Muscat Walsh is a natural 5542 system with Transfer Walsh responses to 1♣. Everything else is standard 2/1, so only the 1♣ opening and competitive bidding are documented.

• 1♣ - 1♦ = 4+♥
• 1♣ - 1♥ = 4+♠
• 1♣ - 1♠ = 0–3♠, 0–3♥

This book fits the following regulations:

1. Green (natural) classification under the WBF Systems Policy
2. ACBL Open Chart

Notation

This book follows Strawberry Polish Club for hand evaluation, bidding notation, and punctuation in tables and prose.

References

• Chen-Pang He. Strawberry Polish Club. Hand evaluation, notation, and Checkback Gladiator.
• Danny Molenaar & Tim Verbeek. WBF convention card. Transfer completion with a minimum balanced hand and the 18–20 1NT rebid.
• Guus Schreiber. De systeemkaart van Danny Molenaar en Tim Verbeek. IMP, July/August 2025, pp. 30–32. Transfer responses and opener’s rebids; this version uses 18–19 for the 1NT rebid.
• Richard Granville. Is Fantunes still a good bidding system? Bridge Winners, 18 September 2015. The rationale quoted in the T-Walsh introduction.

Openings

Choice between minor suits

• By default, open the longer minor, or 1♦ with equal length.
• Open 1♦ with 11–14, 4+♦, 5=♣.
• Open 1♣ with 18–20, balanced 4=♦.

The notrump ladder

• 12–14: 1♣ - 1♦♥ - 1♥♠
• 15–17: 1NT
• 18–20: 1♣ - 1♦♥ - 1NT

Transfer Walsh 1♣

Walsh is familiar territory in modern bidding: with less than game-forcing strength, we bypass diamonds to show a 4-card major. That leaves the cheapest response doing little work. As Richard Granville puts it, “the 1♦ response to 1♣ is severely underused.”

So why not rotate the responses? Transfer Walsh uses 1♦ for hearts, 1♥ for spades, and 1♠ for hands without a 4-card major. Now opener can declare responder’s major, with an extra step to describe support.

The 2♥ response is Reverse Flannery as in Strawberry Polish Club but can be invitational (8–11) rather than merely constructive (6–9).

Responses over interference are in Contested 1♣.

Multi 2♦

The 2♦ response takes every 0–7 hand with a 6+ major, so whenever responder rebids a 6+ major after a red transfer, they hold 8+. Over the 2NT relay, responder trisects strength as in the Multi 2♦ opening: 0–3, 4–5, and 6–7. The most frequent third is 6–7, so it gets its own bids 3♥♠. The lower two thirds share 3♣♦, where opener relays to invite. Responder then signs off in 3M with 0–3 or bids 4M with 4–5.

There are two kinds of choice of games:

• 4♣ by strength
• 4♦ by distribution

Such distinction helps judging how to react to interference. Besides, 4♣ lets the strong hand declare. On the other hand, 4♦ closes the auction ASAP.

Red transfers 1♦♥

Opener completes the transfer with any balanced minimum, even with a doubleton, and with 3-card support up to 17. Completion is a free support double: bypassing it denies 3-card support, except with 18–20, or with 15–17 and 6+♣. Unbalanced 18–20 hands reverse or raise. Balanced ones rebid 1NT, as in the notrump ladder. Molenaar–Verbeek play the same ladder. After the completion or 1NT, responder rebids by Checkback Gladiator.

2NT is invitational or better, 15–20, with 3-card support and 6+♣. Without 3-card support, 18–20 hands with 6+♣ bid 3NT unless they suit 1NT.

Raises promise 4-card support: 2M with 11–14, 3M with 15–17, and 4M with 18–20. Splinters below 3M are invitational, 15–17, and those above 3M are 18–20.

The 2♣ rebid stops at 15: a 16–17 hand with 5+♣ and no support either reverses, jumps to 3♣, or is 5332 and opened 1NT. Reverses stay 16–20 because they are forcing.

After 2NT

Over 2NT, a weak responder signs off in 3♣, or in 3M with a 5-card major. 3♦ is a relay with 6+: opener bids 3M with 15–17, and responder passes with 6–8. Other rebids show 18–20 and force to game.

After a reverse

Responder plays Blackout as after 1♠. LEB is the next step even when it is responder’s major, as opener holds 3-card support only with 18–20. Other bids are natural and game-forcing.

Checkback Gladiator

Responder rebids by Checkback Gladiator, my XYZ variant with invitational direct 2M rebids. That chapter covers the scheme, the name, and its history. This one gives the T-Walsh tables, where the transfer response shifts strength from responder to opener: responder passes the completion more often, and 1♠ is available as a second response.

After the completion

The completion is non-forcing. Responder passes with 4–7, as the 1-level is low enough to survive a 4–2 fit. Other rebids adapt Strawberry Polish Club’s Checkback Gladiator. 2♣ is a one-round force: a constructive signoff, an invitation, or a special game force. 2♦ is an artificial game-forcing checkback. Natural 2M are invitations, and 3x are slam tries.

The 2♣ checkback

The 2♦ game force

Second response 1♠

After 1NT

Checkback Gladiator still applies. This is Strawberry Polish Club’s 1♣ - 1M - 1NT with about 6 points moved from responder to opener: responder passes with 0–4, invites with 5–6, and forces to game with 7+. Over 2♣, opener shows support rather than a maximum, since 1NT is a single range.

After 2♣ - 2♦, responder continues as after the completion, but invitations are 5–6. Over 2♦, opener answers as after the completion without the strength split: 2M shows 3 cards, 2 of the other major shows 4 cards, and 2NT denies both.

No-major 1♠

The 1♠ catchall denies a 4-card major. Responder holds one of:

• 4–7 without a major
• 8–11 with a splinter in a major, unless a 6-card minor jumps directly
• 12+ balanced: with no 4-card major and no 5-card minor, that is 33(43) or (32)44

A singleton ace or king is not a splinter. 8–11 hands with one bid 1NT.

Opener never shows a major with a balanced hand. Responder has at most three, so a 4-3 fit is not worth the search. A 4414 hand bids notrump as if balanced, since responder is likely to hold diamonds. Other rebids follow red transfers.

After 1NT

Responder signs off in a minor or 3NT, or splinters to invite. Opener rejects with 2NT or 3♣, and accepts with 3♦ or 3NT. Notrump promises a stop in the splinter suit. Over 3♣, responder passes or corrects to 3♦.

After 2♣

Responder passes with a weak hand. Opener answers the splinter as over 1NT.

After a reverse

Responder plays the Blackout convention: the next step is LEB, a weak relay with 4–7. Over 2♠, that step is 2NT. Other bids are natural and game-forcing.

Game-forcing minors 2♣♠

Responder bids 2♣ with 5+♦ or 2♠ with 5+♣, game-forcing without a 4-card major. With both minors, responder bids 2♣ and shows clubs next.

Opener describes, and responder places the contract. Opener’s rebid shows shape, not strength, except that balanced hands split 12–14 from 18–20.

Both hands show stops the same way: a new major shows a stop, and notrump shows stops in all unbid suits. Over a splinter, 3NT promises a stop in the short suit. Bids beyond the tables are slam tries.

After 2♣

Opener never holds a 5-card major, so a major shows four cards and a stop. Opener bids a 4-card major first, hearts with both, unless raising diamonds.

After 2♠

Opener bids 3NT with the weak balanced hand and 2NT with the strong one, keeping room where slam is possible.

Competitive bidding

Transfer Walsh gives us a support double for free: opener completes the transfer with 3-card support even when RHO does not compete. I generalize it to all non-jump responses to end the debate between standard and negative free bids.

We somehow ignore the meaning of overcalls to deal with artificial and psychic bids. If we need to keep the bidding open, the nebulous 1♠ gets the job done.

This competitive Transfer Walsh is the Cachalot (O. Bessis, Le Bridgeur 852, 2011; Soulet–Voldoire, 909, 2017), which I also play over the Polish Club. Unlike the uncontested transfers, the free bids are constructive, 6+, so opener need not keep a broke responder low. The 1M completion promises exactly 3-card support, 11–17, like a support double. A balanced minimum with a doubleton no longer completes.

Over 1♦, the Cachalot applies to the one-level overcalls in the majors.

• Contested 1♣
• Contested 1♦

Contested 1♣

The free bids follow the uncontested transfers:

• 1♦ or (1♦) X: transfer, 4+♥
• 1♥ or (1♥) X: transfer, 4+♠
• 1♠: transfer to 1NT, partly ask for stopper
• 2♣: transfer, 5+♦
• 2♠: transfer, 5+♣

Opener’s rebids change because the free bids are constructive:

• 1NT is a balanced minimum, 12–14, with a stopper. The balanced 18–20 bids 2NT, also with a stopper.
• The cuebid 2♦ is an artificial 18–20 raise rather than a reverse.
• 3NT still promises solid clubs. Other 18–20 hands with 6+♣ bid 2NT with a stopper, or cuebid without.

Over (X)

Natural notrump is not very useful after a double, so let’s also use it for transfers. Then 1♠ takes care of diamonds, the only suit left over. With 0–5, responder passes or preempts.

Over (1♦)

Transferring to diamonds is not very useful, so 2♣ falls back to a single raise.

Over (1♥)

Transferring to hearts is not very useful, so 2♦ falls back to a negative free bid.

Over (1♠)

Transferring to spades is not very useful, so 2♥ falls back to a negative free bid.

Over (1NT)

The overcall is a strong notrump, so responder bids naturally.

Over (2♣+)

Double is negative. New suits are natural and forcing, and 2NT is natural and invitational with a stopper.

Opener’s rebids

After XX

The key feature of XX is to start penalty process. Our further doubles are penalty rather than takeout.

After a transfer to 1M

One step below 1M, including the stolen X, is a transfer to 1M. Bid as if 1♣ - 1R most of the time, with the changes in the chapter and above. Over (1♥), opener gets two cuebids: 2♦ stays the raise, and 2♥ takes the 18–20 hands with neither support nor a stopper. Over (1♦), the 2♦ raise takes those too.

Over the 2♦ raise, responder describes as in Odwrotka with the roles swapped: opener made the fit reverse, so responder describes. The free bid promised 6+, so there is no weak signoff. The 6+M rows show 8+, since weaker hands bid the suit directly.

After the completion or 1NT, responder rebids by Checkback Gladiator as after the uncontested completion, since opener is minimum either way. The cuebid 2♦ is still the game-forcing checkback.

After the negative double

This is the only 1-level X response not a stolen transfer. It is more urgent to find 4-4 heart fits than to transfer to 1NT. There is no 1-level completion, so the 2♥ raise takes the 3-card support.

After minor suit transfers over (X)

Only after (X) 1♠, the transfer to diamonds, is opener’s 2♦ natural.

After a transfer to 1NT

Opener bids 1NT with a stopper and 12–14, or otherwise rebids as over the uncontested 1♠. The cuebid replaces 2NT with 18–20 but no stopper.

Contested 1♦

These tables come from Strawberry Polish Club with the constructive 6+ free bids. Over other interference, bid as in standard 2/1.

Over (1♥)

Over (1♠)