits'. But this kind of artificial defence is tricky: what if the other opponent passes over the double, suggesting to play there (in 2♣) after all? Yes, artificial overcalls promising more than one suit open a box of Pandora...

Back to the 2♣ overcall. If it is natural you can indeed stick to Jacoby (as mentioned above: who needs a natural 2♦ bid?). But have you thought about Stayman? Similar to the 2♦ overcall: do not play the double as 'I wanted to bid that', such a double is for penalties, it is not Stayman. But what is?
The best solution after an overcall is to play Rubensohl or Lebensohl (playing one of these conventions means you'd better drop Jacoby by the way).
What if you do not want to do so; you like to keep it simple?. Over 2♣ only, you might then stick to Jacoby, as mentioned. Over a 2♦/♥/♠ invention you drop Jacoby. In all cases you use 3♣ as Stayman. Since you have lost bidding space, Stayman is forcing to game now, you have lost the possibility to bid invitationally. The 1NT opener replies by bidding three in his major suit if he has one. If not his reply is either 3♦ (no four card major, no stop in the overcalled suit) or 3NT (no four card major, stop in the overcalled suit).

To conclude with, I would like to reply to Ed's infamous lashing out at my playing technique. Once, after I made a contract, a lady opponent gave me a compliment on my line of play: 'Well done, how did you know you had to finesse me for the queen of clubs?'
'Well, after you turned up with one trump only, meaning your partner had four...' I began.
'I see', she interrupted, 'so you counted the trumps.' She turned to her partner: 'Well, this is way out of our league, this man is obviously a crack player.'
So there you are Ed, I am a crack player since I count trumps. Your call.'

En hils fra Orkanger