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Relays

First of all a reminder that these pages exist to give you a glimpse into an esoteric world to which I do not belong.

It follows that I can only provide you with a few pointers rather than a detailed and accurate account of ‘how it’s done’.

If you like the underlying idea behind anything you find on this page then either work out the details between yourselves or add to your research elsewhere to find more authoritative and detailed expositions of the various possible methods hinted at here.

In a subsection of the world of the strong club, relay systems will be encountered which aim basically to place every card in one of the hands.

The underlying method is that one partner keeps relaying with the lowest bid available (other than a sign-off) whilst the other gives more and more detailed information about his hand.

Typically he will show the hand-type (e.g. single-suited, 4-4-4-1, etc.) with his first response, the precise suit-specific variation on that shape with his next bid (or two bids), key cards with his third response, second-round controls with his fourth response, etc. etc..

Clearly this site is not about strong club (or any other artificial) systems.

If you happen to find yourself playing in a seriously high-powered event (that seems possible), and your opponents play something along these lines (still possible), and you’re looking at this web-site for ideas (I’m having a little difficulty in getting my head round that combination), then get in some preemptive competition if you can safely do so - the more space you take away the less they will be able to get the sort of detailed information on which they thrive.

But there is no reason why you should not draw on some of these ideas as you search for specific controls once a game-force has been set up within the context of more natural methods.

Sign-offs

If a suit has been agreed then 3NT and four of the agreed suit will be sign-offs.

If the suit has not been agreed either specifically or by implication (unlikely in a natural system) then each of 3NT, 4♥ and 4♠ (as agreed) will be sign-offs.

Relays

The method will be based on one partner always relaying with the cheapest available bid at some agreed point in the auction once a game-force has been established.

In the following the first relay will ask for a count of controls.

What constitutes a control

For the purposes of this page and the first response I shall define controls as A or K in any suit and any queen supported by either an ace or a king.

The partner of the relayer is assumed to have at least two controls for his bidding to date, thus a step one response will promise two or less controls, a step two response will promise three controls, etc..

Denial cue-bids

The heart of the method is that subsequent relays will ask for ‘denial cue-bids’.  Rather surprisingly, perhaps, bidding what you haven’t got rather than what you have got tends to get more information across in less bidding space.

A hierarchy is allocated to the suits.

In the strong club relay systems this is usually the longest first, the exact distribution having been determined earlier.

In the context of a natural system you might choose to set an agreed trump suit as the top of the hierarchy and any other suit which has been bid naturally as second followed by the others in descending order (e.g. diamonds before clubs.)

For my present purposes I shall set a simple hierarchy of - spades then hearts then diamonds then clubs.

Following the second relay, relayer’s partner will respond as follows:-

step 1    no control in the highest-ranking suit (in this case spades);

step 2  a control in the highest-ranking suit but no control in the second-ranking suit (a spade control but no heart control);

step 3   a control in the highest-ranking suit, a control in the second-ranking suit, but no control in the third-ranking suit (spade and heart controls but no diamond control);

step 4    controls in the top three ranking suits but no control(s) in the fourth (clubs);

step 5    would promise controls in all four suits.

Voids and singletons

If any suit is known to be void from the earlier bidding then that suit can be omitted from the discussion, thus in the table above, if diamonds are known to be void then step three would promise controls in spades and hearts but no control in clubs (omitting the diamond suit).

If a suit is known to be ‘void or singleton’ (perhaps following a splinter bid or a first response to a Jacoby 2NT) then you might choose to ignore it as above.  Alternatively treat a void or a singleton ace as a control in this part of the auction, but any other singleton as ‘no control’.

Spiral scan

Sometimes referred to as spiraling.

Spiraling simply refers to ‘going round again’.

What has happened above is that you have scanned the four suits in order according to the agreed hierarchy.

If the relayer makes a further relay (the cheapest suit other than a sign-off) then the responder will go through the hierarchy again giving information beyond that already given.  In practice this equates to third-round controls.

Context  -  Acol bidding - the auction continues - in the slam zone - relays, asking bids, denial cue bids, spiral scans, etc..

This page last updated 19th May 2019

It is quite possible that absolutely no one implements the idea in exactly this form.

It is perfectly possible to vary the details in respect of each and every one of:-

at what point does the relay and scan routine start;

what do you count as a control;

how do you treat the agreed trump suit;

how do you treat voids and singletons;

how do you define the hierarchy of the suits?

As stated above this is just one possible and relatively simple implementation of the idea which I have put together for the purpose of introducing the whole concept.

You will find a number of articles and discussion fora on the net - try looking up denial cue-bids - but be warned

some of them are seriously heavy going.