Transfer O’ish Relay

An o’ish relay is a forcing bid that is natural or has extra strength. Famous examples are Birthright (Kokish Relay, 2♣-2♦-2♥) and Polish Club (1♣), after which I name this treatment. I advocate playing a transfer o’ish relay instead, the relay that either transfers to the next suit or has extra strength. This method renders the negative response nonforcing and allows more descriptive rebids.

Basic structure

TOR = transfer or extra
- (R) = NF negative, accepts the transfer
TOR + 1 = transfer back to the suit of TOR

Examples

Birthright (Kokish Relay)

A classical problem with the strong 2♣ opening is whether the auction is game-forcing. One solution is the Kokish Relay, where opener bids 2♥ to show hearts or a unilaterally game-forcing hand. This treatment potentially wastes space because opener hardly passes 2♥-2♠.

The rebids after 2♣-2♦ I propose are:

2♥: 5+ spades or FG
2♠: NF, 5+ hearts
2NT to 3♦: NAT NF

After 2♥, the default 2♠ fits any hand that responder would pass natural 2♠. Other responses are game-forcing.

After 2♠, responder passes with weak long spades. The 3♥ response is to play. Whether 2NT is game-forcing is up to partnership agreement.

Polish Club with swapped minor suits

Litten Polish Club follows this philosophy.

1♣

Polish Club with diamonds instead of clubs:

Balanced 12–14 HCP
11–17 HCP, 5+ diamonds or 4441
18+ HCP, any

1♦

11–17 HCP, 5+ clubs or (441)4

It took me almost one year to accept this idea until I realized that 1♣-1X-2♣ should retransfer to diamonds. The strength difference between natural diamonds (11+ HCP) and clubs (18+ HCP) is so large that opener should transfer twice. The odwrotka sequence of 1♣-1X-2♦ remains a power reverse.

Drawbacks

Responding to TOR + 1 is more complicated than TOR. You can no longer park at the negative relay (TOR + 1). Accepting the transfer (TOR + 5) becomes default and often meets a pass. Take 1♦ (showing clubs) in Litten Polish Club for example:

Pass: weak long diamonds
1NT: constructive natural, effectively 4+ diamonds
2♣: almost a signoff with 3–4 clubs
2♥♠: game try with 3+ clubs
2NT: preemptive raise with 4+ clubs
3♣: mixed raise with 4+ clubs