[Stephen Tu]

Quote

a big difference, in my view.. playing strong nt, the nt hand is more likely to want the lead coming to it, so it's more important to make that hand declare

Right-siding the contract is overrated as a reason to play transfers. Even opposite a strong NT this is worth a very small fraction of a trick on average at best. The main reason behind transfers is for improved constructive bidding; giving up the diamond suit at the 2 level gives you many more major suit oriented sequences. So they are still useful over weak NTs.

The reason not to play transfers is that in theory they are easier to defend against. Over the transfer you give RHO many more sequences, as he can pass then bid, double then bid, bid directly, or cue. Whereas if you bid the signoff directly he can only pass, double, bid. But in my experience no one has really taken advantage of this weakness, so it's probably right to play transfers for their constructive bidding advantages.

[awm]

Two reasons you should try playing weak notrump:

1. In order to defend against the opponents' weak notrump, you need to have a good feel for what to do in contested auctions starting with 1NT. The only way to really do this is to play a lot of boards where weak notrumps are opened. In regions of the world where strong notrump is the norm, the best way to accomplish that is to play weak NT yourself. See where you get good and bad results, and which actions by opponents succeed and which fail.

2. Playing weak NT encourages you to devise and learn a system of runouts after 1NT is doubled. Admittedly most people don't double strong NTs for penalty anymore, but you still get doubled in 1NT fairly often after a notrump overcall (i.e. 1C-1NT-X or 1C-P-P-1NT-X). Good runout agreements will hold you in good stead here.

Note that neither of these reasons has anything to do with the merits of weak notrump in general, something which people can (and have) argued endlessly about.

Three reasons most top pairs do not play weak notrump:

1. Expert players can win consistantly via superior card play and bidding judgement. With this in mind, it's to their advantage to stay with the field. By facing the same problems in bidding and play as most other players, they will do well. Weak NT is often anti-field (in regions where strong NT is the norm), leading to random swings such as playing contracts from the opposite side and making different choices of NT versus suit partial.

2. Weak NT is inherently high variance. Like any aggressive preempting style, sometimes you go for a number. Sometimes opponents step out of line and THEY go for a number. Weak NT has the power to turn a lot of nondescript partscore deals into big swings for one side or the other. Since top players are likely to win against most opponents most of the time, it's not to their advantage to throw a big randomizing factor into the mix.

3. Comfort level is more important than methods. Even if weak NT is a small winner in the long run (and the jury's still out on this) when you've played a few hundred thousand deals with strong NT you're probably better off sticking to what you're comfortable with. Expert players from strong NT regions recognize this, and stick to what they're used to most of the time.

Once again, none of these reasons had much to do with the inherent effectiveness of weak notrumps versus strong.

[Wackojack]

Stephen Tu, on Aug 1 2005, 02:32 PM, said:

The reason not to play transfers is that in theory they are easier to defend against.  Over the transfer you give RHO many more sequences, as he can pass then bid, double then bid, bid directly, or cue.  Whereas if you bid the signoff directly he can only pass, double, bid.  But in my experience no one has really taken advantage of this weakness, so it's probably right to play transfers for their constructive bidding advantages.

Agreed that playing transfers opens up more constructive sequences but taking advantage of more bids available for defenders is well known in the UK where weak no trump is the norm
Compare the 2 sequences:
1. 1NT -p-2H (transfer) - ?
2. 1NT-p-2S(natural weak) -?

(a) ♠94,♥KQ984,♦K3,♣Q954
1. You can double showing hearts and moderate values
2. You have to pass, too risky to bid.

( ♠4,♥KQ105,♦Q984,♣K1082
1. You pass, then if 2S is passed to you, you double.
2. You double 2S

© ♠4,♥KQ105,♦AK82,♣K1082
1. You bid 2S showing a strong take-out double of spades
2. You double 2S, but you cannot distinguish between a strong and a weak take-out double.

(d) ♠A4,♥KQJ962,♦Q1093,♣2
1. You bid 3H showing fair values and 6-carder.
2. Ditto

On the other hand the 1NT opener has more bids available if partner's transfer is doubled. Thus pass with doubleton in the transfer to suit and transfer with 3 and redouble can be used to show say 3 good or 4 or anything that you think useful. (There was a thread on this a month or 2 ago)

The point about this post is that transfers open up more bids for both sides.