Why Smolen?
Many experts agree that playing a multitude of conventions really isn’t necessary, provided that you have a good, basic working knowledge of bridge. However, there are some conventions that we have found very helpful. An example came up the other evening. Sitting South, I opened up 1NT. Partner bid 2♣ (Stayman.) I responded 2♦. My partner then bid 3♥, implying she had 4 hearts, 5 spades, and game-going values. With three spades, I knew we had an 8-card fit, and bid 4♠, instead of 3NT. This forced left hand opponent to be on lead into the NT hand.
Here is the hand:
| North ♠ J9632 ♥ AK73 ♦ 4 ♣ Q92 |
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| South ♠ AQ8 ♥ Q108 ♦ K75 ♣ A1075 |
Conclusion
The Smolen convention is consistent with the concept of transfer bids, which allow the lead to come up to the strong hand, rather than through it. You can read more about it on Larry Cohen’s web site.