bid requires a balanced hand, i.e. no more than one doubleton, it promises to have at least two cards in the desired suit: Holding a 5-card major suit, responder would traditionally bid two, three or four of that suit depending on strength; using transfers, responder will instead bid two of the suit below the major suit Partner (opener) must then bid two of the next suit up (i.e. the major suit in question) Examples: 1NT - 2 (i.e., "I have a 5-card heart suit, please bid my suit") - opener must rebid 2 1NT - 2 (i.e., "I have a 5-card spade suit, please bid my suit.") - opener must rebid 2 Opener can super-accept the transfer by bidding three of the major with a maximum hand containing at least four cards in that major. An immediate disadvantage of this method is that it is incompatible with a weak take out into 2, although as with the loss of the 2 weak take-out when using Stayman, this is not generally considered a serious loss. Subsequent standard bids After the transfer has been completed by the 1NT opener, subsequent bids by the transfer initiator are: Weak hands Pass, to play a partial game in the transferred suit Invitational hands 2NT, giving the strong partner the option of continuing to game or playing a partial game, in either no trump or the transferred suit three of the transferred suit, promising a six-card suit Game strength hands New suit, showing 5-4 or 5-5 and game forcing 3NT, allowing opener a choice of 3NT or four of the major four in the transferred suit, to play promising a six-card suit Non-standard but common subsequent bids Since a 2 response is no longer required for a weak take-out into spades, it is often used in other ways: In SAYC, the 2 response is used to sign off in either minor at the 3-level. It forces opener to bid 3: 1NT - 2 - 3 - Pass with a weak hand with at least six clubs. 1NT - 2 - 3 - 3 with a weak hand with at least six diamonds. Simple use of the 2 response is to split the traditional 2NT response in a precise HCP way e.g. for Acol (1NT = 12-14 HCP): 1NT - 2 = I have a balanced hand and exactly 11 HCP 1NT - 2NT = I have