Defending Against NT Defenses: sterbensohl

The ACBL Convention Card suggests two alternatives: (a) negative double; and (b) lebensohl. The negative double gives up the penalty double, giving the opponents a license to steal, as does the simplistic approach of using a double to show that the opponent has made the bid you were intending to make; while lebensohl works well against normal suit bids, but offers nothing against bids which fail to specify a specific suit, such as CRASH or the Hamilton/Cappelletti 2C bid. Enter sterbensohl, which students of German will recognize as related linguistically to lebensohl (leben = "to live"; sterben = "to die"). In sterbensohl: (a) If the opponent has shown a specific suit, all bids through 3H, as well as 4D and 4H, are 5-suit transfers, with 2S transferring to 2NT, 2NT transferring to 3C, etc. 3S is a minor suit Stayman slam try, denying s stopper for NT, but usually with a singleton or void in their suit. 3NT by Responder is to play, but denies a stopper in their suit, while 4C is Gerber. A transfer to the opponent's suit is Stayman; the NT opener can deny a 4-card major either by accepting the transfer to their suit, which denies a stopper, or by bidding 3NT, which confirms a stopper. If Responder transfers to NT, his next bid (if any) is either 3NT or a transfer (3C, 3D, 3H, 4C or 4D); these bids all confirm a stopper. (b) If the opponent has not shown a specific suit, the cheapest available suit bid by Responder is Stayman, 3S is minor suit Stayman, 3NT is to play, and all other bids are 5-suit transfers as described under (a), except that there are no stopper guarantees, since the opponents have not yet shown a suit that must be stopped.

With a 5+card major, Responder can transfer to the major and pass if weak or jump to game (3NT or 4 of the major) if strong, while with invitational strength he can transfer to NT first and then transfer to his major. Opener will decline such invitations by accepting the transfer, or accept by bidding 3NT or 4 of the major. In these invitational sequences, if Opener accepts by bidding 3NT and Responder does not have the stopper implied by his original transfer to 2NT, he may feel compelled to bid 4 of the major, presumably on a 5-2 fit, to avoid a major disaster in case Opener also lacks a stopper. This structure can do everything that lebensohl can do, and a few things besides, yet is no more difficult to remember. Will sterbensohl be the death of lebensohl?