Rubens advances (also referred to as transfer advances) constitute a

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

bidding method that can be used by a bridge partnership to respond to

overcall In contract bridge, an overcall is a bid made after an opening bid has been made by an opponent; the term refers only to the first such bid. A ''direct'' overcall is such a bid made by the player seated immediately to the left of the opener, i.e ...

s. The method was devised by

Jeff Rubens Jeff Rubens (born 1941) is an American bridge player, editor, and writer of books including ''Secrets of Winning Bridge'' and ''Expert Bridge Simplified''. He is best known for long association with ''The Bridge World'' monthly magazine, as co-edit ...

and published in

The Bridge World ''The Bridge World'' (TBW), the oldest continuously published magazine about contract bridge, was founded in 1929 by Ely Culbertson. It has since been regarded as the game's principal journal, publicizing technical advances in bidding and the pla ...

. Using Rubens advances, the available bids in the suits starting with the cue bid in opponent's suit up to and including the bid below a two-level support bid of the overcall are all transfer bids to the next suit. Furthermore, the available bids in the suits below the cue bid are all natural and forcing for one round. The no-trump bids at various levels are not affected by this method of advancing partner's overcalls and retain their normal meaning. The claimed advantage over other treatments is that - thanks to the transfer nature of the various bids - hands with a wider range of strengths can be introduced following partner's overcall.Transfer Advances by Marc Smith.
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Examples

When playing Rubens advances, the following applies after an opposing 1 opening and a 1 overcall: (1) - 1 - (pass) - ?? :2 : transfer to diamonds :2 : transfer to hearts :2 : transfer to spades (a support bid too strong for a natural raise) :2 : natural support bid When partner's overcall does not skip any suits, the Rubens advances reduce to the standard treatment in which new suits are forcing and the cue bid promises support. For instance: (1) - 1 - (pass) - ?? :2 : natural, round forcing :2 : natural, round forcing :2 : transfer to spades (a support bid too strong for a natural raise) :2 : natural support bid

Extensions

The methodology is often extended to cases in which the opener gets raised. It is then common to utilise the double as lowest 'transfer bid': (1) - 1 - (2) - ?? :dbl : transfer to diamonds :2 : transfer to hearts :2 : transfer to spades (a support bid too strong for a natural raise) :2 : natural support bid

References

{{WPCBIndex Bridge conventions